Betty Friedan - and her role in woman's rights

Essay by zeitgeistCollege, UndergraduateA+, April 2004

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Answering The Call

"In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe."

Those famous words from John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address told Americans to take charge for their country. Many followed these words and Betty Friedan, president of the National Organization for Women, was one of them. Betty Friedan was a devote supporter in the push for the rights of women in America. Taking a stand for something she believed in, Friedan testified before the Senate Judicial Committee attacking a Judge Harrold Carswell in opposition of his appointment as a Supreme Court Justice. Friedan's opposition of Carswell was based on his outright violations of civil rights and sexism towards women.

On an October 13th, 1969 case Carswell's judiciary action would have permitted employers to deny employment to millions of women. Friedan presented several points of opposition to this ruling, the most important of which being Carswell's violation of the civil rights act. Carswell justified his blatant discrimination towards the opposite sex with a so-called doctrine named "sex plus," which had special standards for women, that were not applied to men. Friedan pointed out how Carswell's actions hurt the current administration's plan to get more women in the workplace. Betty Friedan took it upon herself to take charge and oppose the appointment of Judge Carswell to the Supreme Court Justice. Friedan presented several arguments on why he should not have been appointed and it was these actions that helped preserve the rights women had been granted.

An October 13th, 1969 case on the Fifth Circuit Court...