In tandem with the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement of the 1960s and 1970s emerged as a renewed drive to affirm women’s rights and their power as citizens. Unlike the earlier suffrage movement and its focus on voting rights, the Women’s Movement sought full recognition of women’s rights in the workplace, in society, and in sexual relations. Betty Friedan’s (1921-2006) The Feminine Mystique (1963) conveyed much of this by laying bare women’s frustrations with the limits of the domestic arena wherein they were expected to remain and find fulfillment. Friedan’s book became a best-seller, catalyzing debate over larger, alternative roles women might rightly assume. At ECU, the Women’s Movement became increasingly evident from the early 1960s forward with non-traditional groups such as Angel Flight appearing on campus. However, as an assertive, sexually-empowered movement, it appeared in force with the 1970 Fountainhead (formerly, the East Carolinian) special issue on women’s liberation, depicting, on the front-page, a woman crucified, indicting traditional patriarchy for allegedly executing female vitality.
Earlier, in 1960, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved oral contraceptives, or “the pill,” for female use. In short order, it became an exceptionally popular form of birth control, liberating women from fear of pregnancy even if sexually active. Coupled with the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, legalizing abortion, the pill prompted a sexual revolution, one wherein women emerged as newly empowered participants, no longer bound, necessarily, by pregnancy. At ECU, the Fountainhead ran advertisements for abortion services regularly, reflecting a new age in campus sexuality and female autonomy. Discussions of abortions, family planning, and sexual liberation appeared as well, revealing the new generation’s profound distance from the early campus culture of the Training School era wherein female empowerment consisted in access to higher education and professional training as teachers.
The Women’s Movement achieved a milestone on March 22, 1972: the U. S. Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment ensuring equality of rights regardless of sex. By early 1973, 22 states had ratified the proposed amendment. In North Carolina, both the GOP governor, James E. Holshouser, Jr., and the lieutenant governor, James B. Hunt, a Democrat, supported the ERA. But it was opposed, however, by North Carolina’s senior U. S. senator, Sam J. Ervin, Jr. Political groups quickly crystalized statewide supporting and opposing the amendment. ECU’s large female population naturally made the campus a hotbed of debate. Sensitive to the divisions on campus and in the community, the Student Union Lecture Committee sponsored talks, to be held on the same evening in Wright Auditorium, by two leading voices in the women’s movement, Betty Friedan and Lucianne Goldberg. The result was one of the most balanced public discussions ever staged at East Carolina.
Before the evening event, Friedan met with students in the lobby of Clement Dorm. Goldberg, one of the co-founders of the Pussycat League and author of Purr Baby Purr (1971), a critique of feminism, met with students in Tyler Hall. In her dialogue, Friedan emphasized the importance of ending job discrimination, realizing equal pay for women, bringing about abortion reform, and providing for child care. At her venue, Goldberg declared that the Pussy Cat League was not opposed to the goals of the Women’s Movement, but decried the “noisy militants” who cast men as the enemy and demeaned traditional domestic roles associated with being a wife and mother.
In Wright Auditorium, Friedan and Goldberg addressed “the crisis in female identity.” Drawing on themes in The Feminine Mystique, Friedan noted, with humor, how some women felt troubled “… if they weren’t experiencing an orgasm while waxing the kitchen floor.” She emphasized that many women “… [needed] more out of life than eating peanut butter sandwiches with their children.” Praising the Roe vs. Wade ruling, Friedan declared, “Anatomy is no longer destiny.” Yet above all, Friedan called for equality: “If women are to have a full human function in society, they must have equality.” She stated that women should have access to free abortion on demand, free twenty-four hour child care centers, and equal opportunities in jobs and education, adding that “women will no longer be content with one, two, or three percent of the political voice while they represent 53 percent of the voting class.”
Questioning the reality of a “crisis in female identity,” Goldberg declared that if such a crisis existed, the Women’s Liberation movement had caused it. Along personal lines, Goldberg explained that rather than anxiety or crisis, she was “very prideful” in being female. Disparaging her opponent and the Women’s Movement generally, Goldberg added that she saw “Betty as one of the six noisy women in New York who have made the movement.” She added that the Pussy Cat League is for “the women who don’t feel oppressed, enslaved, and afraid.” Mocking the educational ambitions of some, Goldberg observed that “Ladyhood will get you further than a master’s degree.” Moreover, she asserted that Women’s Liberation “alienated women against women.” Regarding the ERA, Goldberg declared her support for equal pay for women, but denied that the amendment was “necessary legislation.” According to Goldberg, “you cannot legislate human behavior.”
The remarks of Friedan and Goldberg were helpful for many in clarifying their own thinking on women’s issues, and especially the ERA. In the end, North Carolina did not ratify the amendment, and so, in effect, contributed to the first round failure of the push to ensure gender equally at the highest level of American law. While the movement to ratify the ERA continues, the horizon for amending has passed, at least according to usual protocol. Nevertheless, given the importance of women in politics – a byproduct of the Women’s Movement – there can be little doubt that eventually the basic guarantee of equality in rights regardless of one’s gender identity will likely be realized. Approved or not, there can be little question that ECU remains a longstanding supporter of women’s rights and most especially, their empowerment through full and complete access to the corridors of higher education.
Sources
- "Abortion: Is there a short route through the twists and turns?" Fountainhead. Vol. 4, no. 37. March 13, 1973. P. 2.
- Brady, Nancy. "Honor frat excludes women." Fountainhead. Vol. 4, no. 53. May 16, 1973. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39690.
- "ECU Debate Scheduled Between Betty Friedan and Lucianne Goldberg." Rocky Mount Telegram. April 3, 1973. P. 6.
- Faulkner, Ronnie W. "Equal Rights Amendment." NCPedia. https://www.ncpedia.org/equal-rights-amendment.
- "Feminist speaks at Duke: Friedan lauds humanism." Daily Tar Heel. January 29, 1973. P. 1.
- Finch, Ken. "'Playboy' exploits women, says critic." Special Women's Liberation Issue: Fountainhead. October 3, 1970. P. 1.
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- Koonce, Kathy. "Pussy Cat League advocate purrs contentment over lot." Fountainhead. April 12, 1973. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39683.
- Koonce, Kathy. "Women emphasize united awareness." Fountainhead. May 8, 1973. P. 4. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39688.
- Norwood, Essie. "Dinner and Dialogue With Betty Friedan." Daily Times-News (Burlington). January 29, 1973. P. 10.
- Page, Pam. "Friedan, Goldberg fly into stormy, sexual clouds." Fountainhead. April 12, 1973. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39683.
- Page, Pam. "Liberation leader calls cards, denounces sexual iron curtain." Fountainhead. April 12, 1973. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39683.
- Pugh, Brenda. "Women Demand Equality." Fountainhead. Vol. 4, no. 52. May 10, 1973. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39689.
- Stancil, Jackie. "Liberated wedding highlights groom." Special Women's Liberation Issue: Fountainhead. October 3, 1970. P. 1.
- Wolcott, Mary Ellen. "Women's Rights Leaders Worried." Asheville Citizen-Times. January 28, 1973. P. 1C.
- "Women's Awareness Week schedules events, discussions and lectures." Fountainhead. May 3, 1973. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39687.
Citation Information
Title: The Women’s Movement at ECU: Betty Friedan and Lucianne Goldberg, 1973
Author: John A. Tucker, PhD
Date of Publication: 7/18/2019