Before the 1960's it was normal in American culture for women to be seen as nothing more than their husband's "helpmate", but this decade was the start of a big change.
- In the early 1960's, discrimination against women was not only common, but widely accepted by men and women in everyday life.
- In the 60's women could not...
- Get a credit card without a husband to cosign. At this time women were not seen to have control over money partially because most women were expected to stay at home and not work. 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.
- Serve on a jury, let alone hold a political position. This varied from state to state, but women were seen as too fragile to handle the cases and would not give a reliable verdict because they were too sympathetic. 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.
- Use birth control. In 1957 the FDA approved the birth control drug for menstrual relief , some states made it illegal and would only allow a married women to purchase the pills. Several years later women were given the right to sexual contraceptives regardless of marital status and were able to get a education and work for a better life.
- Get an Ivy League education. Princeton and Yale were all boys schools until 1969, Brown 1971, Dartmouth in 1972, Columbia 1981, Harvard in 1977, Cornell and University of Pennsylvania were the only ones admitting women in the 19th century.
- Experience equality in the workplace. In 1963 it was found 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.