Introduction
The women’s movement or feminist movement is a series of campaigns whose aim is reforms on various issues like domestic violence, reproductive rights, equal pay, sexual harassment, sexual violence, and women’s suffrage, all of which fall under feminism label. The priorities of these movements vary among communities and nations and actually range from the opposition to FGM in one nation or to glass ceiling in the other. These movements began in western world in 19th century and have gone through the first wave feminism, second wave feminism, and third wave feminism.
During 1950s and 1960s, there was an increase in the number of married women who entered the labour force. However, in 1963 an average working woman was earning only 63% of what a particular man earned. These movements drew their inspiration from civil rights movement. It was actually made up of middle class members hence partook rebellion spirit which affected large segments of the middle class youth in 1960s. Therefore, the success of civil rights movements made these women movements stronger since many women were also present in these civil rights movements.
In fact, there was a close connection between these women movements and the Greensboro sit-ins in the 1960 and the 1963 Equal Pay Act passage. Equal Pay Act objective was to abolish the wage disparities that were based on sex. It was actually signed into law in 1963. This act was a major boost in the women movements as it denounced sex discrimination. The Greensboro sit-ins were non violent protests that took place in 1960 and as a result they were relevant in the 1960s women movements as they provided avenues for women to air their grievance.
References
Reines, W. (2006). The trouble between us: An uneasy history of white and Black women in the feminist movement. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Collier-Thomas, B., & Franklin, V. P. (2001). Sisters in the struggle: African American women in the civil rights-black power movement. New York: New York University Press
Hall, S. (2005). Peace and freedom: The civil rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
