Feminism and the reinvigorated women's movement spread across the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. What were some of the historical events of feminism in 1965? Were there political and cultural signs of the imminent women's liberation movement?
Here are a few important events related to feminism in 1965:
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission began operations on July 2. The EEOC was created the previous year by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
- The only female commissioner appointed to the EEOC was Aileen Hernandez, a future president of the National Organization for Women.
- In Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court struck down a law banning contraceptives for married couples.
- President Lyndon Johnson signed the Social Security Act of 1965, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
- The Newark Museum exhibit "Women Artists in America: 1707-1964" took a look at women's art, often neglected in the U.S. art world. (Read more about feminist art.)
- "Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII" by Pauli Murray and Mary Eastwood was published in the George Washington Law Review. The groundbreaking article compared sex discrimination with Jim Crow laws.
- "Sex and Caste: A Kind of Memo," a paper by Casey Hayden and Mary King, sparked debate about the experience of women in the Civil Rights Movement.