The Women's Liberation Movement: From Suffrage to Second-Wave Feminism

The Women's Liberation Movement in the United States, spanning from the 19th century to the present, sought to achieve gender equality in legal, social, and economic spheres. Early feminists like Abigail Adams and Susan B. Anthony laid groundwork, with the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 marking the first women's rights event. The 19th Amendment, ratified in 1920, granted women the right to vote, but societal inequality persisted. World War II temporarily opened industrial jobs to women, yet post-war pressures pushed them back into domesticity. Betty Friedan's 1963 book 'The Feminine Mystique' sparked second-wave feminism, leading to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which included gender as a protected class. The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in 1966. Landmark victories included the 1969 case Bowe v. Colgate-Palmolive, which deemed single-sex job requirements unconstitutional, and California's no-fault divorce law that year. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), though the ERA fell short of ratification by 1982. The late 1970s saw conservative backlash led by Phyllis Schlafly. Third-wave feminism emerged in the 1990s with figures like Hillary Clinton, and the Me Too movement in 2017 highlighted ongoing workplace harassment. Despite progress, women still face glass ceilings and power differentials, with Virginia ratifying the ERA in 2020, signaling continued support for equality.