Women's Rights and Abortion in 1960s USA

In today’s society, men and women both have the same equal of rights. Women are able do anything that men are capable of doing; sometimes women can do it better. Back around the 1960’s, women and men did not have the same rights. Since women were not treated equal, the National Organization for Women were there to help women’s equality. During this time era, women rights and abortion were a women’s primary concerns throughout America.

In the 1960’s, women struggled with finding jobs; the employment rates were higher in women than men.

Women weren’t paid the same amount as men, women would receive longer jail time than men, they would not have their own credit card. Women were not paid the same as men, or did not receive the same benefits through Social Security as men. The National Organization for Women was campaigned to be approved but at first did not succeed. It was not approved by all the states throughout America.

An article in Voices of Freedom claimed, “Equality of rights under law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex” (Foner, 301). After a lot of thought and fighting for this law to be passed, women received equal rights throughout the country.

The 19th Amendment was created just for women This gave women to be treated equal and have the ability to do anything that men could do; equal of justice by law. This rule would let women have their own credit, the same equal time in prison for crime, and have her own items in her name.

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Once the women rights era was brought up, this was one of America’s main concern throughout the nation.

Throughout Chapter 26 in the textbook, it mentions about how women were treated differently than men were and how this amendment became a law. The textbook mentions, “The ERA debate reflected a division among women as much as the battle of the sexes” (Foner, 1043). People referred this time as battle of the sexes to show there was a battle between men and women; to show that women were battling for equal rights. Eventually after all the effort and fighting for their rights, it became established and women had all the same rights as men did. Even though women rights was a huge issue in the 1960’s, this problem was eventually solved and the law was passed. There were bigger issues among the Americans; abortion. In an article of the textbook, it mentions “Between this positions and the feminist insistence that a woman rights to control her body includes the right to a safe, legal abortion, compromise was impossible” (Foner, 1044). This was an issue in the later 1970’s because women had more rights, felt more free to do everything, some things they didn’t were intentionally planned; for example, pregnancy. The Supreme Court wanted women to have their own privacy so abortion was another passed law.

Among these two topics that were discussed, I’ve come to realize how tough it was to be a women back in the day. I knew that women were not treated equal and had issues with having their rights legalized but from the textbook and primary sources, it made me realize how serious it was. I can’t imagine my life like how women had it back a few decades ago. It amazes me that women have the courage to stand up for what is right for our country and from that courage, they got their rights legalized. A lesson that came from this research and my topic was that a little courage can go a long way. A question that came to mind throughout writing this paper was how would life be like in today’s society, if the law remained unpasted and women were still not treated equal?