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The American Civil Liberties Union asks the Rhode Island Supreme Court to allow women to use their own names, rather than that of their husbands.

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Houston, Texas, witnesses the First National Women's Conference, at which twenty thousand representatives, women from all states, gather to pass a far-reaching National Plan of Action.

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Redbook magazine polls its readers about sexual harassment. 90% of young women say they view the situation as serious.

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The United Nations sponsors the First International Conference on Women in Mexico City.

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More than three hundred women from 27 countries attend an International Feminist Planning Conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Their goal is to create an international movement through global conferences.

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Birth control pills approved in and made available a year later.

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New York Radical Feminists hold a series of speakouts and a conference on rape and women's treatment by the criminal justice system.

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President’s Commission on the Status of Women is formed by John F. Kennedy with Eleanor Roosevelt as chair.

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Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique.

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The Feminine Mystique is a book by Betty Friedan, widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States. First published by W. W. Norton on February 19, 1963, The Feminine Mystique became a bestseller, initially selling over a million copies. Friedan used the book to challenge the widely shared belief that "fulfillment as a woman had only one definition for American women after 1949-the housewife-mother."

In 1957, Friedan was asked to conduct a survey of her former Smith College classmates for their 15th anniversary reunion; the results, in which she found that many of them were unhappy with their lives as housewives, prompted her to begin research for The Feminine Mystique, conducting interviews with other suburban housewives, as well as researching psychology, media, and advertising. She originally intended to create an article on the topic, not a book, but no magazine would publish the work.

The phrase "feminine mystique" was coined by Friedan to describe the assumptions that women would be fulfilled from their housework, marriage, sexual lives, and children. The prevailing belief was that women who were truly feminine should not want to work, get an education, or have political opinions. Friedan wanted to prove that women were unsatisfied and could not voice their feelings.

Betty Friedan in 1960

The Feminine Mystique begins with an introduction describing what Friedan called "the problem that has no name"-the widespread unhappiness of women in the 1950s and early 1960s. She discusses the lives of several housewives from around the United States who were unhappy despite living in material comfort and being married with children. Friedan also questions the women's magazine, women's education system, and advertisers for creating this widespread image of women. The detrimental effects induced by this image were that it cornered women into the domestic sphere, and that it led many women to lose their own identities.

Chapter 1: Friedan points out that the average age of marriage was dropping, the portion of women attending college was decreasing and the birthrate was increasing for women throughout the 1950s, yet the widespread trend of unhappy women persisted, although American culture insisted that fulfillment for women could be found in marriage and housewifery. Although aware of and sharing this dissatisfaction, women in the 1950s misinterpreted it as an individual problem and rarely talked about it with other women. As Friedan pointed out, "part of the strange newness of the problem is that it cannot be understood in terms of the age-old material problems of man: poverty, sickness, hunger, cold." This chapter concludes by declaring: "We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: 'I want something more than my husband and my children and my home.'"

Chapter 3: Friedan recalls her own decision to conform to society's expectations by giving up her promising career in psychology to raise children, and shows that other young women still struggled with the same kind of decision. Many women dropped out of school early to marry, afraid that if they waited too long or became too educated, they would not be able to attract a husband. Friedan argues at the end of the chapter that although theorists discuss how men need to find their identity, women are expected to be autonomous. She states, "Anatomy is woman's destiny, say the theorists of femininity; the identity of woman is determined by her biology." Friedan goes on to argue that the problem is women needing to mature and find their human identity: "In a sense that goes beyond any woman's life, I think this is a crisis of women growing up-a turning point from an immaturity that has been called femininity to full human identity."

Chapter 5: In this chapter, Friedan, who had a degree in psychology, criticizes the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud (whose ideas were very influential in the United States at the time of the book's publication). She notes that Freud saw women as childlike and destined to be housewives, once pointing out that Freud wrote, "I believe that all reforming action in law and education would break down in front of the fact that, long before the age at which a man can earn a position in society, Nature has determined woman's destiny through beauty, charm, and sweetness. Law and custom have much to give women that has been withheld from them, but the position of women will surely be what it is: in youth an adored darling and in mature years a loved wife." Friedan also points out that Freud's unproven concept of " penis envy" had been used to label women who wanted careers as neurotic, and that the popularity of Freud's work and ideas elevated the "feminine mystique" of female fulfillment in housewifery into a "scientific religion" that most women were not educated enough to criticize.

Chapter 6: Friedan criticizes functionalism, which attempted to make the social sciences more credible by studying the institutions of society as if they were parts of a social body, as in biology. Institutions were studied in terms of their function in society, and women were confined to their sexual biological roles as housewives and mothers as well as told that doing otherwise would upset the social balance. Friedan points out that this is unproven and that Margaret Mead, a prominent functionalist, had a flourishing career as an anthropologist.

Chapter 8: Friedan notes that the uncertainties and fears during World War II and the Cold War made Americans long for the comfort of home, so they tried to create an idealized home life with the father as breadwinner and the mother as housewife. Friedan notes that this was helped along by the fact that many of the women who worked during the war filling jobs previously held by men faced dismissal, discrimination, or hostility when the men returned, and that educators blamed over-educated, career-focused mothers for the maladjustment of soldiers in World War II. Yet as Friedan shows, later studies found that overbearing mothers, not careerists, were the ones who raised maladjusted children.

Chapter 13: Friedan discusses the psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs and notes that women have been trapped at the basic, physiological level, expected to find their identity through their sexual role alone. Friedan says that women need meaningful work just as men do to achieve self-actualization, the highest level on the hierarchy of needs.

Chapter 14: In the final chapter of The Feminine Mystique, Friedan discusses several case studies of women who have begun to go against the feminine mystique. She also advocates a new life plan for her women readers, including not viewing housework as a career, not trying to find total fulfillment through marriage and motherhood alone, and finding meaningful work that uses their full mental capacity. She discusses the conflicts that some women may face in this journey to self-actualization, including their own fears and resistance from others. For each conflict, Friedan offers examples of women who have overcome it. Friedan ends her book by promoting education and meaningful work as the ultimate method by which American women can avoid becoming trapped in the feminine mystique, calling for a drastic rethinking of what it means to be feminine, and offering several educational and occupational suggestions.

Friedan originally intended to write a sequel to The Feminine Mystique, which was to be called Woman: The Fourth Dimension, but instead only wrote an article by that name, which appeared in the Ladies' Home Journal in June 1964.

Friedan's chapter on Freud was inspired by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex (1949).

The Feminine Mystique drew large numbers of white, middle-class women to the feminist cause. Her book "took the complicated and jargon-laden ideas of psychologists, economists, and political theorists, and translated them into powerful, readable, relatable prose that touched millions."[citation needed ]

The Feminine Mystique was translated into many languages, including a Catalan translation in 1965: La mística de la feminitat. Friedan was the first feminist thinker to be published during the dictatorship of Francoist Spain.[citation needed ]

The National Organization for Women (NOW) was organized in 1966 with 30 women from different backgrounds; Friedan was one of them, and helped draft the founding statement of NOW. The statement called for "the true equality for all women". NOW demanded the removal of all barriers to "equal and economic advance". Friedan's influence can be seen in the founding statement; a main emphasis of the book is "women's need for identity and autonomy", and NOW's statement says "NOW is dedicated to the proposition that women first and foremost are human beings, who... must have the chance to develop their fullest human potential."

The Feminine Mystique is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century, and is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States. Futurist Alvin Toffler declared that it "pulled the trigger on history." Friedan received hundreds of letters from unhappy housewives after its publication, and she herself went on to help found, and become the first president of the National Organization for Women, an influential feminist organization.

In addition to its contribution to feminism, The Feminine Mystique related to many other coinciding movements. "Her work indicates for us the ways that feminism was interconnected with the struggles of working-class men and women, with black and Jewish battles against racism and anti-Semitism... As a result, The Feminine Mystique had substantial impact on a wide range of political activists, thinkers, and ordinary individuals."

By the year 2000, The Feminine Mystique had sold over 3 million copies and had been translated into many foreign languages.

On February 22 and 23, 2013, a symposium titled React: The Feminine Mystique at 50, co-sponsored by The New School for Public Engagement and The Parsons School of Design, was held. An accompanying exhibit titled REACT was also on display, consisting of twenty-five pieces of artwork responding to The Feminine Mystique.

Also in February 2013, a fiftieth-anniversary edition of The Feminine Mystique was published, with a new introduction by Gail Collins.

Also in 2013, to celebrate its centennial the U.S. Department of Labor created a list of over 100 Books that Shaped Work in America, which included The Feminine Mystique. The Department of Labor later chose The Feminine Mystique as one of its top ten books from that list.

Also in 2013, The Feminine Mystique was discussed in Makers: Women Who Make America.

In 2014, the Betty Friedan Hometown Tribute committee won the Superior Achievement award in the special projects category for its 50th anniversary celebration of the publication of The Feminine Mystique. They received the award from the Illinois State Historical Society.

Disagreement

Immediately after its publishing, The Feminine Mystique was the recipient of much backlash against feminism. Significant numbers of women responded angrily to the book, which they felt implied that wives and mothers could never be fulfilled. "Women who valued their roles as mothers and housewives interpreted Friedan's message as one that threatened their stability, devalued their labor, and disrespected their intelligence." In a Letter to Editor in McCall's, one woman wrote, "All this time I thought I was happy, and a nice person. Now I discover I've been miserable and some sort of monster in disguise-now out of disguise. How awful!" Another said, "Mrs. Friedan should save her pity for those who really need it-the half starved, oppressed people in the world." When women critical of the work were not expressing personal offense at Friedan's description of the housewife's plight, they were accusing her of planning to destroy American families. Jessica Weiss quoted in her paper, "If the mothers, (or housewives as we are called) took this advice, what would become of our children? Or better yet, the future of the world."

Historian Joanne Meyerowitz argues that many of the contemporary magazines and articles of the period did not place women solely in the home, as Friedan stated, but in fact supported the notions of full- or part-time jobs for women seeking to follow a career path rather than being a housewife. These articles did, however, still emphasize the importance of maintaining the traditional image of femininity.

Author and publication process

Daniel Horowitz, a Professor of American Studies at Smith College, points out that although Friedan presented herself as a typical suburban housewife, she was involved with radical politics and labor journalism in her youth, and during the time she wrote The Feminine Mystique she worked as a freelance journalist for women's magazines and as a community organizer.

The W. W. Norton publishing house, where Betty Friedan's work was initially circulated to be published as a book also generated some criticism. In fact an employee under the alias "L M" wrote in a two-page memo that Friedan's theoretical views were "too obvious and feminine", as well as critiquing her approach by suggesting it to be unscientific.

Excluded groups of women

In addition, Friedan has been criticized for focusing solely on the plight of middle-class white women, and not giving enough attention to the differing situations encountered by women in less stable economic situations, or women of other races or trans-women. According to Kirsten Fermaglich and Lisa Fine, "women of color-African American, Latina, Asian American and Native American women-were completely absent from Friedan's vision, as were white working-class and poor women." Despite being written during the Civil Rights Movement, Friedan's text "barely mentions African-American women." In her Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, Black feminist bell hooks writes "She did not speak of the needs of women without men, without children, without homes. She ignored the existence of all non-white women and poor white women. She did not tell readers whether it was more fulfilling to be a maid, a babysitter, a factory worker, a clerk, or a prostitute than to be a leisure-class housewife. She made her plight and the plight of white women like herself synonymous with a condition affecting all American women. In so doing, she deflected attention away from her classism, her racism, her sexist attitudes towards the masses of American women. In the context of her book, Friedan makes clear that the women she saw as victimized by sexism were college-educated white women".

Friedan has also been criticized for prejudice against homosexuality. In part, this criticism stems from her adherence to the paradigmatic belief at the time that "bad mothers" caused deviance from heteronormative and cisnormative society.

Despite these criticisms, her "language aimed at white American middle-class women won large numbers of supporters to the feminist cause," implying perhaps that Friedan's decision to exclude other groups was deliberate in mobilizing a group of women that had in some cases not thought of the improvement of their rights.

Coontz, Stephanie. A Strange Stirring: "The Feminine Mystique" and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s (Basic Books; 2011) 222 pages ISBN 0-465-00200-5

Meyerowitz, Joanne. "The Myth of the Feminine Mystique" in Myth America: A Historical Anthology, Volume II. 1997. Gerster, Patrick, and Cords, Nicholas. (eds.) Brandywine Press, St. James, NY. ISBN 1-881089-97-5

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The Feminine Mystique is a book by Betty Friedan, widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States. First published by W. W. Norton on February 19, 1963, The Feminine Mystique became a bestseller, initially selling over a million copies.

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Congress passes the Civil Rights Act that includes Title VII prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex .

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President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act.

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October LBJ signs Executive Order 11375 forbidding sex discrimination in businesses working with the government.

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For the first time, feminists use the slogan "Sisterhood is Powerful."

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Shop Sisterhood is powerful sisterhood is powerful posters and art prints designed by bubbsnugg as well as other sisterhood is powerful merchandise at TeePublic.

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First national women's liberation conference held in Lake Villa, IL.

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US Representative Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn took office.

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August 26th- Tens of thousands of women across the U.S. participate in the "A Women’s Strike Day" to demand equality.

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Sisterhood Is Powerful, An Anthology of Writings from the Women's Liberation Movement edited by Robin Morgan is published.

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March 2, 1982 - Wisconsin becomes the first state to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

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March 2, 1982 - Wisconsin becomes the first state to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation.

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January 9, 1978 - Harvey Milk is inaugurated as San Francisco city supervisor, and is the first openly gay man to be elected to a political office in California. In November, Milk and Mayor George Moscone are murdered by Dan White, who had recently resigned from his San Francisco board position and wanted Moscone to reappoint him. White later serves just over five years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.

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January 9, 1978 - Harvey Milk is inaugurated as San Francisco city supervisor, and is the first openly gay man to be elected to a political office in California. In November, Milk and Mayor George Moscone are murdered by Dan White, who had recently resigned from his San Francisco board position and wanted Moscone to reappoint him. White later serves just over five years in prison for voluntary manslaughter.

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After undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 1975, ophthalmologist and professional tennis player Renee Richards is banned from competing in the women's US Open because of a "women-born-women" rule. Richards challenges the decision and in 1977, the New York Supreme Court rules in her favor. Richards competes in the 1977 US Open but is defeated in the first round by Virginia Wade.

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After undergoing gender reassignment surgery in 1975, ophthalmologist and professional tennis player Renee Richards is banned from competing in the women's US Open because of a "women-born-women" rule. Richards challenges the decision and in 1977, the New York Supreme Court rules in her favor. Richards competes in the 1977 US Open but is defeated in the first round by Virginia Wade.

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1965 February 8: Aerial bombing of North Vietnam by the US, Tet Offensive is started later that year, increasing the troop need in Vietnam.

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1965 February 8: Aerial bombing of North Vietnam by the US, Tet Offensive is started later that year, increasing the troop need in Vietnam.

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American spy planes discover Soviet missiles in Cuba and because of this, travel to and from Cuba is prohibited. Travel to and from Cuba is prohibited. The United States blocks a Soviet plan to establish missile bases in Cuba. The Soviet Premier withdraws the missiles on the condition that the United States publicly declares it will not invade Cuba.

After the Community Service Organization turns down Cesar Chavez's request, as their President, to organize farm workers, Cesar and Dolores Huerta resign from the CSO. They form the National Farm Workers Association.

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Congress allows the first female page in the House of Representatives.

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1965 February 21: Malcolm X  assassinated

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1965 February 21: Malcolm X  assassinated

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When the Black panther party was created

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The Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund opens its doors and becomes the first legal fund to pursue protection of the civil rights of Mexican Americans.

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Faced with slum housing, inadequate schools and rising unemployment, Puerto Rican youth in Chicago form the Young Lords Organization, inspired in part by the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X. An outgrowth of the Young Lords street gang, the YLO becomes a vibrant community organization, creating free breakfast programs for kids and community health clinics. Modeled after the Black Panthers, the YLO uses direct action and political education to bring public attention to issues affecting their community. The group later spreads to New York City.

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In your groups, access the timelines provided below or use our textbook.  Choose 8 events that you think define your assigned movement's development from 1960 to 1973 (don't go beyond 1973). Include the date (put them in order, earliest first); include images where appropriate and write a brief explanation of your event. Be prepared to explain why you included the events you did.  

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In your groups, access the timelines provided below or use our textbook.  Choose 8 events that you think define your assigned movement's development from 1960 to 1973 (don't go beyond 1973). Include the date (put them in order, earliest first); include images where appropriate and write a brief explanation of your event. Be prepared to explain why you included the events you did.  

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Counterculture & Rights Movements timelines

Women's Liberation:

https://www.cwluherstory.org/supplemental-writings/a-womens-liberation-timeline-1960-1977

https://www.thoughtco.com/significant-american-feminist-protests-3529008

Gay Rights:

https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/19/us/lgbt-rights-milestones-fast-facts/index.html

Counterculture (year by year):

https://wiki2.org/en/Timeline_of_1960s_counterculture

http://self.gutenberg.org/article/whebn0045684607/timeline%20of%201960s%20counterculture

Latino Rights:

https://www.pbs.org/latino-americans/en/timeline/

https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/latino-civil-rights-timeline-1903-to-2006

Native American Rights:

https://www.edi.nih.gov/blog/communities/native-american-heritage-timeline-20th-%E2%80%93-21st-century

https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/native-american-activism-1960s-to-present/

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The U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare issues a memorandum saying students cannot be denied access to educational programs because of an inability to speak English.

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Herman Badillo is elected into the U.S. House of Representatives, making him the first Puerto Rican to serve in Congress.

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Miami officially becomes bilingual, following a referendum sponsored by its growing Cuban community.

Maurice Ferre becomes mayor of Miami, making him the first Puerto Rican to lead a major city in the mainland United States.

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January 14, 1975 - The first federal gay rights bill is introduced to address discrimination based on sexual orientation. The bill later goes to the Judiciary Committee but is never brought for consideration.

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January 14, 1975 - The first federal gay rights bill is introduced to address discrimination based on sexual orientation. The bill later goes to the Judiciary Committee but is never brought for consideration.

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1974 - Elaine Noble is the first openly gay candidate elected to a state office when she is elected to the Massachusetts State legislature.

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1974 - Elaine Noble is the first openly gay candidate elected to a state office when she is elected to the Massachusetts State legislature.

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The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in the DSM-II Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

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Che Guevera dies. He was a symbol for counterculture.

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MLK assassinated

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Language Assistance Gained at Voting Stations 1975

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Language Assistance Gained at Voting Stations 1975

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In 1975, the U.S. Voting Rights Act requires language assistance at polling stations. Led to increased political representation of Latinos in U.S. politics.

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Tet Offensive is launched in Vietnam

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June 28, 1969, Movement spearheaded by black trans women. Started when the Stonewall Inn, a well known gay bar was raided by police.

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A nyc based civilian patrol group based around combatting anti-LGBTQ violence in Manhattan's West Village.