Comparing and Contrasting the Women’s Rights Movement from the 1960s and Today Christina Tsoplakis Rowan University Throughout history, society has downgraded women. They have not been treated equally and did not have many rights. Women used to not have rights in education and were seen out of the norm when they wanted to seek an education or a job before the late 20 th century. In the 1920s, after the Suffrage Movement women won the right to vote based on the Nineteenth Amendment. After many years, in the 1960s, women felt that the first movement was not successful enough and created a second wave of feminist movements pushing for more equality in the workforce and abortion rights. Some movements women created in the 1960s were NOW and Women’s Liberation movement. Although the years have passed, women today still protest about their right of their own body and equal pay. In January 2017, over one million people protested for women’s rights around the nation, which shows how women still feel downgraded by society in a way. Despite the fact that the Women’s March Movement has been inspired by the Women’s rights movement from the 1960s, there are many differences such as diversity, the image of women, and the goals. For many centuries, society viewed women as a reproductive creature instead of a human. Men were seen as superior because of their physical strength and their way of thinking. Despite that fact, women as well could think and were physically strong equally. Women were expected to give birth to children and follow their husbands even if they were not happy. According to Anne Koedt, a radical feminist, unmarried women were not seen as women because they did not follow society’s standards. 1 Based on this statement, unmarried women could not feel the fulfillment a married women with children could feel. This is the reason they were not seen as women. These women were 1 Koedt, Anne“Notes from the First Year: New York Radical Women.” Women’s Liberation. New York Radical Women. New York City. 1968. Web seen as failures that did not meet their society’s norms. Although society and the men in society viewed the unmarried women as failures, they never asked how married women actually felt. Married women felt frustrated during the 1960s era that they did not have the freedom their husbands had in society. They wanted to pursue the same careers and contribute to their husband’s income as well. Society put women in a position that only considered them a reproductive machine and not a human. The frustrations on how women felt made them connect and unite with each other. Before the Women’s Rights Movement started in the 1960s, middle class white women were living at home, mostly taking care of their children. Women were not considered intelligent and if they sought to look for a job or even to participate in a sport event, they were not considered normal by others. For example, in the PBS film Women Who Make America, it is seen that a woman was attacked by a man while participating in a marathon during the 1960s 2 . This is a case that showed how society viewed middle class white women. The woman that was attacked by the man in the marathon was supposed to stay home and not be doing activities that men did. Women were expected to be always happy, thankful, and cheery. Commercials would show them always being happy while cooking and taking care of their family. 3 For instance, a woman in one of the following advertisements below seems to be portrayed a better wife if she works hard. In addition, another commercial shows how a woman is happy when she gets a vacuum as a gift for Christmas. 2 Magner, Pamela and Goodman, Barack. Women Who Make America. PBS. Film Documentary. February 2013. 3 Ibid. Magner and Goodman.