The Women's Rights Movement in the 1960s

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the Women's civil rights movement in 1960s, USA. It looks at the different motivations held by women taking part. Discusses the internal divisions and different groups within the movement and the goals and different motivations for protest.

From the Paper:

"There was a great deal of variation in the causes and preoccupations of the women's movement. Initially, the women's rights movement emerged from the involvement of women in general civil rights protests. However, there are background causes that can be traced back to long before the civil rights movement. Protest stemmed from the place that women had in society at the start of the 60's. The women's movement was riddled with internal divisions and different groups within the movement had different motivations for protest and different goals.
The woman's rights movement was very much tied up in the rest of the protest movement on the 60's. It is often argued that the women's movement originated from the involvement of women in race protests. This is the line of argument taken by Sara Evans in her writing that concentrates on the link between the woman's movement and the black movement: "the struggle for racial equality has been midwife for the feminist movement." The argument runs that the movement started because of the experiences of white middle class women in the non violent protests about race. The argument runs that sparks of new protest in the women's movement were ignited by the race movement in two main ways. Firstly, the women who participated gained a new kind of confidence. The protestation empowered them and they learnt that non-violent action could affect change. They also gained practical experience of protest and learnt ideas about the organization and mobilization that were vital for effective protest. Evans also claims that white women were inspired and spurred on by the strength of character of black women who they encountered. She suggests that there was a particular breed of black women who were particularly strong and resilient who played a role in the racial protest and that their unique sort of femininity was greatly admired by the white women."

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