Second-wave Feminism.

Second-wave Feminism.

The Second Wave Feminism, which is previously referred to as the Women’s Liberation Movement, began its activities in 1960 and lasted till the late 1980s. The movement focused on many inequalities and favoritism based on sexism, as will be highlighted later; however, their main concern was discrimination against women and gender inequality. These feminist ideologies and activities took root in the United States before the western world adopted and joined the movement (Shorrocks & Rosalind 2016). This essay will be covering the Second Wave Movement’s thoughts on the equality in payment and employment opportunities and the steps taken to overcome this. Also, it will reflect on some of their activities as well as the progress they made on advocating for the rights of women and most importantly in the employment sector

According to Heywood & Leslie stated that The Second-wave movement advocated for equal rights in the family, their reproductive rights such as the legalization of abortion, and also legal inequality (2006). During this period, Feminists stated that abuse in a marital setting should not be considered by society as a norm. However, as a legal crime and advocated that shelters should be built for domestic violence victims. The movement which involved women of all ages and from various places placed a heated debate on gender discriminatory practices. However, their major accomplishment was the establishment of equality in employment and job payment.

The movement was highly influenced by Betty Friedan through ‘The Feminine Mystique,’ a book that became published in 1963. In the book, she talked about how women had lost their identity to their husbands and children as societal stereotypes forced them to remain solely in domestic chores. This sparked debate, and a women’s movement was formed the same year to reflect on the issue. Also, another action that catalyzed the movement was John Kennedy’s agendas. He made Eleanor Roosevelt head of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. And supported the family unit hence encouraging women to engage more in motherhood. It advocated for unequal opportunities among females.

There was inequality in payments, and discrimination in employment opportunities purely based on race and sex. Therefore, the women needed the proper backup of their right to equality. They needed legislative assurance that they would receive extra pay, there would be equal opportunities, and there would also be improved quality in child-care (Andrews, Kenneth &Sarah 2015). In 1963, the Equal Pay Act assured them of equal payment, whereas the 1964 Civil Rights Act protected women from employers’ discriminatory practices.

The Second-Wave feminism on fair employment and payment fought for women’s rights so that there would be no biases in occupation training or entry based on one’s sex. They highlighted how women were still not considered as viable breadwinners in their homes despite not being paid for their work. Most importantly, they focused on ensuring that just as men, women would not get equal employment opportunities. At the time, if one were lucky, they would get jobs such as receptionists, cleaning, or simple jobs that did not need much thinking. Married women and their contribution to the household was purely on domestic chores, and their financial support was limited. These discriminative measures against women were what the movement was trying to overcome.

According to Ann et al., there were many reasons that society thought was justifiable for the low wages given to women (2016). Some states did not allow women to work at night while some limited the total amount t of time women were to work. Their income was not considered as significant as men were still obligated to maintain the household. According to them, these stereotypical roles of women had to change since they demanded that work roles were to be divided equally among men and women. This would, therefore, improve the marriage structure as both wives and their husbands would become breadwinners, and they would change the norm that the best woman could become was a housewife.

In 1970, the Women’s Liberation Movement had a picket protest on one of the seminars advocating for equality in payments. They later made submissions to the inquiry commission to took into the issue of equal pay. They made public awareness on the subject by visiting various workplaces, held public meetings, and used pamphlets. However, the commission of inquiry gave them five years in which they were to process the advocacy for equal pay. This was not sufficient enough as the women wanted the changes made faster, so they held protests in support for faster results.

The second wave brought a lot of changes in bringing the pay and employment gap between men and women. In 1972 there were tremendous changes, and the Equal Pay Act became passed. It became a significant step into legalizing the equal payments plea. Over the next five years, the gap between men and women was slowly bridging. Women started venturing into male-dominated jobs. For example, in New Zealand, there were only 2% of women pursuing law by 1975, but by 1992, the number increased, with more than half of the new lawyers being female. Women were now also allowed to pursue courses perceived as male courses (Mayeri 2015 ). They pursued courses such as law, and commerce, although they were still not allowed to pursue engineering since this field was still considered a male domain.

Second-wave feminism was able to break the female stereotypes among women and was a period when a significant transition to ensuring equal rights for women got achieved. During this period, there was a lot of transformation in the United States. For instance, in 1963, it was illegal to have different wage rates for men and women, and sexual discrimination became a criminal issue. It happened when the Equal Pay Act got passed. However, it is was only active from 1975 despite having been given in 1963. Also, in 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity bill allowed women to have persona access to credit facilities and could receive credit without the consent of a male signatory. There were various amendments to education that happened as a result of the movement. Any institution that received government funds was not supposed to engage gender discriminatory practices in their educational activities and programs according to 1972 educational amendments. It allowed more women to enroll in careers of their choice. Females started doing male jobs hence bridging the unemployment gap. It enabled women to have equal access to facilities that would train on the same job skills as men. Women started becoming providers for their families.

Conclusively, one can attribute the second-wave movement as the period when women started becoming independent by receiving equal employment opportunities and fair wages to men. It was not a simple task to achieve, especially since there were many stereotypes around women and their roles. They were also involved in various other successful fights against gender discrimination . The gap they closed by advocating for equal pay not only uplifted the women, but it also improved their economic status well as that of the country by reducing the number of unemployed people.

Work Cited

Andrews, Kenneth T., and Sarah Gaby. “Local protest and federal policy: The impact of the civil rights movement on the 1964 Civil Rights Act.” Sociological Forum. Vol. 30. 2015.

Heywood, Leslie L. “The women’s movement today.” An Encyclopedia of the Third (2006).

Mayeri, S. (2015). Marriage (In) equality and the Historical Legacies of Feminism. California Law Review Circuit, 6, 15-30.

Shola Orloff, Ann, and Talia Shiff. “Feminism/s in power: Rethinking gender equality after the second wave.” Perverse politics? Feminism, anti-imperialism, multiplicity. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2016. 109-134.

Shorrocks, Rosalind. “A feminist generation? Cohort change in gender-role attitudes and the second-wave feminist movement.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 30.1 (2016): 125-145.