OUTCOMES OF THE WOMEN’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT

In the early 1970s, the women's movement achieved extensive results.

In 1972, Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to provide for equality of the sexes under the law. However, the states failed to ratify the amendment. Still, the fact that Congress passed the ERA signified feminism's new legitimacy. In Roe v. Wade (1973), the Supreme Court legalized abortion.

Sexist elements were removed from elementary and high school textbooks. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX of the Higher Education Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program receiving federal funds, including athletic programs. At the college and university level, once all-male colleges and military academies began to accept women students.

In employment, state and federal courts overturned labor laws that reduced opportunities for women, such as laws that barred women from night work or overtime. The courts supported legal actions against employers that discriminated against women in their hiring or promotion policies. Women also entered new vocations: blue-collar fields, such as construction, jobs in banking, finance, business, and government. The number of women in the professions such as lawyers, doctors, and engineers increased as well.

As a result of the Women’s Liberation movement, women no longer felt so oppressed by the male-dominated society, and learned that they were equals and had the power to change society. They were now free to enter temporary sexual relationships without being labeled promiscuous, without the fear of getting pregnant, and without the social disgrace that non-traditional relationships attract in America’s Puritan society. The fashions of the 60s revealed much more of women’s sexuality than ever before. Miniskirts, see-thru blouses and freedom from bras ironically turned women into sex symbols at the same time they demanded to be seen as more than that.