Editing Equal Rights Amendment (section)

==== Impact of second-wave feminism ====
[[File:Shirely Chisholm at the 1984 DNC.jpg|thumb|Shirley Chisholm seated at the 1984 Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, California.  ]]
[[Second-wave feminism|A new women's movement]] gained ground in the later 1960s as a result of a variety of factors: [[Betty Friedan]]'s bestseller ''[[The Feminine Mystique]]''; the network of women's rights commissions formed by Kennedy's national commission; the frustration over women's social and economic status; and anger over the lack of government and [[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]] enforcement of the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In June 1966, at the Third National Conference on the Status of Women in [[Washington, D.C.]], Betty Friedan and a group of activists frustrated with the lack of government action in enforcing Title VII of the Civil Rights Act formed the [[National Organization for Women]] (NOW) to act as an "NAACP for women", demanding full equality for American women and men.<ref name="Schneir 1994 95">{{Cite book|title=Feminism in Our Time: The Essential Writings, World War II to the Present|last=Schneir|first=Miriam|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|location=New York City|year=1994|page=95}}</ref> In 1967, at the urging of Alice Paul, NOW endorsed the Equal Rights Amendment.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Highlights |publisher=National Organization for Women |url=https://now.org/about/history/highlights/ |access-date=2024-12-11 |language=en-US}}</ref> The decision caused some union Democrats and social conservatives to leave the organization and form the [[Women's Equity Action League]] (within a few years WEAL also endorsed the ERA), but the move to support the amendment benefited NOW, bolstering its membership.{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} By the late 1960s, NOW had made significant political and legislative victories and was gaining enough power to become a major lobbying force. In 1969, newly elected representative [[Shirley Chisholm]] of [[New York (state)|New York]] gave her famous speech "Equal Rights for Women" on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Chisolm|first=Shirley|author-link=Shirley Chisholm|date=May 21, 1969|title=Equal Rights for Women|url=http://www.emersonkent.com/speeches/equal_rights_for_women.htm|access-date=June 6, 2020|publisher=Emerson Kent}}</ref>