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Feminism Philosophy
This timeline represents the oppression women faced from the begining of civilization to modern day discrimination. There are an overwhelming amount of influences, and strong women who have redefined the role of women. -
Seneca Falls
The first women's rights convention is held in Seneca Falls, New York. After 2 days of discussion and debate, 68 women and 32 men sign a Declaration of Sentiments, which outlines grievances and sets the agenda for the women's rights movement. A set of 12 resolutions is adopted calling for equal treatment of women and men under the law and voting rights for women. -
NWSA is formed
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association, with the primary goal of the organization is to achieve voting rights for women by means of a Congressional amendment to the Constitution. -
NAWSA
Suffragists from the western states drive across the country to support voting rights for women in the east. Twelve western states had already granted women the right to vote in state elections. Their leader was Oregonian Sara Bard Field, a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). A petition with 500,000 signatures in support of an amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote is given to President Woodrow Wilson. -
Women's Suffrage
The federal woman suffrage amendment, originally written by Susan B. Anthony introduced in Congress in 1878, is passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is then sent to the states for ratification. Passed by congress in June of 1919, the 19th amendment is ratified August 19th, 1920, guaranteeing women’s' suffrage. -
The Evolution of Planned Parenthood
Margaret Sanger founds the American Birth Control League (ABCL), which evolves into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942. The ABCL focuses on disseminating birth control information to doctors, social workers, women's clubs, and the scientific community, as well as to thousands of individual women; fosters the development of state and local birth control leagues and clinics; and lobbies at the state and national level for birth control legislation. -
The Formation od ABCL
Margaret Sanger founds the American Birth Control League (ABCL), which evolves into the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1942. The ABCL focuses on disseminating birth control information to doctors, social workers, women's clubs, and the scientific community, as well as to thousands of individual women; fosters the development of state and local birth control leagues and clinics; and lobbies at the state and national level for birth control legislation -
NCNW
Mary McLeod Bethune, Advisor of Minority Affairs to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, organizes the National Council of Negro Women, a coalition of black women's groups that lobbies against job discrimination, racism, and sexism and functions as a clearinghouse, facilitating networking and coalition-building, and advocating the use of collective power on issues affecting women, their families and communities. -
The right to privacy
The federal law prohibiting the dissemination of contraceptive information through the mail is modified, and birth control information is no longer classified as obscene. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second District renders an historic decision in U.S. v. One Package and asserts the rights of the physician in the legitimate use of contraceptives and eradicated the restrictions prohibiting the importation, sale or carriage by mail of contraceptive materials and information. -
We can do it!
A massive government and industry media campaign persuades women to take jobs during the war. Almost 7 million women respond, 2 million as industrial "Rosie the Riveters" and 400,000 join the military. -
The Status of Women
Eleanor Roosevelt is appointed as chairwoman by President John Kennedy after establishing the President's Commission on the Status of women. The report issued by the Commission in 1963 documents substantial discrimination against women in the workplace and makes specific recommendations for improvement, including fair hiring practices, paid maternity leave, and affordable child care. -
The Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan examines the role of women in society. Friedan speaks for the women who realize that they are unhappy with the limited standards they are given. This book is overwhelmingly influential in the women’s rights movement, and reexamines the issue that not all women want to be a stay at home wife. Not only does The Feminine Mystique speak for the women who denied their ambitions, it sheds light on the growing discontent women couldn’t quite explain. -
NOW is formed.
National Organization for Women (NOW) is formed by a group of feminists including Betty Friedan while attending the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women. It becomes the largest women's rights group in the United States, and begins working to end sexual discrimination, especially in the workplace, by means of legislative lobbying, litigation, and public demonstrations. -
ERA
Congress sends the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the Constitution to the states for ratification. Originally drafted by Alice Paul in 1923, the amendment reads: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." Congress places a seven year deadline on the ratification process, and although the deadline extends until 1982, the amendment does not receive enough state ratifications. It is still not part of the U.S. -
Roe v.s. Wade
In the 1960s there was no regulation of abortions under federal law, and many states banned the medical performance. Women’s groups argued that this lead to black market abortions. Jane Roe challenged this law. This aroused arguments of a woman’s right to abortion and privacy. A majority of the justices maintained that a right to privacy was implied by the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments. No state could restrict abortions during the first three months, or trimester, of a pregnancy. States we -
Violence Against Women
The Violence Against Women Act funds services for victims of rape and domestic violence, allows women to seek civil rights remedies for gender-related crimes, and provides training to increase police and court officials' sensitivity and a national 24-hour hot line for battered women. The National Organization for Women called it "the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades."
