The women's liberation movement was the collective struggle for equality, most active during the

late 1960s and 1970s, that sought to free women from oppression and male supremacy. The
women's liberation movement consisted of women's liberation groups, advocacy,
protests, consciousness-raising, feminist theory and a variety of diverse individual and group actions
on behalf of women and freedom.

The term women's liberation movement is often used synonymously with either "women's
movement" or "second wave feminism," although there were actually many different types of
feminist groups. Even within women's liberation, women's groups held differing beliefs about
organizing tactics and whether working within the patriarchal establishment could effectively bring
about desired change.
Women's liberation movement is also sometimes seen as synonymous with radical feminism, as both
were concerned with freeing members of society from oppressive social structure. Both have
sometimes been characterized as a threat to men, particularly when the movements use rhetoric
about "struggle" and "revolution." However, feminist theorists overall are actually concerned with
how society can eliminate unfair sex roles. There is more to women's liberation than the antifeminist fantasy that feminists are women who want to eliminate men.
Many feminists and historians trace the roots of the women's liberation movement to the New Left
and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and early 1960s. Women who worked in those
movements often found that they were not treated equally, even within liberal or radical groups
that claimed to fight for freedom and equality. In this way, feminists of the 1960s had something in
common with feminists of the 19th century: early women's rights activists such as Lucretia
Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton were inspired to organize for women's rights after being excluded
from men's anti-slavery societies and abolitionist meetings.

The second-wave of feminism is a period of feminist activity that first began in the early 1960s in the
United States, and eventually spread throughout the Western world and beyond. In the United
States the movement lasted through the early 1980s. It later became a worldwide movement that
was strong in Europe and parts of Asia, such as Turkey and Israel, where it began in the 1980s, and it
began at other times in other countries.

Whereas first-wave feminism focused mainly on suffrage and overturning legal obstacles to
gender equality (i.e., voting rights, property rights), second-wave feminism broadened the debate to
a wide range of issues: sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights, de facto inequalities,
and official legal inequalities. At a time when mainstream women were making job gains in the
professions, the military, the media, and sports in large part because of second-wave feminist

advocacy, second-wave feminism also drew attention to domestic violence and marital rape issues,
establishment of rape crisis and battered women's shelters, and changes in custody and divorce law.
Its major effort was the attempted passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the United
States Constitution, in which they were defeated by anti-feminists led by Phyllis Schlafly, who argued
as an anti-ERA view that the ERA meant women would be drafted into the military.
In contrast to first-wave feminism, the movement during the 1970s benefitted from the
involvement of far more organizations, encompassing a broad spectrum of political beliefs and
ideologies.
The National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966 represented one of largest coalitions that
sprang from the second wave. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had failed to
root out sexism in the workplace, instead focusing on racial discrimination. When the EEOC refused
to ban gender-specific job advertisements, Betty Friedan and other leading feminist formed NOW.
The organization, comprised of mostly older, white, middle-class women, focused on issues including
reproductive freedom, gender equality in the workplace and the passage of the Equal Rights
Amendment. More than any feminist group before, NOW looked to the law to institute gender
reforms.
Groups such as the New York Radical Women (NYRW), Redstockings and Women's International
Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (WITCH), aimed to eradicate sexism by revolutionizing the
relationships between men and women in the boardroom and the bedroom. They practiced zap
actions, or dramatic public demonstrations that attracted media attention. The 1968 Miss America
pageant protest by NYRW, propelled the feminist movement into mainstream media. Within
communities across the United States, women started organizing on a smaller scale. The
Redstockings first encouraged groups of women to gather for consciousness-raising discussions,
which involved sharing their personal experiences in the feminist struggle.
Issues of rape, domestic violence, abortion and access to childcare came to the forefront of the
feminist platforms. Through consciousness-raising, women could identify common struggles and
receive support while feminism grew into a mass movement. From this form of engagement, the
slogan "the personal is political" aptly summed up the goals of second-wave feminism. What were
once private issues were now in the public realm.
In 1968, the first national women's liberation conference took place in Chicago, and in the 1970s,
feminist activists began to witness the fruits of their labours in earnest. In 1972, Washington, D.C.,
established the first rape crisis hotline, and the Supreme Court legalized abortion via Roe v. Wade in
1973. Two years later, the United States facilitated the first global forum on women's issues. But as
the movement spread, it also exposed fractures within feminist ideologies.

Unlike white feminists, black women fought a twofold battle against racism and sexism. Black
feminism grew out of second-wave feminism's failure to address that unique struggle. Black feminist
writer Bell Hooks dismissed the idea of a common oppression among women that united them
across races and classes. Rather, Hooks wrote, leading white feminists in the 1970s only reinstated
classist white supremacy by not acknowledging the experience of being a black woman.

Indeed, some feminist organizations at that time came across barriers to integrating white and black
members. Gloria Steinem and other white feminists strived unsuccessfully to coordinate a racially
diverse board of the Women's Action Alliance in 1971. Some black feminists felt marginalized in
certain groups and banded together. In 1973, as a result, the National Black Feminist Organization
was founded.
Lesbian feminists encountered prejudice within the movement as well. Homosexuality remained a
cultural taboo, and even some liberal-leaning feminists sought to distance themselves from it. The
National Organization of Women (NOW) refused to include homosexuality as part of its platforms,
and Betty Friedan allegedly referred to it as the "lavender menace." In response to that alienation,
some lesbian feminists formed separatist organizations that aimed to create an entirely new culture,
devoid of male influence.

By the end of the 1970s, activists burned out, and the women's movement fragmented but the
services they founded were integrated into the mainstream as cities, universities, and religious
organizations provided program funding. Today the gains of the feminist movement are often taken
for granted. While feminists continue to strive for increased equality, the steps taken by the women
of the 60s and 70s have helped paved the way to these different ways of thinking.

Some of the specific feminist movement goals from the second wave of feminism were

Rethinking society with feminist theory

This was accomplished by, among other disciplines, womens studies, feminist literary
criticism, gynocriticism, socialist feminism and the feminist art movement.

Abortion rights on demand

The call for abortion on demand is often misunderstood. Leaders of the womens liberation
movement were clear that women should have reproductive freedom and safe access to legal
abortion.

"De-Sexing the English Language"

Feminists helped spark debate over assumptions embedded in our language that reflect the
assumption of a male-dominated patriarchal society.

Education
Many women went to college and worked professionally in the early 20th century, but the mid20th century myth of the middle-class suburban housewife downplayed the importance of
womens education. Feminists knew that girls and women must be encouraged to seek an
education, and not just as something to fall back on, if they were to become, and be seen as,
"fully" equal.

Equality legislation
Feminists worked for the Equal Rights Amendment, the Equal Pay Act, the addition and other laws
that would guarantee equality.

Rethinking women's "roles" in nuclear family households

Although not all feminists called for collective mothering or went so far as to urge seizing the
means of reproduction, as Shulamith Firestone wrote in The Dialectic of Sex, it was clear that
women should not have to bear the sole responsibility for raising children.