On this date in history…1973 Male chauvinist tennis star Bobby Riggs defeated Margaret Smith Court, 6-2, 6-1 in front of a world-wide

television audience in what was billed as “The Battle of the Sexes.” He would later go on to lose to Billie Jean King in the “Battle of the Sexes II”, a match which helped coalesce women’s rights groups across the country.

Feminism and Women’s Rights

Women’s Suffrage

suf·frage noun• The right to vote, especially in a political election.

Respond to these questions:

1. What is voting?2. Why would you want to vote?3. Was voting a right under the Constitution?4. Who was originally excluded from voting under the Constitution?5. Why do you think this was the case?

Timeline of Women’s Suffrage1848 First Women's Rights Convention Seneca Falls, NY

1869 Stanton and Anthony form National Women's Suffrage Association

1869 Wyoming passes first women's suffrage law

1878 Susan B Anthony presents amendment for vote to Congress

1890 S. Anthony and E. Stanton form the National American Woman Suffrage Association

1893 Colorado is first state to adopt an amendment for vote for women

1896 Idaho also adopts a vote for women amendment

1916 Margaret Sanger opens first birth control clinic in U.S.

1919 The federal woman suffrage amendment passes the House & Senate

1920 19th Amendment granting right to vote to women is signed into law

Timeline of Women’s Suffrage1921 Margaret Sanger founds the American Birth Control League

1923 Margaret Sanger earns court approval & opens another clinic

1936 Federal law modified & distribution of birth control information is allowed

1960 FDA approves birth control pills

1963 The book The Feminine Mystique is published & starts the modern women's movement

1963 Congress passes the Equal Pay Act, equalizing pay

1964 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is passed

1966 National Organization for Women (NOW) is formed

1972 The ERA is passed by Congress & sent to the States; ratification failed

1973 Roe v. Wade trial in Supreme Court established right to seek an abortion

The effect of women voters

Posit Consequence Result Conclusion

Women have the right to vote

Women can vote for people who represent

their ideas

Women’s rights become

expanded

Voting is the first step towards

greater equality

Second-wave feminism

• The result of women gaining more liberty is a push for gender equality• Second-wave feminism (1963 – 1982) takes root with the publishing of

Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique in which she railed against the stereotypical view of a woman’s place is in the home because it limited her potential• President Kennedy’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women

releases a report indicating extensive discrimination against women throughout American life• These two events spur the growth of local, state and national women’s

rights groups that demand equality with men in all aspects of life• Second-wave feminists viewed pop culture as inherently sexist and

fought to create positive images of strong women

Major laws and social changes

• 1967 Executive Order extends full Affirmative Action rights to women• 1968 EEOC decision ruling sex-segregated help wanted ads are illegal• Title IX and the Women's Educational Equity Act• Title X (health and family planning)• The Equal Credit Opportunity Act• The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978• Marital rape is illegalized (not illegalized in all states until 1993) • The legalization of no-fault divorce• A 1975 law requiring the U.S. Military Academies to admit women• Roe v. Wade

Major laws and social changes

• More than anything, second-wave feminism makes lasting changes to how society views the role of women• Changing gender roles, oppressive laws based on sex, integrating

single-sex colleges and putting a woman on the Supreme Court are major victories for women in America• While pay increased drastically for women, as of 2008, they only make

77% of what a male does in the same job function• The Gender Pay Gap is a hotly contested issue but economists and

sociologist have provided evidence that structural discrimination has played a large role in it

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

• The only major legislative defeat for second-wave feminism was the failure to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)• The proposed amendment to the Constitution was composed as follows:

• Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States of by any State on account of sex.

• Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

• Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.

• The amendment came 3 states short of ratification for the U.S. Constitution• 21 States DO have ERA amendments in their State Constitutions

Women’s Rights Homework• This homework requires 3 steps:1. REGARDLESS OF YOUR PERSONAL VIEWS ON THE SUBJECT, write a speech

someone who opposes giving women the right to vote would give. Include arguments from at least these 3 standpoints:

• Women were not given the right to vote when the Constitution was written, therefore the Founders clearly did not want them to have it

• Women are unable to support the U.S. because they are inherently weaker, both physically and mentally, in the same manner that men are, and as such should not be given the same rights

• Women are not capable of rational thought beyond household duties, and if given the right to vote would be easily swayed by unethical politicians

2. Take the opposing view of the person given the speech in Step 1, and write a letter in response to their (your) allegations from the speech. Remember that you can appeal to emotion, logic, reason, philosophical arguments, etc…

3. Explain why or why not the arguments for or against giving women the right to vote would be applicable to racial minorities (e.g. African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians, etc…)