For the Equal Rights Amendment

Shirley Chisholm’s speech—and the development of the Equal Rights Amendment for which she advocates—were direct effects of the second wave of feminism in the United States. The first wave of feminism, which took place at the turn of the 20th century, focused largely on women’s suffrage. As women took on greater responsibilities in industry, government, and society at large, suffragists argued that they should have the right to vote. The advocacy of first-wave feminists paid off with the passage of the 19th Amendment in 1919, granting women the right to vote in the United States for the first time.

While women certainly made gains through the first wave of feminism, by the 1960s, many advocates felt that the progress had not gone far enough. One significant voice in the second-wave feminist movement was Betty Friedan, a contemporary of Shirley Chisholm and author of the influential book The Feminist Mystique. In her book, Friedan argues that women deserve greater autonomy and power in society and that they should expect more from life than subjugation to roles as housewives and mothers. She explains: “In almost every professional field […], women are still treated as second-class citizens,” and argues that women should “not to be quiet, and hope it will go away, but fight it” (Friedan, Betty.