1970 Women's Strike for Equality
Makala Dixon
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At a NOW conference in March 1970, Betty Friedan called for the Strike for Equality, asking women to stop working for a day to draw attention to the prevalent problem of unequal pay for women’s work.
Who organized it and got it started
Women’s Strike for Equality was organized by the National Organization for Women (NOW) and then-president Betty Friedan..Friedan stepped down from the presidency in March 1970 but continued to be active in the work that had sprung largely from her pioneering efforts
How it made a difference
Women’s Strike for Equality was centered in New York City, where thousands of women gathered on Fifth Avenue to listen to speeches, carrying signs with such slogans as “Don’t Iron While the Strike Is Hot” and “Housewives are Unpaid Slave Laborers.” A group of women even placed a banner reading “Women of the World Unite!” on the Statue of Liberty. Events over the course of the day gave additional weight to these demands. In New York's City Hall Park, women staged a demonstration day-care center. Another group of women visited targeted companies and presented satiric "awards" for under-employing women and for creating degrading images of women. Similar events took place in other cities.