WOMEN'S MOVEMENT AND GENDER POLITICS
Foundations and Origins
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Second-wave feminism broadened the debate to include a wider range of issues: sexuality, family, domesticity, the workplace, reproductive rights, de facto inequalities, and official legal inequalities. It was a movement that was focused on critiquing patriarchal, or male-dominated, institutions and cultural practices throughout society. Second-wave feminism also drew attention to the issues of domestic violence and marital rape.
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The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) states that “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex,” was originally introduced to Congress in 1923 – three years after women gained the right to vote – but never reached the House or Senate floor.
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The National Organization for Women, which was founded in 1966 and advocated for a “fully equal partnership of the sexes,” soon endorsed the ERA and made passing it into the U.S. Constitution a top priority
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As the feminist wave swept across the country, the support for ERA picked up even more steam. The amendment was passed by both houses of Congress and President Richard Nixon in 1972, and was sent off to be ratified into law by the states. At the end of 1973, the ERA only needed five more states to ratify it by March 1979 in order to get the three-fourths approval it required.
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In 1975, TIME awarded its “Man of the Year” in 1975 to “American women.”
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In January 1977, Indiana became the 35th state to ratify the ERA. The amendment was now only three states shy of becoming law, but the effort was losing momentum. Many feminists saw the National Women’s Conference in November 1977 as a chance to breathe new life into it. More than 14,000 women gathered to discuss the problems facing women and formulate a plan of action to deliver to President Carter.
