Key Idea: Between 1960 and 1979, American women moved from quiet, private frustration to a loud, organized, nationwide movement. This topic tells that whole story: why women were unhappy in the first place, how they fought back through protest and organizations, and what they actually won — and didn't win — by the end of the 1970s.
How this topic is tested — Paper 1
Paper 1 gives you two or three short sources on feminism in the USA — adverts, book extracts, protest photos, newsletters, speeches — and three fixed questions.
Q1 [6 marks]: use the CONTENT of two sources to help answer an inquiry question. Q2 [6 marks]: use the CONTEXT (origin, purpose, audience) of one source. Q3 [12 marks]: compare the PERSPECTIVES across all the sources given, and explain why they differ. Total: 24 marks. Always name specific details from the sources — never just summarise them in general terms.
Must-know facts — one row per micro
| Micro | Focus | Must-know names and dates |
|---|---|---|
| 5.1.1 | Causes of the movement | Domesticity ideal vs. real life (~1 in 3 married women working by 1960); the Pill approved 1960, Griswold v. Connecticut 1965, Eisenstadt v. Baird 1972; Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963) names 'the problem that has no name'; NOW founded 1966 |
| 5.1.2 | Protest, organisations, and media | Miss America protest, Atlantic City, 7 Sept 1968 (Freedom Trash Can, the 'bra-burning' myth); consciousness-raising groups; Women's Strike for Equality, 26 Aug 1970; NOW (lobbying/lawsuits) vs. National Women's Political Caucus (1971, electing women) vs. radical Liberation groups (Redstockings, WITCH); Ms. magazine founded 1972 by Gloria Steinem vs. mocking press coverage |
| 5.1.3 | Changes achieved, and their limits | Title IX (1972, education); Roe v. Wade (1973, abortion rights); Equal Pay Act (1963) and Civil Rights Act Title VII (1964) used to fight job discrimination; Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress 1972 but failed ratification by 1982 (3 states short, opposed by Phyllis Schlafly); marginalized women — Shirley Chisholm, intersectionality, working-class and Black women often left out of mainstream priorities |
- The problem that has no name — Friedan's phrase for the hidden unhappiness of 1950s-60s housewives, from her 1963 bestseller The Feminine Mystique
- Consciousness-raising — women meeting to share private experiences, turning them into a shared political issue ('the personal is political')
- NOW vs. Women's Liberation groups — same broad goal (equality), very different tactics: lawsuits and lobbying vs. street protest and shock tactics
- Title IX and Roe v. Wade — the two landmark legal wins of the early 1970s, one about education, one about the body
- The ERA's failure — the clearest example of a limitation: Congress passed it in 1972, but it died 3 states short of ratification in 1982
Exam-style question, modelled
Examine how the perspectives in Source A (a 1973 NOW press release praising the ruling in Roe v. Wade) and Source B (a 1974 speech by an African American welfare-rights activist criticising the mainstream movement's priorities) can be used to answer the inquiry question: 'What changes did the protest movement achieve, and with what limitations?'
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Important: Don't just describe each source one after another and stop. Q3 markschemes reward you for explicitly comparing perspectives (where they agree, where they clash) AND explaining why — because of who made the source, and for what purpose. A source-by-source summary with no comparison caps your mark well below full credit.
What was 'the problem that has no name'? Betty Friedan's term, from The Feminine Mystique (1963), for the vague, unspoken unhappiness felt by many housewives who had the life they were 'supposed' to want but still felt unfulfilled.
What happened at the 1968 Miss America protest, and what's the 'bra-burning' myth? About 400 women picketed the pageant in Atlantic City on 7 September 1968, crowning a sheep 'Miss America' and throwing bras, girdles and curlers into a 'Freedom Trash Can'. No fire permit was issued and nothing was burned, but newspapers reported 'bra-burning' anyway, and the false label stuck.
How did NOW differ from radical Women's Liberation groups? NOW (founded 1966 by Betty Friedan and others) worked through lawsuits, lobbying Congress, and pressuring the EEOC to enforce anti-discrimination law. Radical groups like Redstockings and WITCH favoured direct action, street theatre and consciousness-raising instead.
What did Title IX (1972) and Roe v. Wade (1973) each change? Title IX banned sex discrimination in any school or college receiving federal funding, opening up sports and academic programmes. Roe v. Wade ruled that a woman's right to privacy covered the choice to have an abortion in early pregnancy, striking down state bans.
Why did the Equal Rights Amendment fail? Congress passed the ERA in 1972, but a constitutional amendment needs 38 states to ratify it. Opposition led by Phyllis Schlafly argued it would strip women of protections like alimony. By the 1982 deadline only 35 states had ratified it — three short — so it never became law.
Who felt left out of the mainstream movement, and why? African American and working-class women often felt the movement, led largely by white, college-educated women, ignored their priorities — like childcare, welfare rights, and safe low-wage jobs. Shirley Chisholm argued race and sex discrimination had to be fought together (intersectionality).
Always tie facts back to the inquiry question, not just 'what happened'. Know your three routes to change — protest, organisations, media — and your three legal wins plus one big failure — Title IX, Roe v. Wade, Equal Pay Act/Title VII, and the ERA. For Q3, never just describe sources side by side: name the perspective, explain the origin/purpose behind it, then compare directly.