The 1970s marked a pivotal era for American women, characterized by a surge in activism and a significant shift in their roles within society. While progress was undeniable, the decade also exposed the deeply entrenched inequalities that women continued to face - a reality vividly reflected in the world of this play. By immersing audiences in this context, Liberation invites us to confront the challenges and triumphs its characters grapple with.
THE WORKPLACE
Fueled by the second wave of the feminist movement and economic necessity, women entered the workforce in record numbers during this period. However, their journey wasn’t without hurdles. Women were relegated to traditionally female-dominated professions like teaching, nursing, and clerical work, which paid lower wages compared to male-dominated fields. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics paint a picture of the status of women workers at the time:
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LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION: In 1970, only 43.3% of women aged 16 and over were in the workforce. By 1980, this figure had climbed to 52.0%, reflecting a noteworthy increase in female labor participation over the course of just one decade.
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OCCUPATIONAL SEGREGATION: Women remained concentrated in a limited number of occupations, resulting in a phenomenon known as occupational segregation.
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WAGE GAP: Women earned an average of only 57 cents for every dollar earned by men in the early 1970s, and 62 cents by 1979. By 2024, it had climbed to only 84 cents.
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PAY DISPARITY BY RACE AND GENDER: The gender pay gap was further compounded by racial discrimination. Black women faced an even wider pay gap, making only 43 cents for every dollar made by a white male in the early 1970s. In 2024, Black women earned 64 cents for every dollar made by a white male.
UNFAIR LAWS
The 1970s marked a period of intense activism and legal challenges as women sought to dismantle discriminatory laws that limited their opportunities and rights. While significant progress was made, the fight for equality was far from over. Women in the 1970s faced a complex web of discriminatory laws that reinforced traditional gender roles and perpetuated inequality. These laws varied from state to state but often included:
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CREDIT ACCESS: Women faced significant barriers in obtaining credit, making it difficult to purchase homes, start businesses, or access educational and training opportunities. Specifically, women were required by most institutions to obtain their husband’s signature for any line of credit. This type of discrimination was not outlawed until 1974 with the passage of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
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EMPLOYMENT LAWS: Many states had laws that prohibited or restricted women’s employment in certain professions, such as law, medicine, and engineering. These laws limited their career options and perpetuated occupational segregation.
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JOB SECURITY: Women could be legally fired from their job for becoming pregnant. This was the case until the passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978.
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VOTING RIGHTS: While women had gained the right to vote in the early 20th century, some states still had laws that made it disproportionately more difficult for them to register to vote. Specifically, the strict residency requirements of most states made it difficult for women who had recently married or divorced, recently changed their name, or recently moved in or out of a home. Many states required a married woman to register at the same address as her husband, regardless of the relationship status or timing of the marriage.
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JURY SERVICE: Women were often excluded from jury service - and expressly forbidden from it in three Southern states - until 1975, when the Supreme Court ruled a jury must be drawn from a wider cross-section of the citizenry. Even so, as the Equal Justice Initiative explains in Race and the Jury, “lawyers continued to use peremptory strikes to eliminate women from juries until the Supreme Court decided in 1994 that gender-based strikes violate the Fourteenth Amendment”.
The Battle in the Courts and Legislatures
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), a proposed amendment to the US Constitution guaranteeing equal legal rights for men and women, became a rallying cry for feminists during the 1970s.
The ERA was passed by Congress in 1972 but was not ratified by the required number of states. Its defeat highlighted the deep-seated resistance to gender equality and the political obstacles faced by women’s rights activists. To this day, the amendment has never been ratified, and six states have rescinded their initial ratification.
To combat these unfair laws and pervasive sexism in the workplace and society, activists pursued legal challenges to discriminatory laws and policies. Notable cases included:
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Reed v. Reed (1971): The Supreme Court struck down a state law that gave preference to men over women in the administration of estates, establishing a precedent for gender equality in the law.
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Title IX and the Danforth Amendment (1972): Prior to Title IX of the Education Amendments, there were no federal regulations ensuring gender equality in educational programs and activities, especially in athletics and academics. The Danforth Amendment sought to weaken Title IX’s provisions, specifically exempting sports programs from its anti-discrimination rules. However, Title IX ultimately prevailed, mandating that federally funded schools must provide equal opportunities regardless of gender, revolutionizing the educational landscape and significantly increasing women’s participation in sports and academic programs.
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Frontiero v. Richardson (1973): The Court ruled that a military law that automatically granted benefits to the wives of male officers but required female officers to prove that their husbands were dependent on them was unconstitutional.
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Roe v. Wade (1973): While not explicitly focused on gender equality, this landmark case established a woman’s right to abortion, expanding women’s reproductive rights and autonomy.
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Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur (1974): The Supreme Court struck down a rule forcing pregnant teachers to take unpaid leave after their first trimester and barring them from returning until their baby was three months old. The decision protected women’s right to work during pregnancy and challenged unfair assumptions about their capabilities. Future Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg co-authored a supporting brief, marking a key moment in advancing workplace equality for women.
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Taylor v. Louisiana (1975): The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law that required women to volunteer to serve as jurors, mandating that men and women be called equally for jury duty. This case, introduced and championed by the American Civil Liberties Union, expanded gender equality in civic participation.
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Kirchberg v. Feenstra (1981): The Supreme Court struck down a Louisiana law allowing husbands to control marital property without their wives’ consent, ruling it violated the Equal Protection Clause. This case strengthened married women’s constitutional rights over shared property.
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Common Law: Although never explicitly addressed in a Supreme Court ruling, many common-law traditions in the United States historically permitted marital rape. In 1976, Nebraska became the first state to criminalize marital rape. By 1993, marital rape was a crime in all fifty states.
Glossary
This glossary provides definitions for terms and phrases drawn directly from the text of the play. Each entry is included to enhance understanding of the language, cultural references, and historical context that shape the world of the characters in Liberation.
Concepts and Ideas
- Civil Rights: The right of all people to equal treatment under the law, regardless of race, gender, or other characteristics.
- Patriarchy: A social system where men hold primary power and privileges and women are considered subordinate.
- Women’s liberation: A social and political movement aimed at achieving equality for women.
Organizations
- National Organization of Women (NOW): A moderate feminist organization that focused on achieving equality through legal and political means.
- Radical Women Organization: A radical feminist organization that advocated for the complete overthrow of patriarchy.
- SNCC: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a civil rights organization that emerged from the mass sit-in movement to protest restaurant segregation. The members, mostly Black college students, organized peaceful, direct action protests.
- Radicalesbians: A lesbian feminist organization that focused on the unique experiences of lesbians and their contributions to the women’s liberation movement.
- The Redstockings: A radical feminist organization that emphasized the importance of collective action and consciousness raising.
Cultural References
- Artificial wombs: A hypothetical technology that would allow women to have children without carrying a pregnancy. This concept was often discussed in relation to reproductive rights and gender roles.
- Fellini’s City of Women: A film that satirizes and critiques male dominance and female sexuality.
- Green card: A document that allowed foreigners to live and work in the United States.
- Mission statement: A formal declaration of an organization’s purpose and goals.
- Ms. Magazine: A feminist magazine that provided a platform for women’s voices and addressed issues related to gender equality.
Key Figures and Events
- Betty Friedan: A leading feminist author and activist who is credited with starting the second wave of feminism.
- Eldridge Cleaver: A Black Panther Party leader who expressed views that were often sexist and misogynistic, sparking debates within the women’s liberation movement.
- Strike for Equality: A nationwide protest in 1970 that drew attention to women’s issues and demanded equal pay and opportunities.
REFERENCES
American Civil Liberties Union. Timeline of Major Supreme Court Decisions on Women’s Rights. 25 Oct. 2007.
Bishop, Kyla. “A Reflection on the History of Sexual Assault Laws in the United States.” The Arkansas Journal of Social Change and Public Service, 20 Apr. 2019.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. “A Look at Women’s Education and Earnings Since the 1970s.” The Economics Daily, 7 Aug. 2017.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Women in the Labor Force: A Databook. Report, Dec. 2020.
Equal Justice Initiative. Gender-Based Jury Exclusion. Equal Justice Initiative Reports, 27 July 2021.
Fussell, Elizabeth. “Record Number of Women in the U.S. Labor Force.” Population Reference Bureau, 24 Sept. 2019.
Haan, Katherine. “Gender Pay Gap Statistics in 2024.” Forbes Advisor, 1 Mar. 2024.
Hunt, Janet C., and Paul H. Rubin. “The Economics of the Women’s Movement.” Public Choice, vol. 35, no. 3, 1980, pp. 287–95. JSTOR.
National Archives. “SNCC and the Black Power Movement.” National Archives, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
National Women’s Law Center. “Black Women Have Been Undervalued and Underpaid for Far Too Long.” National Women’s Law Center, 30 June 2024.
“To Have and to Hold: The Marital Rape Exemption and the Fourteenth Amendment.” Harvard Law Review, vol. 99, no. 6, p. 1255.
U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Equal Credit Opportunity Act. U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.