I heartily recommend, "When Everything Changed, The Amazing Journey of American Women from the 60s to the Present," by Gail Collins, published in 2010. This covers much of the lifetime of those reading this column and it is hard to believe what we lived through! I wish I could breathe a sigh of relief, but it's not over is it? The book also details the work of minority women in the Civil Rights Movement--they were absolutely crucial but acknowledgement of that was sadly lacking.
Page 78: " Edith Green, a ten-term representative from Oregon, focused on women's issues, education, and social reform. In 1955 Green proposed the Equal Pay Act, to ensure that men and women were paid equally for equal work. A male colleague filed it under “B” for “Broads.” The effort to pass the Civil Rights Act ran into the cross currents of discrimination against blacks and against women. Some supported one but not the other, and few were willing to support an Act that included both. Eventually (8 years later) it passed the House, but Sen. Everett Dirksen (IL) removed equal rights for women from the Senate version. The history is amazing...
Oh how we have changed! It’s an interesting time we live in…and yet, some of our male vocal contemporaries are fighting it all. And others are embracing this new world. Interesting reflections. Thank you.
I heartily recommend, "When Everything Changed, The Amazing Journey of American Women from the 60s to the Present," by Gail Collins, published in 2010. This covers much of the lifetime of those reading this column and it is hard to believe what we lived through! I wish I could breathe a sigh of relief, but it's not over is it? The book also details the work of minority women in the Civil Rights Movement--they were absolutely crucial but acknowledgement of that was sadly lacking.
Page 78: " Edith Green, a ten-term representative from Oregon, focused on women's issues, education, and social reform. In 1955 Green proposed the Equal Pay Act, to ensure that men and women were paid equally for equal work. A male colleague filed it under “B” for “Broads.” The effort to pass the Civil Rights Act ran into the cross currents of discrimination against blacks and against women. Some supported one but not the other, and few were willing to support an Act that included both. Eventually (8 years later) it passed the House, but Sen. Everett Dirksen (IL) removed equal rights for women from the Senate version. The history is amazing...
https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal70-1294725
Oh how we have changed! It’s an interesting time we live in…and yet, some of our male vocal contemporaries are fighting it all. And others are embracing this new world. Interesting reflections. Thank you.