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Feminism in the United States

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Even though feminism has been around for centuries, it really didn’t take a giant leap until the 1940’s. Women’s history has helped influence how feminism began to develop. A 1950's woman's first priority was to care for the husband and children. Educated women were always taught this, until they reached adulthood. Not every woman wanted the homemaker lifestyle; they wanted careers of their own. The problem still remained, that many women did not like the traditional role society planned for them. Through feminism, women have come to understand an institutionalized system of oppression, based on the domination of men over women (Hyde Park, 1972). Women have continued to be denied power, because of their class position. Women wanted to fight a system that caused them to struggle to receive the same amount of power that men have. Eventually activists groups were formed, and women began to participate in the fight for women rights. They began to demand equal pay for equal work, and also put pressure on the government to prohibit gender discrimination. Newspapers were divided in the classified ads into female and male wanted ads. With this being an area of concern, feminists argued that women could do any job that a man could do, regardless of sex. Being that feminists began to learn the fullness of their potential as women, as well as their strength, they wanted women to not be oppressed by the stereotype that was given to their role. The feminist movement focused on dismantling workplace inequality. For example, salary inequity. and access to better jobs via anti-discrimination laws. In 1964, the Virginia State Representative, Howard Smith, wanted to add a prohibition on gender discrimination into the Civil Rights Act, that was under consideration, the law was passed. It became evident that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, would not be enforced to protect the female workers. Feminists decided to found an organization

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