ers such topics as “Contributions of Marxism and
Feminism to the Sociology of Women and Work”
and “The Data on Women’s Labor Force Partici-
pation.”
Sheila Golburgh JohnsonSee also Affirmative action; Consumerism; Femi-
nism; Marriage and divorce; O’Connor, Sandra Day;
Power dressing; Unemployment in Canada; Unem-
ployment in the United States; Unions; Women’s
rights.
Women’s rights
Definition The movement to attain equal rights
for women in Canada and the United States
During the 1980’s, women’s rights in the United States and
Canada changed significantly, primarily in terms of repro-
ductive and workplace rights.
Changes in the rights of women affected both gen-
ders throughout the 1980’s and helped to shape
gender attitudes as well as produce a backlash
against these changes that would shape American
politics and facilitate the rise of the conservative
right.
Third-Wave Feminism In both the United States
and Canada, the 1980’s saw the advent of third-wave
feminism, which would shape feminist approaches
to politics and rights. Whereas first-wave feminism of
the early twentieth century focused on correcting le-
gal inequalities, such as gaining the right to vote,
and second-wave feminism of the 1960’s and 1970’s
focused on unofficial inequalities, such as discrimi-
nation, third-wave feminism focused on production
and work, reproduction and sexuality, and gender
and the state. This third wave was heavily influenced
by postmodern discourse and its evaluation of the
politics of representation. Rather than viewing all
women as a homogeneous group, as second-wave
feminists had, third-wave feminists looked at other
important characteristics that complicated attempts
to categorize women, such as race, ethnicity, socio-
economic status, religion, and class. The underly-
ing motive of this philosophy was an acknowledg-
ment that women did not universally share their
needs and experiences, which differed according to
other characteristics. The needs and experiences of
a middle-class, well-educated black woman, for ex-
ample, differed from those of her white, lower-class
counterpart.
These questions of race, class, and sexuality were
central to third-wave feminism, as were a multitude
of issues concerning women in the workplace, such
as the glass ceiling, inequities in pay, sexual harass-
ment, and maternity leave. Other areas of concern
for third-wave feminists included representations of
women in the media that may lead to eating disor-
ders or unrealistic body standards, the lack of role
models for girls, the presentation of women solely as
sexualized objects, and antifeminism.
The third wave relied on the second wave to pro-
duce women accustomed to thinking about feminist
issues and questioning gender norms, and women
for whom the workplace had been made accessible.
Throughout the 1980’s, these attitudes would shape
feminist political thought and expectations—as well
as fuel conservative backlash that would end up
negating many of the advances made by women in
earlier decades by removing legal acts and agencies
designed to promote equity in education and the
workplace.
One extreme and tragic example of the hatred
inspired by changes in the rights of women would
take place in an engineering classroom at the École
Polytechnique, University of Montreal, on Decem-
ber 6, 1989, when fourteen female students were
gunned down by Marc Lépine, a fellow student who
claimed that feminists had ruined his life.The Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) proved to be a major legal bat
tleground for proponents of women’s rights through-
out the early 1980’s. Originally proposed in 1923 as
the “Lucretia Mott Amendment” by suffragist leader
Alice Paul, the ERA was intended to bar legal dis-
crimination against women. It had been introduced
in every session of Congress from 1923 to 1970, and
it finally was presented for ratification in 1972, with
a seven-year deadline, which was later extended
by another thirty-nine months. By 1979, thirty-five
of the required thirty-eight states had ratified the
amendment, but five of the states had withdrawn
their ratification. In 1981, a federal court ruled that
the extension had been unconstitutional and that
the rescindment of ratification had been valid (Idaho
v. Freeman, 1981). The National Organization for
Women (NOW), formed by Betty Friedan in 1966,The Eighties in America Women’s rights 1057