The "second wave" of feminism spread across the United States during the 1960s. In 1966, this new feminist movement continued to grow as activists planted the seeds of the women's liberation movement. These were a few notable events related to emerging feminism in 1966:
- Betty Friedan and others started the National Organization for Women. NOW began with a few dozen members and a tiny budget, determined to work for real equality.
- At the annual conference of state Commissions on the Status of Women, frustration grew over the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's failure to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. This in part prompted the NOW founders to start their organization.
- Flight attendants filed Title VII complaints about being forced to quit when they married, got pregnant or reached age 35. Airlines asked the EEOC to declare being a woman a bona fide occupational qualification, or BFOQ, of the job.
- Feminist Barbara Jordan was elected to the Texas Senate. She was the first African-American woman in the Texas legislature.
- Indira Gandhi became the prime minister of India.
- Famous birth control advocate Margaret Sanger died.
- Mary Daly joined the faculty at Boston College.