International Journal of Public Opinion Research

Running Head: FEMINISM IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1940’S (SECOND
WAVE)
Feminism in the United States since 1940’s (Second Wave)
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FEMINISM IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE 1940’S (SECOND WAVE)
1
Historical circumstances around the development of the Second Wave Feminism
Rosa Parks, a black seamstress marked the beginning of the various events which
marked the beginning of the fight for Civil Rights and Equal Pay. On 1st December, 1955,
Parks refused to let go of her seat to a white man while she was on a bus in Montgomery,
Ala. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 9th May, 1960 released birth control for
women worldwide commercially (history.com). This allowed the women with the choice and
control over childbirth. President John F. Kennedy signed the law of Equal Pay Act on 10th
June, 1963 which marked an end to discrimination between the sexes while receiving wages
in workplaces (history.com). On 2nd July, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil
Rights Act which turned it into a law where the Title VII prohibited discrimination in
employment opportunities that are based on race, religion, national origin, or sex
(history.com). The author of the path breaking work The Feminine Mystique (1963) Betty
Friedan founded the National Organization for Women which is meant to be promoting
“grassroots activism... feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and
achieve and protect the equal rights to all women and girls in all aspects of social, political,
and economic life.” (history.com).
Hence, it is quite evident the series of events created an atmosphere of protests and
unrest as activists took to the streets in order to claim their rights and seek for the new
positions in the society. The latter half of the 1960’s were marked by a more radical
approach to the oppression of women especially the staged event hosted by New York
Radical Women in September 1968 (Molony and Jennifer). This event saw some of the most
symbolic expression of rejection of oppression in the form of tossing away instruments
namely high heels, curlers, girdles, and bras that went to “freedom trash can” (Molony and
Jennifer). In such attempts, the protest also came to be known as “bra burning”. Kate Millet
wrote Sexual Politics in 1969 which focused on the patriarchy and its control over sex, and its