Women in America

A big step towards woman’s equality was the women’s right to vote as a result of the endorsement of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The preparations that appeared in 1960, which allow controlling the birth rate were the next big step. Women’s way of life was no longer bounded by marriage, child-rearing, and housework. At the same time, both the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s calling for an end to racial discrimination and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 undermined the foundations of gender discrimination. Representatives of the women’s movement demanded equal rights with men to legal protection and professional opportunities for all American women.

As a result, in the 1960-1980s, the U.S. Congress helped to resolve some issues regarding women discrimination. The U.S. Congress issued a set of laws and the Supreme Court has taken important decisions aimed at protecting women’s rights. First, in 1965 the Supreme Court opened the door for women to professions that were previously considered exclusively male. Second, in 1971 the Supreme Court prohibited employers from refusing to hire women with pre-school children. Finally, the law issued in 1970 prohibited gender discrimination in all state-funded educational programs (Lind, 2009).

Nevertheless, women’s opportunities were becoming more and more limited as they were making progress in their careers. The term “glass ceiling” describes an invisible barrier that occurs on the way for many women for career growth, while their male counterparts possessing the same skills and experience are not faced with such difficulties. A set of laws aimed at mitigating…