Early Sixties- Women's Limitations in Society

What limitations did women face in American society in the early 1960s? Pay attention to legal, economic, political, educational, athletic, and cultural limitations.

The limitations for American women were numerous in the Sixties compared to present-day. Legally, abortions we're not available to them until Roe v. Wade in 1972, and oral contraceptives (the “pill”) although FDA approved in 1960, were not legal in all states until mid-decade or later. Economically, women in the era averaged only about 60 percent of the income that male counterparts earned, and usually worked the more routine clerical and factory type jobs.

Political representation of women in American government was grossly under-proportional to their percentage of the population (51%). Even as late as 1970, per Bella Abzug, there was only one woman senator out of 100, and no women supreme court justices, governors, or mayors in big cities (Gosse 162). In 1966, according to the NOW statement of purpose, women were educationally under-represented as well; earning only one in three of the B.A.'s or M.A.'s granted, and only one in ten of the Ph. D.'s (109).

I did not find any information in our texts about athletic discrimination against women in the Sixties, and so did a web search. I found an interesting short article from the Womens Sports Foundation (web address below) which enlightened me to the fact that high school girls' sports were all but non-existent in that decade; just a few rare schools that offered volleyball. It would not be until 1972 that amendments were made in the education laws to provide more sports for girls.

Culturally, (which is more of a catch-all adverb), many of the above can be included, but there are a few additional things to consider, In the early 1960s, women were still supposed to be submissive to men in the household, at work, at school, in politics, and even in the bedroom. Dressing or talking provocatively, smoking cigarettes or drinking to excess- these would have been things only “bad” women did. The women's movement was still a sleeping giant that would awaken soon.

The Movements of the New Left 1950-1975. Gosse, Van. Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martins. 2005. (pages)Print.

 www.illinois.gov/ihpa/Research/.../Jan05-22Watkins.pdf