9
be interpreted to advocate against racial discrimination, it could also be interpreted by the
Supreme Court to prohibit sex discrimination (Hartmann, p. 52).
The first legislation women used to piggy-back off of the Civil Rights reforms was Title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Southern members of Congress, who were eager to not see
the prohibition of discrimination of race in employment matters, supported women’s efforts to
add the prohibition of discrimination of sex to the legislation. Anticipating a killing of this
revised, loaded bill, Southern congressmen vocalized their support of the “sex” provision of Title
VII. Much to their chagrin, Title VII garnered enough votes to pass with the inclusion of both a
“race” provision and a “sex” provision prohibiting employer discrimination against these two
groups.
Crossing the Bridge- Linking Movements
Advancing women’s liberation was not limited to women’s attempts to be included in
Civil Rights legislation, women also adopted some of the popular participatory tactics of the
Civil Rights movement. Women found value in Civil Rights tactics such as sit-ins, marches,
grassroots campaigns, and consciousness-raising. Participatory democracy became the invaluable
bridge linking the accomplishments of Civil Rights to the desires and goals of women’s
liberation activists.
Participatory Democracy in the Women’s Movement
Previous participation in the Civil Rights movement fuelled many white females’
involvement in the women’s liberation movement. In 1960 the Student Non-Violent
Coordinating Committee was formed by a group of black southern college students seeking to
end racial segregation in the South. During the early 1960’s, large numbers of white male and
female college students spent their summers advocating for civil rights in the South. White,
Convention