The Women's Liberation Movement in the 1960's

The Women's Liberation Movement also known as The Feminist Movement and it has been going on for one-hundred years. In the 1960's it was a time of change. The people became more vocal and they strived for more equality among all the people. The Food and Drug Administration was the first oral contraceptive for women. It was then available to women the following year. With this became the first step in the liberation movement. With this it now allowed women to take a stand on their reproductive rights.

In 1961, President Kennedy had established the Commission on the Status of Women to examine issues that were related to women and to make proposals on the such topics as employment, Social Security, education, and tax laws. At around this time, there began a growing interest in women's rights. The courts were also being found that discriminatory actions that had dealt with the reproductive rights of women. The commission did find that discriminatory actions were being taken up against women.
 
In 1963, the Federal Government had amended the Equal Rights Act. This was to ensure that any sex- based wage discrimination between men and women in the same work establishment was to be prohibited. The following year, President Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act of the 1964. This was to protect women from discrimination being used in the work environment.

In 1965, there was appointed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioners (EEOC) to enforce the Civil Rights Act. That was however was not the case. Women were not being treated fairly in any work environment, and that the EEOC was unable to enforce the Civil Rights Act. So, in June of 1966, while Betty Friedan and twenty-eight women attended the Third National Conference on the Commission on the Status of Women in Washington, D.C, they founded the National Organization for Women (NOW). The purpose of this organization was "to take action to bring women into full participation in the Mainstream of American Society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in the true equal partnership with men".

As the year's progressed, NOW's membership began to grow. By the time the organization was incorporated in 1967, the membership numbers were at 1037. As the membership grew, so did the demonstrations, rallies, petitions and such that were designed to facilitate the spread the information on the purpose of the group. They boycotted the 1968 Miss America Beauty Contest in Atlantic City to let it be know that women's worth wasn't all about their appearance. NOW was readily involved in multiple law suits against companies that had violated a women's right for equal opportunity employment.