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    Stories of Women in the 1960s: Fighting for Freedom
    Stories of Women in the 1960s: Fighting for Freedom
    Stories of Women in the 1960s: Fighting for Freedom
    Ebook73 pages47 minutes

    Stories of Women in the 1960s: Fighting for Freedom

    By Cath Senker

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    About this ebook

    In the 1960s, a woman’s place was seen as being in the home. She even found it hard to make a big purchase if a man wasn’t with her. African-American women faced racism daily and were given low-paid, exhausting jobs. It was time for women to stand up for equal rights and equal pay. These are the stories of four trailblazers who achieved amazing things in difficult circumstances: Betty Freidan protested at the Miss America pageant against judging women on appearance. Ella Baker helped organize Freedom Schools, where black history was taught for the first time. Barbara Castle was one of the few women members of Parliament and fought for equal pay. Mary Quant showed women they could dress for themselves and not men. Many of the rights women have today are down to their actions. They helped change society's image of women forever.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateJan 1, 2015
    ISBN9781484624456
    Stories of Women in the 1960s: Fighting for Freedom
    Author

    Cath Senker

    Cath Senker has over twenty years' experience in children's educational publishing and has written around 100 books for children for a range of publishers. Her books include highly regarded titles on Anne Frank, the Black Death and the Vietnam War, books on religions and the conflict between North and South Korea, and forthcoming titles on Self-Harm and Relationships. She lives the green lifestyle and has undertaken voluntary work for a range of organizations.

    Read more from Cath Senker

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      Book preview

      Stories of Women in the 1960s - Cath Senker

      Cover

      Introduction

      By 1960, American and British women felt like second-class citizens. Growing numbers were going to college, but they usually ended up in inferior jobs to men. They were paid less and found it hard to advance in their career. Women were frequently secretaries or teachers, but they rarely managed companies or became principals.

      In the United States, African American women were treated even worse because of racism. They tended to have low-paying, backbreaking, exhausting jobs. Even though they had the right to vote, African American people in southern states faced discrimination when they tried to exercise this right. For example, voters had to be able to read and write, and many African Americans could not.

      Frustrated with their situation, in the 1960s, American and British women began a movement for equal rights and freedom. This book tells the stories of four of those women.

      Betty Friedan: Founder of the U.S.Women’s Movement

      In the years after World War II (1939–1945), as the U.S. economy boomed, many Americans moved to comfortable homes in the suburbs to raise their families. Advertisements, television, and movies quickly began to support an ideal of a perfect suburban life held together by the glue of a perfect housewife. For women, this caused some problems. In giving their total focus to homemaking duties and perfection, these women had little room for pursuing their own interests or careers.

      A woman named Betty Friedan helped change the way Americans viewed the role of women. In 1963, she published an influential book called The Feminine Mystique.In this book, she wrote:

      Each suburban wife struggles with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night—she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question—Is this all?

      Throughout the book, she argued that many women felt unfulfilled in this role of housewife and needed other outlets for their talents and energy. As a result of this book, more and more Americans—and, eventually, people around the world—reexamined the role of women at home and in the workforce. Some people agreed with her, while others felt offended or challenged by her ideas. Yet, over time, her work changed the lives of millions of women.

      Betty Goldstein (born Bettye, but she dropped the e from her name) was born in 1921 in Peoria, Illinois. It was one year after American women finally achieved the vote, following a long campaign by the women’s movement. The eldest of three children, Betty had a younger sister, Amye, and a brother, Harry, Jr. As a child, Betty was not comfortable with who she was. She wore glasses, had poor coordination, and suffered from asthma.

      Betty got along well with her father, Harry. But her relationship with her mother, Miriam, was difficult. Miriam was an intelligent, talented woman who had edited the women’s section of the local newspaper. After she got married and had a family, however, she gave up her job, as was expected at the time.

      Years later, Betty said:

      When people, reporters, historians, [ask] why me, why did I start the women’s movement, I can’t point to any major episodes of sexual discrimination in my early life. But I was so aware of the crime, the shame that there was no use of my mother’s ability and energy.

      Looking back, Betty believed that much of the tension in her household was partly the result of her mother feeling frustrated and unfulfilled in her role as a housewife.

      Betty was highly intelligent. After high school, she attended Smith College, where she graduated with a degree in psychology. However, when Betty was offered the chance to study for a PhD, she decided against it. She had noticed several female academics who were single with no children. Betty was scared that

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