Women’s Strike for Equality 1970

“The Women’s Strike for Equality was a strike which took place in the United States on August 26, 1970. It celebrated the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment, which effectively gave American women the right to vote. The rally was sponsored by the National Organization for Women (NOW). Estimates ranged as high as 50,000 women at the protest in New York City and more protested throughout the country. At this time, the gathering was the largest on behalf of women in the United States. The strike, spearheaded by Betty Friedan, self-stated three primary goals: free abortion on demand, equal opportunity in the workforce, and free childcare. The strike also advocated for other second wave feminist goals more generally, such as political rights for women, and social equality in relationships such as marriage. At the time of the protest, women still did not enjoy many of the same freedoms and rights as men. Despite the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which prohibited pay discrimination between two people who performed the same job, women comparatively earned 59 cents for every dollar a man made for similar work. Women were also restricted in terms of their access to higher education. For example, Harvard University did not admit women until 1977. And regardless of education, women were generally channeled into one of four occupational choices: secretarial, nursing, teaching, or motherhood. Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, who graduated at the top of her class from Stanford Law School, was offered only secretarial jobs in Los Angeles law firms despite her prestigious degree. In 43 states, women were limited in the number of hours they could work and the amount of weight they could carry (generally no more than 25 pounds (11 kg), the size of a toddler, as some feminists noted). In many states, women were also unable to obtain credit cards, make wills, or own property without a husband.^[7] The right to serve on a jury was denied to women in some states. Feminist Betty Jameson Armistead sent a letter to Betty Friedan and others proposing the strike. Betty Friedan, writer of The Feminine Mystique, and a leader of second-wave feminism, then planned the protest to commemorate the anniversary of landmark legislation, and spotlight current battles. She said the movement was in need of ‘something big, something so big it will make national headlines’. Friedan initially proposed the strike to the National Organization for Women, an organization which she had helped found. …”
Wikipedia
The 1970 Women’s Strike: A Bit of History
NY Times: Feminist Factions United and Filled the Streets for This Historic March
Jacobin: How the Strike for Equality Relaunched the Struggle for Women’s Liberation in the US

The Women’s Strike for Equality was meant to mark the 50th anniversary of suffrage in the United States, but also form a new feminist coalition. Aug. 26, 1970.