"The personal is the political"
-Carol Hanisch, 1969
-Carol Hanisch, 1969
The era“Equal pay for equal work!”
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was written in 1923 by Suffragette Alice Paul. The original language was simple: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States of by any state on account of sex." It represented equality of the sexes in the eyes of the law and the promise of an escape for the under-appreciated American woman. The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress in 1972, but never gained enough state ratifications to amend the Constitution. Although it was never passed, the Women's Movement's push for equal pay forced change. Video length: 29 seconds
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Roe v. wade"If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." -Flo Kennedy
The right to a safe, legal choice for a woman to terminate her pregnancy was another key issue for the Second-Wave feminists. In January of 1973, The Supreme Court deemed abortion a fundamental right under the United States Constitution. In taking away the federal government's control over a woman's uterus, women achieved further liberation. "We are not here to advocate abortion. We do not ask this Court to rule that abortion is good or desirable in any particular situation. We are here to advocate that the decision as to whether or not a particular woman will continue to carry or will terminate a pregnancy is a decision that should be made by that individual. That, in fact, she has a constitutional right to make that decision for herself and that the state has shown no interest in interfering with that decision.” -Lead Prosecuting Attorney Sarah Weddington |