I graduated from high school in 1971.
The following list is of NINE things a woman couldn’t do in 1971.
In 1971 a woman could not:
1. Get a Credit Card in her own name. It wasn’t until 1974 that a law forced credit card companies to issue cards to women without their husband’s signature.
2. Be guaranteed that they wouldn’t be unceremoniously fired for the offense of getting pregnant – that changed with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.
3. Serve on a jury. It varied by state (Utah deemed women fit for jury duty way back in 1879), but the main reason women were kept out of jury pools was that they were considered the center of the home, their primary responsibility as caregivers. They were also thought to be too fragile to hear the grisly details of crimes and too sympathetic by nature to be able to remain objective about those accused of offenses. In 1961, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a Florida law that exempted women from serving on juries. It wasn’t until 1973 that women could serve on juries in all 50 states.
4. Fight on the front lines. Admitted into military academies in 1976, it wasn’t until 2013 that the military ban on women in combat was lifted. Prior to 1973 women were only allowed in the military as nurses or support staff.
5. Get an Ivy League education. Yale and Princeton didn’t accept female students until 1969. Harvard didn’t admit women until 1977, when it merged with the all-female Radcliffe College. Brown (which merged with women’s college Pembroke), Dartmouth, and Columbia did not offer admission to women until 1971, 1972 and 1981, respectively. Other case-specific instances allowed some women to take certain classes at Ivy League institutions, such as Barnard women taking classes at Columbia, but by and large, women in the ’60s who harbored Ivy League dreams had to put them on hold.
6. Take legal action against workplace sexual harassment. The first time a court recognized office sexual harassment as grounds for any legal action was in 1977.
7. Decide not to have sex if their husband wanted to. Spousal rape wasn’t criminalized in all 50 states until 1993.
8. Obtain health insurance at the same monetary rate as a man. Sex discrimination wasn’t outlawed in health insurance until 2010 and today many, including sitting elected officials at the Federal level, feel women don’t mind paying a little more.
9. Take the birth control pill: Issues like reproductive freedom and a woman’s right to decide when and whether to have children were only just beginning to be openly discussed in the 1960s. In 1957, the FDA approved of the birth control pill but only for “severe menstrual distress.” In 1960, the pill was approved for use as a contraceptive. The pill was illegal in some states and could be prescribed only to married women for purposes of family planning. Not all pharmacies stocked it. Some of those opposed said oral contraceptives were immoral, promoted prostitution, and were tantamount to abortion. It wasn’t until several years later that birth control was approved for use by all women, regardless of marital status. In short, birth control meant a woman could complete her education, enter the work force and plan her own life.
10. Prior to 1880, the age of consent for sex was set at 10 or 12 in more states, with the exception of Delaware, where it was 7 YEARS OLD!
Feminism is NOT just for other women.
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Gloria Steinem is an American feminist journalist and social political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the American feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a columnist for New York Magazine and a co-founder of Ms. Magazine. In 1969, Steinem published an article, “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation,” which brought her to national fame as a feminist leader. In 1971, she co-founded theNational Women’s Political Caucus providing training and support for women who seek elected and appointed offices in government. In 1971, she co-founded the Women’s Action Alliance which, until 1997, provided support to feminist activists and worked to advance feminist causes and legislation. In the 1990s, Steinem helped establish Take Our Daughters To Work Day, an occasion for young girls to learn about future career opportunities. In2005, Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan co-founded the Women’s Media Center, an organization that “works to make women visible and powerful in the media”. Steinem still travels internationally as an organizer and lecturer and is a media spokeswoman on issues of equality.
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was the first African American woman in Congress (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 (1972). Her motto and title of her autobiography—Unbought and Unbossed—illustrates her outspoken advocacy for women and minorities during her seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Betty Naomi Friedan, summa cum laude psychology graduate of Smith College in 1942, co-founder of the National Organization for Women, was one of the early leaders of the women’s rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Her 1963 best-selling book, The Feminine Mystique, gave voice to millions of American women’s frustrations with their limited gender roles and helped spark widespread public activism for gender equality.
Know your HERstory.
