The Feminist Movement (in APUSH, mainly the 'second wave' of the 1960s-70s) was a social and political movement demanding legal, economic, and cultural equality for women, challenging postwar gender roles and sparking debates over the Equal Rights Amendment and the role of the federal government.
The Feminist Movement is the long push to make women legally, economically, and socially equal to men. APUSH cares most about the second wave, the 1960s-70s version. After World War II, mass culture sold a homogeneous image of the ideal American family with dad at work and mom at home. Second-wave feminists challenged that script directly. They fought for workplace equality, reproductive rights, and an end to laws that treated women differently, and their biggest legislative goal was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
Here's the part the exam loves. The movement didn't just produce change, it produced backlash. Conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly organized against the ERA, arguing it would destroy traditional gender roles and protections for women. That clash between feminists and religious and social conservatives became one of the defining culture-war battles of the 1970s (KC-8.2.III.E) and fed directly into the conservative resurgence of the 1980s. So think of the Feminist Movement as both a cause of social change and a trigger for the counter-movement that follows it.
The Feminist Movement lives mostly in Unit 8 (1945-1980) and echoes into Unit 9 (1980-present). It supports several learning objectives at once. For APUSH 8.14.A, it's a textbook example of policy debates over the federal government's role, since the ERA fight was literally about whether the Constitution should guarantee gender equality. For APUSH 8.5.A and 8.12.A, it shows how postwar conformity and traditional values got challenged by activists and youth movements. For APUSH 8.14.B, the backlash connects to the growth of evangelical Christian political activism. And for APUSH 9.7.A, feminism's unfinished battles help explain why social and cultural issues kept shaping national identity after 1980. Thematically, this is American and National Identity (NAT) and Social Structures (SOC) territory, which makes it prime material for change-and-continuity essays.
Keep studying APUSH Unit 8
Equal Rights Amendment (Unit 8)
The ERA was the Feminist Movement's signature goal, a constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights regardless of sex. Its failure to be ratified, thanks largely to Schlafly's STOP ERA campaign, shows that the movement's success had real limits and that opposition was organized and effective.
Suffrage and the 19th Amendment (Unit 7)
The 1920 suffrage victory was the 'first wave' of feminism. Second-wave activists picked up where suffragists left off, arguing that the vote alone hadn't delivered real equality. This first-wave-to-second-wave thread is exactly the kind of cross-period continuity argument DBQs reward.
Gender Roles and 1950s Domesticity (Unit 8)
Second-wave feminism makes the most sense as a reaction. The 1950s ideal of the suburban housewife, pushed hard by mass culture, was the conformity feminists rebelled against. The 1950s set the stage; the 1960s-70s movement tore it down.
Rise of the New Right and Evangelical Activism (Units 8-9)
Feminism's gains helped mobilize religious conservatives, who saw the movement as proof of moral and cultural decline. That backlash powered the conservative movement that won big in the 1980s, so feminism is a cause you can cite when explaining Reagan-era politics.
Multiple-choice questions usually hand you a source from the gender debates of the 1970s and ask what it's responding to. Fiveable practice questions, for example, give you Phyllis Schlafly's anti-ERA arguments and ask what movement she opposes or what her critique reveals about American views on gender roles. So you need to recognize feminism from its opponents, not just its supporters. No released FRQ has used 'Feminist Movement' verbatim, but the movement is a go-to example for essays on continuity and change in reform movements (suffrage to second wave), the causes of the conservative resurgence, and debates over federal power. Your job on the exam is to do three things with it. Place it in context (postwar conformity and 1960s activism), name specifics (the ERA, Schlafly, second wave), and connect it forward to the culture wars and the New Right.
The suffrage movement (roughly 1848-1920) had one core goal, winning women the vote, achieved with the 19th Amendment in 1920. The Feminist Movement APUSH emphasizes is the second wave of the 1960s-70s, which went far beyond voting to target workplace discrimination, reproductive rights, and cultural gender roles. If the question is about Seneca Falls or the 19th Amendment, that's first wave (Period 7 and earlier). If it's about the ERA, Schlafly, or 1970s culture wars, that's second wave (Period 8).
In APUSH, 'Feminist Movement' usually means second-wave feminism, the 1960s-70s push for legal, economic, and social equality that went beyond the voting rights won in 1920.
The movement was a direct reaction against the 1950s ideal of domesticity and the homogeneous mass culture of the postwar years (KC-8.3.II.A).
Its biggest legislative goal, the Equal Rights Amendment, passed Congress but failed ratification after organized opposition led by Phyllis Schlafly.
The backlash against feminism helped mobilize evangelical Christians and the New Right, making it a cause of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s.
On the exam, the movement shows up in debates over federal power (8.14.A), challenges to mass culture (8.5.A), and the culture-war clashes of the 1970s (KC-8.2.III.E).
It was the 1960s-70s 'second wave' campaign for women's legal, economic, and social equality, including workplace rights, reproductive rights, and the Equal Rights Amendment. It challenged postwar gender roles and triggered a major conservative backlash.
No, not fully. Congress passed the ERA in 1972, but it fell short of ratification by the required number of states, largely because of Phyllis Schlafly's STOP ERA campaign. Its failure is a key example of the limits of second-wave feminism.
The suffrage movement focused on winning the vote and succeeded with the 19th Amendment in 1920. The second-wave Feminist Movement of the 1960s-70s went broader, targeting workplace discrimination, reproductive rights, and cultural gender norms.
Schlafly was a conservative activist who led the campaign against the ERA in the 1970s, arguing it would destroy traditional gender roles. The exam loves her because she represents the organized backlash to feminism that fed the rise of the New Right.
Yes. It appears across Unit 8 topics like 8.14 (Society in Transition) and 8.12 (Youth Culture of the 1960s), often through sources from its opponents, and it connects forward to Unit 9's conservative movement under learning objective 9.7.A.