Womens Rights

Women's Rights during the 1960s

Sheila Huff

SS310-13

May 22, 2012

The General Federation of Women's Clubs is an organization that formed during the 1920s, and carried into the 1960s. It was an umbrella organization comprised of 16,000 women's clubs in the United States and overseas. These individuals believed women's public activism would strengthen American greatness, secure peace, and protect democracy during the 1960s (Meltzer, 2009). Women from the GFWC believed their supposed predisposition to nurture others and communities qualified them to be leaders in many community projects. Club women were concerned with the challenges facing the world during the early years of the Cold War. They accepted the responsibility for preventing another world war by making the country safe for democracy.

Had this event never occurred, my life would be very different because of the opportunities that were provided to women, such as the right to enter the workforce and choose a job that had traditionally been devoted to men. I now have the right to choose the career I want without having to worry that I will not be hired because I am a woman. Before the organization of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, women were considered the weaker sex. They were expected to stay at home with their children, cook, and clean. After the GFWC was put in place, women started to realize they deserved more opportunities than they were receiving. Their work included anything from local school board meetings to partisan politics (Meltzer, 2009).

The GFWC was a major event that took place. Women today are able to go into the field they desire, and they do not have to be as concerned about not getting the job they want because they are a woman. I have chosen to go into the field of psychology. Decades ago, women would not have had the right to choose any career they wanted, but because of the GFWC women have a plethora of opportunities...