Reconstructive Women's Movement

1.) The National Organization for Women (NOW), were dedicated to creating equality between the sexes. NOW believed that women should no longer have to live in the barrier that gave them special privileges over men. Old traditions stated women lived more or less sheltered and protected by the man who was responsible for putting a home and providing food for the family while the women stayed at home performing the role as the caretaker of the household and children. The goal of NOW was to give women equal opportunities as men in the fields of education, employment and politics. NOW promoted women to obtain higher education and seek attendance in universities. It also encouraged women to break away from the traditional women's role of caretaker and enter the working world and assist in becoming a provider for the household. NOW also believed that women should have an equal say when it came to political elections. One important view that NOW promoted to encourage equality was that they did not want members of the government and political branches to be equality of the sexes. A few solutions that NOW believed would assist in women being more easily able to gain equality to men would be to provide daycares for children so that the children of the families would be taken care of while the women would work, so that women wouldn't have to worry about where their children would go while they were working or performing another active role in society. Another important solution would be preventing criticism and instead encouraging them to take an active part in the community.

2.) In the excerpt from the article provided by the New York Radical Women, advocates for women's right expressed their negative views on the Miss America pageant and how it oppressed women and labeled them based solely on their image. According to the NYRW supporters and protesters, they aimed to use nonviolent protest and rallying outside of the theater at which the tournament would be held to gain access to both the public and the contestants themselves and provide reasoning to them as to why the contest oppressed the woman and gave her a certain quota to abide by in order to be successful and beautiful. The women started peaceful protests, freedom trash cans, and boycotts. The woman were against how the Miss America contestants were being used as symbols to a. promote commercial consumption by creating a promotion where these beautiful women became a symbol for their product, and b. what the NYRW described as "being a mascot for murder" by visiting and encouraging them to keep on fighting. The goal of the NYRW all around was to remain a united group of women, who would eventually be enabled to gain an active title as a successful and important part of society, not just being considered for their physical features and persuasive personalities.

3.) I believe that Schlafly's argument is directed more towards the women's liberation groups