History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 95

History - Essay Example These campaigns have however occurred in different periods of time, with each exacting its own influence on the feminist movement. This paper focusses on the evolution of the feminist movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Often referred to as the â€Å"second wave feminism† the 1960s and 1970s feminist movement arose out of the turbulent social turmoil experienced during this period of American history. In these years, the feminist movement became more radicalized, under the directorship of various outspoken American women. The 1960s and 1970s were characterized by a mass entry of women into the workforce as a result of shifting workplace stereotypes against women in the previous decades. Accordingly, the Second wave feminist movement was primarily focused on disassembling workplace inequality, including salary inequity and increasing women’s access to better jobs. Feminists proposed to achieve this by seeking the abolishment of discriminatory laws and unfair labor practices. To this end, feminist activists distributed education materials to women across the country, regarding reproductive health and sex and pursued the legalization of all types of birth control. Feminists created polit ical organizations and published articles, books, as well as essays critiquing sexism and patriarchy in society. However, to achieve equality, feminists realized that women were required to transform the manner in which the society spoke about, thought of, and treated women. This required more than merely changing laws — this demanded a radical shift in every aspect of the American society to ensure that men and women would be regarded as equals. The main objective of feminists in this period was to reverse the ubiquitous belief that since women differed from men biologically, they were inherently more emotional, intellectually inferior, and were better off executing to domestic chores as compared to professional tasks and politics. Additionally, the feminist movement of the