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June always said that most people bit off more that they could chew, but August chewed more than she bit off (Kidd 244).

August is strong female character that helps Lily grow into who she is at the end of the book. Having strong female leaders to look up to was essential for the feminist movement. These leaders helped drive the movement and helped others along the way just as August helps Lily.

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Prior to the feminist movement in the 1960s, the role of the suburban housewife emerged in the 1950s. After WWII, more women were participating in the workplace and expected to receive respect for their contributions to their country. However, women were forced out of the workforce in order to fulfill a role many of them did not want.

The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone
(Treanor 84).

Women were feeling trapped in their own homes and had no other choice but to stay quiet. They were financially dependent on their husbands and therefore could not leave. This feeling was portrayed in Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique. The release of her book is essentially what started the second wave of feminism. Middle class women felt seen and that now their voices could be heard.

Nobody around here had ever seen a lady beekeeper till her. She liked to tell everybdy that women made the best beekeepers, 'cause they have a special ability built into them to love creatures that sting. 'It comes from years of loving children and husbands,' she'd say
(Kidd 143)

August is talking to Lily about her grandmother, Big Mama, who also kept bees and taught August how to keep bees. Big Mama’s reasoning for why women make the best bee keepers shows the role women are traditionally associated with, mothers and wives. However, women can be so much more than that when they aren’t confined to these roles.

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Betty Friedan was a leader in the second wave of feminist from the 1960's to the 1970's. She was born in 1921 in Peoria Illinois and was the oldest of three children. Betty graduated from Smith College and then trained as a psychologist at the University of California. Then, as WWII continued on, she became involved in multiply political causes, which prompted her to move to New York. She started working as a reporter for the Federated Press, and later became a writer for the UE News. Her politics continued to move towards the left, and Betty became involved with various labor and union issues. She married Carl Friedan and had three children. Betty then became a housewife and began her research for what would become The Feminine Mystique in the late 1950's. She spent the next five years interviewing women, charting women, and gathering information about wives and mothers. Betty published The Feminine Mystique in 1963 and it quickly became a best-seller. She was able to related with women so well and it helped bring public awareness to the feminist movement. In 1966, Betty helps co-found the National Organization for Women (NOW) and she became their first president. She continued to be a busy activist throughout the 60's and 70's and helped found multiple other Leagues and Organizations. Betty influenced change in the standard of American women and outdated laws. She remained a advocate for women's rights and was referred to as the 'mother' of the modern women's movement. Since the 70's, she has published several books, taught at high ranking universities, and lectured around the world about women's rights. Betty Friedan died in 2006 of congestive heart failure.

Each suburban wife struggles with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night- she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question-- 'Is this all?'
-Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique

#Betty e Friedan

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Lily, the main protagonist in The Secret Life of Bees, lost her mother when she was very young and has grown up without a proper mother figure. This role that was enforced by society in the 50s and 60s makes Lily feel like she needs a her biological mother to guide her. Instead, Lily finds comfort in the Boatwright sisters who serve as non traditional mother figures for Lily.

This is what I know about myself. She was all I wanted (Kidd 8).

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Case of Jane Roe v Henry Wade. Roe iled a lawsuit against Wade to challenge a Texas law making abortions illegal except by the means to save a woman's life. Roe argued that the state laws were unconstitutionally vague and abridged her right of personal privacy, which is protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. The question at hand was:

Does the Constitution recognize a woman's right to terminate her pregnacy by abortion?

Roe ended up winning the case by a vote of 7-2. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects against state action on the right to privcy, and abortion falls within that right to privacy.
#MyBodyMyChoice

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The National Organization for Women (NOW) adopted a Bill of Rights for their organization. They listed what they demand from American society. This included their demand to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, equal opportunity, childcare facilities, education, and to control their own reproductive lives. America Dreaming by Laban Carrick Hill describes the feminist movement throughout the 60's, and how women felt they were being treated. Hill also describes the NOW Bill of Rights, stating

I. That the U.S. Congress immediately pass the Equal Rights Amendment...
II. That equal employment opportunity be guaranteed to all women...
III. That women be protected by law to ensure their rights to return to their jobs within a reasonable time after childbirth...
IV. Immediate revision of tax laws...
V. That childcare facilities be established by law...
VI. That the right of women to be educated to their full potential...
VII. The right of women in poverty to secure job training, housing, and family allowances...
VIII. The right of women to control their own reproductive lives...

(Hill 96). This page in this book shows all of NOW's adopted demand with this Bill of Rights. Without the Bill of Rights, the NOW organization wouldn't of been as influential or as organized as they were.

#EqualRights

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The first national movement for women’s rights happened in Seneca Falls, New York. Led by Elizabeth Candy Stanton, around 300 people attended the Seneca Falls Convention to talk and form the women’s right movement. Watch this video to learn more about the event, and how this convention affected the women's right movement.
#StartOfANewEra

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What Happened at the Seneca Falls Convention? | History

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May 9 - FDA approves the first birth control pill, which was nicknamed “The Pill”.

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Although not a part of the second wave of feminism in the 1960s, the women’s suffrage movement was equally as important in advancing women’s rights. Most women were influenced to join the cause by the leaders of the suffrage movement. This included Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and more. These women had all been involved in political movements prior to advocating for women’s suffrage, including prohibition, abolition, and reformation. They showed the country why women should be involved in politics and why they deserve the right to vote alongside men, and in 1920, the nineteenth amendment was passed that finally granted women the right to vote.
#VotesForWomen

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Margaret Sanger, a prominent feminist figure before the second wave, heavily advocated for equal access to contraceptives and birth control for all women. Her main goal was to remove the stigma surrounding the use of contraceptives and provide easy access to birth control. Due to the lack of information surrounding birth control and contraceptives, the poor and middles classes were using outdated methods to prevent pregnancy. This then led to poor women having many kids that they could not take care of, widening the gap between social classes. The decision resulting from Griswold v. Connecticut was monumental for the feminist movement. Women and married couples could no longer be denied contraceptives. With the help of Sanger, birth control was more readily available to women who needed it and the stigma has since nearly diminished.

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Gloria Steinem started her career in New York City as a journalist. Female journalists in the 50s and 60s had trouble getting decent assignments because newsrooms consisted of predominantly men. Steinem gained attention in 1963 when she went undercover to report on Hugh Hefner's Playboy Club to reveal the poor conditions playboy bunnies truly faced. Unfortunately, Steinem wasn't taken seriously after this assignment, but was determined to speak on important feminist issues. In 1968, she helped found New York magazine where she reported on social issues and political campaigns. Steinem would go on to write multiple books and speak publicly for the first time in 1969 on legalizing abortion.

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MLA - Michals, Debra. "Gloria Steinem." National Women's History Museum, 2017. Date accessed.

Chicago - Michals, Debra "Gloria Steinem." National Women's History Museum. 2017. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/gloria-steinem.

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Trailblazing feminist Gloria Steinem is an acclaimed journalist and one of the most visible, passionate leaders and spokeswomen of the women's rights movement. Discover more at womenshistory.org.

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The Equal Pay Act of 1963 states that

Women could no longer be paid less than men for doing comparable work at the same job.

Signed into law by President John F. Kennedy, this Act proved to be necessary in the move towards gender equality. While, women are still continually paid less than men, the Equal Pay Act helped close the gap for working women in the 1960s.  https://www.womenshistory.org/exhibits/feminism-second-wave

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In addition to the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 included a clause that pushed towards equality for women in the workplace. Title VII

Prevented employers from discriminating employees on the basis of race, religion, sex, or national origin.

This legislation gave women some sense of security, but discrimination was very common in the 1960s and still is today.

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The civil rights movement emerged before the second wave of feminism. African American women were already fighting against Jim Crow Laws and voter restrictions, and were now fighting for their rights as women. However, it was common for black women to be exploited by the feminist movement and for their concerns to be ignored. For example, members of the NOW heavily disagreed with Betty Friedan’s use of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to push for more jobs for white women in the middle class. As a result, many African American women started to form their own feminist organizations.

But she's white, August
(Kidd 87)

June says this to August while questioning the story Lily gave to them. Lily overhears this conversation and is shocked that someone might judge her for being white. Lily wouldn’t have any experience with racial discrimination towards herself like August and June would. This shows the divide that occurred in the feminist movement between white women and black women.

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Rosaleen refuses to back down against a group of white men who shout racial slurs at her. Due to the fact that Rosaleen is black, she faces further discrimination on top of the sexism she faces with being a woman. Her stubbornness showcases true femininity because she doesn’t just sit back and take the discrimination.

Rosaleen lifted her snuff jug, which was filled with black spit, and calmly poured it across the tops of the men’s shoes (Kidd 32).

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The gay rights movement rose in popularity in the 1960s with demonstrations being held in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. in 1965, and the Stonewall riots in 1969. However, this movement primarily focused on male gay rights and excluded lesbian women. As a result, they turned to the feminist movement and advocated for gay rights and feminist rights. In 1971 a resolution was adopted by the NOW that recognized lesbian rights.

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JFK helped kick-start the modern women's movement. One of Kennedy's first actions that was in the interest of women was establishing a national Commission on the Status of Women who he appoined former first lady Elanor Roosevelt as the commitie's chair. He proceeded to order federal agencies to end sex discrimination in hiring. In 1963, JKF signed into law the Equal Pay Act. These actions helped bring together the feminist movement and gave the movement the political megaphone they needed.

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Hey sky, take off your hat, I'm on my way!
-Valentina Tereshkova

Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first women to travel to space on June 16th, 1963. She helped the Soviet space program achieve another 'space first' before the United Stsates. The United States restricted their astronaut qualification to men. Because of women like Valentina, women started breaking more barriers around the world. Valentina was able to show the world that women are just as capable as men to do amazing things and to reach for the stars.

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Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex
-Equal Right Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. It seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters.

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Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Equal Rights Amendment

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Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman in Congress in 1968 and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties in 1972. Shirley was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1924 and was the oldest of four daughters. She graduated Brooklyn College in 1946 where she was apart of the debate team. She often felt 'double handicaped' because she was both Black and female. She initially worked as a nursery school teacher where she married Conrad Chisholm. She proceeded to earn a amster's degreee from Columbia University in early childhood education. Shirley then joined local chapters of League of Women Voter and other oranizations. in 1964, Shirley ran and became the second African American in the new York State Legislature. Then, in 1968, Shirley Chisholm won a seat in congress. She continued to fight for and work twoards gender and racal equality, the plight of the poor, and ending the Vietnam War. She co-founded a caucus and then became the first Black woman to serve of the House Rules Committee. Shirley faced discrimination, but she persisted through and was able to retire from congress in 1983. She died in 2005.
#GirlBossing

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Nov. 1 - 50,000 women protested nuclear weapons and U.S. involvement in a Southeast Asia war. It was called the ‘Women Strike for Peace’ and was organized by Bella Abzug.

Dec. 14 - the President’s Commission on the Status of Women was established through an executive order by John F. Kennedy. Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady, chaired the commission.

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A woman named Sherri Finkbine traveled to Sweden for an abortion after learning that a traquilizer drug she had taken, Thalidomide, caused deformities to the fetus.

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Feb. 17 - The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was published.

June 10 - President John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law.

June 16 - The Soviet Union sent Valentina Tereshkova into space as the first woman in outer space.

Sep.15 - The 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama by white supremacist terrorist

I looked in the direction of the wall, invisible now in the darkness. Birmingham, Sept 15, four little angels dead
(Kidd 98).

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The Civil Rights Act was signed which included Title VII; which prohibited discriminations based on sex by private employers.

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The Supreme Court struck down a law restricting access to contraception for married couples in Griswold v. Connecticut

“Women Artists of America: 1707-1964” looked at women’s art through the years when it had been often neglected.

Barabara Castle becomes Minister of Transport, which is the first UK female minister of state.

July 2 - The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began operations

December - “Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII” was published

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The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded and sets up task forces to work on key women’s issues

A television sitcom called ‘That Girl’ started Marlo Thomans and was about a young, independent, single career woman.

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President Johnson amended Executive Order 11246 to include sex discrimination as prohibited employment discrimination.

The New York Radical Women formed in New York City.

August - The National Welfare Rights Organization formed in Washington D.C.

Jo Freeman published a newsletter called “Voice of the women’s liberation movement”

June: Naomi Weisstein and Heath Booth held a "free school" at the University of Chicago on women's issues. Jo Freeman was among the attendees and was inspired to organize a woman's session at the National Conference of New Politics. A woman's caucus of NCNP formed, and when that was belittled from the floor, a group of women met at Jo Freeman's apartment a group that evolved into the Chicago Women's Liberation Union.

Please, Lily, you are insulting your fine intelligence. Do you have any idea how smart you are?
(Kidd 16)

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NOW launch a major campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

The first African-American woman, Shirley Chisholm, was elected into the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Women’s Equity Action League broke off from NOW because of controversial ideals

The National Welfare Rights Organization was founded

Women at the Dagenham (UK) Ford factory nearly stopped all UK Ford automobile plants because of a strike for equal pay.

Feb 23 - Being female was not a bona fide occupational qualification for being a flight attendant was ruled by the EEOC.

Sep. 7 - The ‘Miss America Protest’ was led by New York Radical Women at the Miss America pageant brought widespread media attention to women’s liberation

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The Abortion Counseling Service of Women’s LIberation began operating in Chicago under the conde name “Jane”.

Redstockings, a radical feminist group, began in New York.

March 21 - The Redstockings staged a nabortion speakout

May - NOW activists marched Washington D.C. for Mother’s Day, demanding “Rights, Not Roses”.

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The Supreme Court case, Griswold v. Connecticut, ruled that restricting a woman's access to contraceptives and other forms of birth control is prohibited. This case was very influential in the decision regarding Roe v. Wade, which secured the right for women to have an abortion.

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Margaret Sanger was the founder of the birth control movement in the United States and a leader in the field. She is credited with creating the term 'birth control'. Throughout her life, Margaret was aboe to witness the relationships between poverty, uncontrolled fertility, high rates of infant and maternal mortality, and deaths from botched illegal abortions. Seeing this, she believed in every woman's right to avoid unwanted prgnacies and devoted herself to publish the facts about contraception. She wrote books, pamphlets, and magazine advocating her views. She opened the first birth control clinic in the United States. Margaret was arested with 'public nuisance', but the charges only helped gain public favor for the birth control movement. After jail, she founded the American Birth Conrol League and traveled around the world to advocate for birth control. Margaret was considered an American Social Reformer. She died in 1966.