IB History Feminism in the USA Questionbank

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent did changing expectations about domesticity cause the emergence of feminist protest in the USA?

Source A: Adapted from Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963.

Many suburban housewives were told that fulfilment came entirely through marriage, children and consumption. Yet an unspoken dissatisfaction remained. Treating this discontent as an individual failure concealed the social expectations that limited women's education, work and sense of identity.

Source B: Adapted from Casey Hayden and Mary King, Sex and Caste: A Kind of Memo, 1965.

Women active in the civil rights movement recognized a contradiction between democratic ideals and their subordinate treatment within reform organizations. They compared the assumptions used to restrict women with other systems of status and urged discussion of a problem that many activists had been reluctant to name.

Source C: Photograph of Betty Friedan by Fred Palumbo for the New York World-Telegram and Sun, 1960; restored by Adam Cuerden and reproduced via Wikimedia Commons.

image: p1-feminism-emergence-1960.jpg

Betty Friedan, American feminist writer and activist, photographed in 1960.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent was organized group activism the most effective way feminists challenged authority in the USA?

Source A: Adapted from National Organization for Women, Bill of Rights for Women, 1967.

NOW demanded enforcement against sex discrimination in employment, paid maternity leave, childcare, equal education, reproductive freedom and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Coordinated legal and political action was presented as the route to full equality.

Source B: Adapted from Shirley Chisholm, speech supporting the Equal Rights Amendment in the House of Representatives, 10 August 1970.

Legal distinctions based on sex often rested on outdated assumptions about women's dependence. Equal treatment would not erase every difference between men and women, but government should no longer use sex as a convenient substitute for judging an individual's ability or circumstances.

Source C: Women's Strike poster from the Yanker Poster Collection, dated 1971 and reproduced via Wikimedia Commons.

image: p1-feminism-challenge-1970.jpg

Poster advertising the Women's Strike for Equality on 26 August, dated 1971.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent was organized group activism the most effective way feminists challenged authority in the USA?

Source A: Adapted from Redstockings, Redstockings Manifesto, 1969.

Women formed an oppressed class whose subordination benefited men. Personal experiences were political evidence, so women should build an independent movement, develop consciousness together and confront the institutions and relationships that maintained male supremacy.

Source B: Adapted from Roe v. Wade, majority opinion of the United States Supreme Court, 22 January 1973.

The constitutional right of privacy was broad enough to include a woman's decision whether to terminate a pregnancy, although the state retained interests that became stronger as pregnancy progressed. The ruling limited the power of states to prohibit abortion throughout pregnancy.

Source C: Women's Strike poster from the Yanker Poster Collection, dated 1971 and reproduced via Wikimedia Commons.

image: p1-feminism-challenge-1970.jpg

Poster advertising the Women's Strike for Equality on 26 August, dated 1971.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.

Source set

Overarching inquiry question: To what extent did feminism achieve substantial change for women in the USA by 1979?

Source A: Adapted from Education Amendments of 1972, Title IX.

No person in the United States could, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under an education programme receiving federal financial assistance.

Source B: Adapted from Jimmy Carter, Memorandum on Equality for Women, 20 July 1978.

Women still faced discrimination despite recent gains. Federal departments were directed to strengthen programmes against unequal treatment and support the Equal Rights Amendment. The administration presented government action as necessary because legal and institutional equality remained incomplete.

Source C: Adapted from Equal Rights Amendment approved by Congress, 22 March 1972.

Equality of rights under the law could not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Congress would have power to enforce the amendment, which would take effect after ratification by the required number of states.

Using the three provided sources and considering the overarching inquiry question, respond to all three questions.