A Lot of Feminist Leaders Surfed In On the Women’s Rights Second Wave

They were following a roster of distinguished role models dating back to Susan B. Anthony.

July 18, 2017: (Updated 21 August 2018) Back in 1916, Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, also a suffragette and a women’s rights’ advocate, became the first woman elected to Congress. And that was before she — and every other woman in the United States — had the right to vote.

Representative Rankin was first elected in 1916. And again in 1940. Each time, she lasted only one term.

That’s because she was the only member of Congress to vote against entering World War I and World War II.

She discovered right away that her Congressional colleagues thought it was hilarious that women wanted to vote. They told her, “The next thing they’ll want to do is go to Congress.” And they added, “to the barber shop.” A jibe at women finally cutting off flowing locks in favor of short “bobs.” Miss Rankin was not among them.

One of the saddest postscripts to her breakthrough into the men-only government is that today there are only 84 congresswomen out of the 435 seats. And only 22 out of 100 senators.

Some of the role models qualify by the way they led their lives. By example. There was anthropologist Margaret Mead who went to work among cannibals, and led a feminist life.

And Clare Booth Luce, a two term congresswoman (R-Conn} whose early job was dropping ERA pamphlets from a World War I plane. She’d been hired by Miss Alice Paul. She was also an author, most noted for her searingly funny 1936 play, “The Women.”

Among the second-wave leaders were, of course, Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. There were many others.

Notably, Martha Griffiths, a congresswoman from Michigan who I wrote, had “all the female graces but is hard as nails when it comes to women’s rights.”

Unlike most other women leaders, as a member of Congress Mrs. Griffith was able to fight for — and win some — important laws affecting women’s status.

She’s the one who, as she put it, “got sex into Title VII of the Civil Rights Act” of 1964. The law originally outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion and national origin. It was about to be passed without including sex — meaning women could still be discriminated against in employment.

Congresswoman Griffiths told her recalcitrant male colleagues that a vote against including sex would be a vote against their wives, their daughters, their sisters. That evidently got through to them.

She’s also the one who got the Equal Rights Amendment out of committee, passed and on it way to the states for ratification.

We all know what happened after that — a right wing attack led by Phyllis Schlafly that demonized the ERA as a danger to the rights of housewives. They would no longer be protected and supported by their husbands. Among other fallacies that doomed many legal rights for women today.

The work Mrs. Griffith did for the benefit of women was only a fraction of her work in Congress where she served from January of 1955 to December of 1974. She went on to become a Lt Governor of Michigan.

Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem were even more well known leaders. Friedan was the author of “The Feminist Mystique” and a founder and first president of the National Organization for Women.

And Gloria Steinem is of course the reigning star of women’s rights to this day.

While she has been pro-active for women’s rights since the late 1960s, being a leader is not a mantle she accepts.

Of course she’s a feminist! Early on, she co-founded Ms. Magazine and the National Women’s Political Caucus. She refers to herself also a writer, an organizer, a lecturer. Among her unstated credentials has always been her ability to delight as well as activate the massive audiences she draws to her lectures.

She has a charming, low-key style, a way of cheerfully presenting even the most serious of women’s issues. And, also, make them feel that they don’t have to give up standing up against today’s anti-women assaults.

She is truly a leader, too.

1. Her Husband Murdered by Klansman, Activist Myrlie Evers Champions Blacks and Women’s Rights, The Washington Star, June 9, 1976
2. Gloria Steinem Explains How Women, Once Worshiped, Became “Cheap Labor”, The Washington Star, March 1, 1972
3. Erica Jong: Grateful Nonmilitant, The Washington Star, January 2, 1974
4. Clare Booth Luce and Three Retiring Congresswomen, The Washington Star-News, June 13, 1974
5. Gloria Steinem Says the Sexual Caste System Must Go!, The Washington Daily News, March 23, 1975
6. She’s First Woman President Of National Social Workers, The Washington Star, June 1, 1975
7. Anthropologist Margaret Mead Has Led a Feminist Life, The Washington Star, October 9, 1973
8. Olympic Gold Medalist Jim Thorpe’s daughter Grace, Wearing her “Alcatraz Boots,” Relishes Arrest as a Mover in the Indian Rights Movement, The Washington Daily News, April 12, 1972
9. Women’s Heroine Martha Griffiths is “Tough as Nails” as a Legislator, The Washington Star News, November 11, 1973
10. Longtime Career Woman Liz Carpenter Revels in Women’s Movement Success Stories, The Washington Star, 1975 NEW 22nd August
11. These Notable Women Scientists Are Mothers Who Work Part-time: Credited for developing first LSD detection, they tell us that marriage and children never meant giving up their careers, The Washington Star-News, September 8, 1972
12. Political Whiz Liz Carpenter Urges Women to Run for Office: She envisions many post-Watergate “do-it-yourself” kitchen campaigns, and to skip buying that pair of boots. Instead, make a contribution to a women candidate, The Washington Star, mid 1970’s
13. Radcliffe President Champions Women as Doctors and Scientists: Motherhood drop-outs are “wasteful,” she says, while part-time work would keep them in their professions. “Why bother, dear,” women are often told. The Washington Daily News, Early 1970's
14. Wife of Senator, Mother of Eight, Veteran Pilot and Sailor, Jane Hart Visits Hanoi: Briefly jailed in 1969, her “crime” was participating in a peace demonstration at the Pentagon. A devoted wife, of revered Sen. Philip Hart, D-Mich., she opposed the war in Vietnam before her husband did.The Washington Star-News, March 18, 1973
15. When It Comes to 1980 Sit-Coms, Working Women are Sex Objects: Oh, where have you gone, Mary Richards? She’s still a legend, as a definitive example of a woman with a serious job,, The Washington Star, October 15, 1980
16. “We’re Past the Stamp Licking Stage,” Says Maryland Political Caucus Head: 485 Women, Democrats and Republicans, were on hand to organize the Maryland Political Caucus. The Washington Daily News, December 28, 1971
17. High Paid, Opinionated, Driven, She Heads New “Odyssey Institute”: Dr. Judianne Densen-Gerber is forceful leader of 11 state drug-rehab program, mother of four, has degrees in psychiatry, law and medicine and says she works “non-stop” days. The Washington Star-News, January 10, 1975
18. As National Institutes of Health Director Bernadine Healy Makes History and Headlines: She charges ahead, adds women’s health research programs, battles with a prominent congressman, is cheered on by congresswomen, her husband and daughters, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 17, 1992
19. International Women’s Year Leader Rebukes Trivializing Press Coverage: Male editors didn’t take the meetings seriously and missed the “very strong world plan” to place women in decision-making positions, The Washington Star, March 1975
20. Actress, Singer, Pearl Bailey Dispenses Down Home Cooking Tips at Signing: As she autographs her book, “Pearl’s Kitchen,” she give her admirers glimpses at what she cooks every day for her husband and their two children. Off on her book tour, she says she left them with “10 cooked roasts.”, The Washington Star-News, September 28, 1973
21. Michigan Supreme Court Justice Mary Coleman’s Circuit Judge Husband is Leader of Her Fan club: The parents of two daughters, both physicians, the Colemans met in law school. Throughout their marriage, his unqualified support put them both on the same job planes, The Washington Star-News, May 13, 1974
22. Dolly Parton is Exuberant, Aquiver With the Life-Force She Brings to the Stage: “Just because I’m blonde, don’t think I’m dumb.” From the Dolly Parton’s first record,”Dumb Blonde” written by Curly Putnam, The Washington Star, August 16, 1979 — NEW 21 August 2018
23. “I Use My Own Body as a Stand-in for the Great Goddess,” Explains Artist Mary Ann Edelson: Mild in manner, ferocious in her art, her exhibit, “Woman Rising,” now at the Henri Gallery, represents her feminist view of the power that derives from the goddess myths, The Washington Star, February 23, 1975 — NEW 21 August 2018

[Section K (#59) in a collection of more than 100 newspaper articles by Judy Flander from the second wave of the Women’s Movement reflecting the fervor and ingenuity of the women who rode the wave.]