Society: THE SIXTIES

5 things women couldn't do in the 60's

Can you imagine pregnancy being a fireable
offense? How about job security hinging on your weight or
the softness of your hands? What if you couldn't open a
bank account or establish a line of credit unless you had a
husband to cosign for you? What if you had the grades to
attend a school like Princeton, but your gender kept you on
the other side of those hallowed, ivy-covered halls?
It was not so long ago that this was the reality for women. If
you're 45 or older, you were born into this world.
When President John F. Kennedy established the
Commission on the Status of Women in 1961, he appointed
Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman. In a televised 1962
discussion with Roosevelt , Kennedy stated, "We want to be
sure that women are used as effectively as they can to
provide a better life for our people, in addition to meeting
their primary responsibility, which is in the home."
This was a mixed message,
effectively telling women, "Go!
Learn! Flourish! Do! ... but also,
have babies and put your
husband's needs before your own."
But you can thank the nation's
real-life Peggy Olsons for beginning
to roar at this time. Have a look
back at five surprising things
women could not do in the 1960s:
1. Get a credit card: In the 1960s, a bank could refuse to
issue a credit card to an unmarried woman; even if she was
married, her husband was required to cosign. As recently as
the 1970s, credit cards in many cases were issued with only
a husband's signature. It was not until the Equal Credit
Opportunity Act of 1974 that it became illegal to refuse a
credit card to a woman based on her gender.
2. Serve on a jury: It varied by state (Utah deemed women
fit for jury duty way back in 1879), but the main reason
women were kept out of jury pools was that they were
considered the center of the home, which was their primary
responsibility as caregivers. They were also thought to be
too fragile to hear the grisly details of crimes and too
sympathetic by nature to be able to remain objective about
those accused of offenses. In 1961, the Supreme Court
unanimously upheld a Florida law that exempted women
from serving on juries. It wasn't until 1973 that women
could serve on juries in all 50 states.
Longing for the carefree parenting style of yesterday?
3. Go on the birth control pill: Issues like
reproductive freedom and a woman's right to
decide when and whether to have children were
only just beginning to be openly discussed in the
1960s. In 1957, the FDA approved of the birth
control pill but only for "severe menstrual
distress." In 1960, the pill was approved for use
as a contraceptive. Even so, the pill was illegal in
some states and could be prescribed only to
married women for purposes of family planning,
and not all pharmacies stocked it. Some of those
opposed said oral contraceptives were immoral,
promoted prostitution and were tantamount to
abortion. It wasn't until several years later that
birth control was approved for use by all women,
regardless of marital status. In short, birth
control meant a woman could complete her
education, enter the work force and plan her own
life.
What 'The Pill' did
4. Get an Ivy League education:
Yale and Princeton didn't accept female students
until 1969. Harvard didn't admit women until 1977 (when it
merged with the all-female Radcliffe College). With the
exception of the University of Pennsylvania, which began
accepting women on a case-by-case basis in 1876, and
Cornell, which admitted its first female student in 1870 (also
offering admission under special circumstances), women
couldn't attend Ivy League schools until 1969 at the earliest.
Brown (which merged with women's college Pembroke),
Dartmouth and Columbia did not offer admission to women
until 1971, 1972 and 1981, respectively. Other case-specific
instances allowed some women to take certain classes at
Ivy League institutions (such as Barnard women taking
classes at Columbia), but by and large, women in the '60s
who harbored Ivy League dreams had to put them on hold.
5. Experience equality in the workplace: Kennedy's
Commission on the Status of Women produced a report in
1963 that revealed, among other things, that women earned
59 cents for every dollar that men earned and were kept out
of the more lucrative professional positions. When the 1964
Civil Rights Act was going through Congress, an amendment
made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender as well
as race. When the amendment was not taken seriously
regarding women in the workplace, the National
Organization of Women was founded to enforce full equality
for women in truly equal partnership with men.
For example, NOW challenged several of the now-defunct
airline Pan Am's rules, including the following: Stewardesses
had to meet a certain height requirement, maintain a set
weight, resign if they got married, maintain soft hands and
face mandatory retirement at age 32. That all ended when
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibited such instances of
discrimination.
It wasn't just NOW fighting for women's rights.
When journalist and activist Gloria
Steinem went undercover as a
Playboy Bunny one year before the
Civil Rights Act, she exposed the
exploitative environment for women
at the Playboy Club. Steinem
reported their wages and detailed
the sexual demands of the male
clientele. When Steinem's expose
was published, Playboy founder
Hugh Hefner changed the working
conditions of those women for the
better.
BONUS: Talk openly about sex: Helen Gurley Brown's "Sex
and the Single Girl" presented the notion that it was OK --
even enjoyable -- for a woman to live on her own, have her
own money, have sexual relationships before marriage or
even -- wait for it -- never marry at all!
It wasn't until publication of Betty Friedan's "The Feminine
Mystique" that women's dissatisfaction with life and
frustration over lack of opportunities came to light.
"A woman today has been made to feel freakish and alone
and guilty if, simply, she wants to be more than her
husband's wife," said Friedan.
Today, far fewer people give credence to the notion of a
woman existing for the sole purpose of being the husband's
helpmate.
Just this week, sales soared when LEGO released a playset
featuring three female scientists.