Second Wave Feminism

Second Wave Feminism

The second wave feminists wanted social equality. They wanted to earn and have the equal rights as a male would. They wanted to be part of the male dominant work force and get paid equally as a male would. When World War II came, men had to leave and the women stepped up and filled the positions of the men. However, when the men returned back home from the war, the positions that the women were working was were taken away.
After the war, feminists started to protest for equal rights and opportunities in the work environment. (McElroy 173). When congressed passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963, it required for women and men who performed equal work. Also, it meant that they were banned discrimination based on sex. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed, which prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race, religion and national origin was introduced (McElroy 174).Women were happy because this meant that they were close to what they want to achieve. Both these acts were important to not only the white women, but also colored women and people of different religions.
During the second wave feminist’s movement, women established women’s newspapers, bookstores, and magazines. They wanted to express their feminist issues and thoughts in their newspapers and magazines. Also, they established cafes. Another thing that they did was established a battered women’s shelters, rape crisis hotlines, daycares and many more. Creating daycares were great because it gave a great opportunity for women to go and work.
In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed by a group of active women funded. After NOW the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972, was passed which was first proposed in 1923 (McElroy 226). Women were drafted into the army service. However, ERA died in 1982 because of lack of adequate support at the state level.