Women's Rights

Esther Peterson, the head of the Women's Bureau, and the highest-level woman appointee in the Kennedy administration, first came forward with the suggestion. Peterson had two reasons for doing so: first, she wanted to deflect any potential pro-Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) activity, primarily because it was still opposed by organized labor; second, Peterson wanted to see legislation enacted that would guarantee to women equal pay for equal work, a measure for which the support of organized labor would be required.

Kennedy had already been criticized for not making any women Cabinetlevel appointees. Indeed, his record of female appointees lagged behind those of his predecessors. When Peterson suggested the Commission, Kennedy viewed it as an opportunity to recoup some of his female support. The Commission, composed of 13 women and 11 men, was chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt. It employed seven investigatory committees, on which many prominent women sat, as well as scores of consultants and Women's Bureau staff. In November 1962 Eleanor Roosevelt died. As a tribute to her memory, the Commission issued its report, entitled American Women , on October 11, 1963, Roosevelt's birthday.

As expected, the report declared that an equal rights amendment was not necessary at the present time because, in the opinion of respected constitutional scholars, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments guaranteed equal rights to women. Attorney Marguerite Rawalt, the only pro-ERA advocate on the Commission, insisted that the wording be such that it left open the question of whether an ERA might be appropriate in the future.

The 60-page report included a long list of conditions that required amelioration and made specific recommendations. Among other things the report advocated an end to the prohibition against women jurors and restrictions on married women's rights. It supported federally and privately funded childcare centers for working mothers, joint guardianship of children, continuing education programs for women, equal employment opportunities, paid maternity leaves, equal pay laws, increased vocational training, promotion of women to high-level government jobs, more appointments of women to policy-making jobs, and continued efforts on the part of the government to insure the rights of women.

Two special consultations arranged by the Commission provoked most of the controversy within it. Both were set up as afterthoughts, but they reflected to a great extent the concerns that emerged in the revived women's movement of the mid-1960s. The first was a consultation on "Images of Women in the Media." Sitting in on the symposium were writers Lorraine Hansberry, the author of A Raisin in the Sun , Marya Mannes, and Betty Friedan. Hansberry complained that women were constantly objectified in media images. Mannes noted that magazines tended to portray women as housewives and mothers, neglecting all of their other roles and categories. And Friedan criticized magazines for failing to convey the idea that women had goals and ideals outside of the narrowly defined stereotypes. A second commission, "The Problems of Negro Women," chaired by the president of the National Council of Negro Women, Dorothy Height, complained that too little attention was paid to the plight of African American families and their lack of opportunity.

Though the report of the Commission attracted little attention, it did result in passage of the first federal law prohibiting sex discrimination, the Equal Pay Act, by the end of 1963. Moreover, Kennedy directed executive agencies to put a stop to sex discrimination in hiring and promoting practices, and a watchdog agency, the Citizen's Advisory Council on the Status of Women, was created. Finally, individual states began appointing their own commissions to make similar inquiries on statewide conditions. But perhaps the most lasting legacy of the Commission was that it served as a turning point, heralding a revitalization of the women's movement that would have far-reaching effects on American society.