FREE Women's Liberation Movement Essay (original) (raw)

The twenty-year period between 1955-1975 can be looked at as the era of protest in United States history. Popular social protests were opposition to the Vietnam war and the civil rights movements protests, which was exemplified by the struggle for black equality. Though, both of these reasons were significant they were not the only reasons US citizens conducted protests. Other reasons for protests included the women's liberation, gay liberation, and the environmental movement. All three of these reasons were significant and have had influential impact on modern day life.
The Women's Liberation Movement (WLM) exploded into existence in the late 1960's in America after a period of relative inactivity in feminism during the 1950's. It was a movement', not an organization and consisted of numerous women's groups, all campaigning for different feminist goals. It is said that WLM grew out of the civil rights movement. It is also said that the book Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan, cofounder of NOW, also played a role in the establishment of the WLM. The three main trends within the WLM were socialist feminism, liberal feminism and radical feminism; each saw women's problems in a different light and stressed different solutions. Socialist feminism saw women's problem as being a combination of male domination and class exploitation and viewed the end of capitalism as the way to achieve gender equality. Liberal feminism concentrated on equal rights and attempted to bring about change in legislation and government policy. Lastly, Radical feminism saw the system of male dominance over women (patriarchy) as women's problem. Campaigns against pornography and male violence, was viewed as the way for change. .
One of the different women's groups was the National Organization for Women (NOW), which helped symbolize liberal feminism. Formed in 1966, NOW promoted its pledge, "to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now- (Farragher).

1. Was The Women's Liberation Movement Radical?

Debate: Was the Women's Liberation Movement Radical? ... To figure out if the women's liberation movement was a radical one, we should first look at the definition of radical. ... According to this definition the women's liberation movement was indeed a radical one. The women's movement was primarily pushed by young educated women who found it difficult to go to a life as housewife after attending college. ... Although many of these women's liberation protestors, or feminists as they are sometimes called, found themselves fighting resistance from other more trad...

2. The Women's Liberation Movement

The Women's Liberation Movement a series of political campaigns for reforms on issues. The movement tried to improve conditions for women over the past decades. ... The Women's Liberation Movement should not be a one-time event because it's reminding us that changes are still occurring for improvements for women. ... Some doctors felt that women getting an abortion caused women to feel guilty and become divorced (Solinger). ... White women were not treated like black women, even though they produced closely to or even more babies than black women. ...

3. Civil Rights and Women's Liberation

This movement's success inspired many other social movements, including the Women's Liberation Movement. ... It will be discussed that the Civil Rights Movement influenced the Women's Liberation Movement in four key ways. ... The Civil Rights Movement also acted as a training ground for the eventual participants in the women's liberation movement. ... The women in SNCC served as an important link between the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Liberation Movement. ... Links between the Civil Rights Movement and the Women's Liberation Movement attracted women...

4. Journalism and the Women's Rights Movement

The women who began the movement included Susan B. ... These women began using journalism as a way to broaden the effects the movement had on women. ... Many great women were prominent in the movement. ... In the postwar period, few social commentators thought about the liberation of both sexes from the traditional definitions of women's work and men's work. ... With the start of the Women's Liberation movement in the mid-sixties (Cot, Gordon, Stacey, Mitchell, and Oakley 5) came Betty Friedan who wrote The Feminine Mystique, in 1963. ...

5. The History of Feminism

A couple of years later, the Feminism movement increased its importance around the population, by a political theory of Mary Wollstonecraft, "Vindication of the Rights of Women", that was published in 1792. ... It followed the demands of the WLM (Women's Liberation Movement ). ... The second-wave feminism movement still exists until our days. ... But this is not the way, the third movement wanted to go, so instead they fought for an equality of rights among every single women. The third movement started in 1990s. ...

6. Women's Involvement In The Civil Rights

Women's experiences in the Civil Rights Movement can tell us a lot about the lives of ordinary and extraordinary women and their ability to access and be denied power in a movement for black liberation that was based on the idea of equality. ... Women of all different social classes and racial backgrounds participated in many different capacities throughout the black liberation movement. ... One such woman is Ella Baker who for nearly 50 years worked within many different areas of the civil rights and black liberation movement in various capacities. ... We must be careful to avoid the...

7. The Gay Liberation Movement from 1860 to 1971

Table of Contents Part I: Introduction 3 Part II: The Gay Rights Movement in the US from 1860-1969 1. 1860-1935: "The Movement that did not exist- 4 2. 1950-1969: "The Three Major Groups and Their Aims and Criticisms- 2.1 Mattachine Society 6 2.2 One, Inc. 8 2.3 Daughters of Bilitis 9 Part III: The Stonewall Riots in 1969 11 Part IV: The Gay Liberation Front 13 4.1 Carl Wittman's "A Gay Manifesto- 14 Part ...

8. Womens Participation in the Nationalist Movements in Europe

In the rise of nationalist movements and modern nation-states in the 20th century, women are actively participating in the movement for liberation. ... Manmohini, a participant in the Indian struggle for independence, portrays the role of Indian women as restricted before the movement of 1930 - 1932. The success of the satyagraha lay in the fact that Indian women were allowed to participate in the liberation movement of India. ... Marie-Aimée Helie-Lucas (#5), a participant in the Algerian War of Independence (1954 - 1962), wrote that the women involved in the Algerian Independence w...

9. African Women, Women Of The Third World,

At the present time, one can see an increase in the number of women involved in the liberation movements of their countries such as in Guinea. ... They fight together, literally bearing arms for a common ideal: the liberation of their country. ... Whether they belong to an underground resistance movement or not, the colonial perceives them as a target just as much as he does the man. ... This is a logical, legitimate question to ask, since the world has seen the end of several wars of liberation, such as Guinea, in recent years. ... Nevertheless, as the women of Guinea have demonstrated, s...

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