MAKERS: THE WOMEN WHO MAKE AMERICA

Gloria Steinem: One of the main figures in
Makers and in the Women's Liberation Movement

By DAWN ELARDO
Pre-college years, perhaps you'd noticed it, too—if you belong to the XY generations: there was always something missing whenever we'd have our history lessons in school. 

For me, it seemed like a gaping hole staring at me bluntly in the face; and yet no one else had bothered to mention a piece of humanity that was and still is a very controversial issue in our society.

Aside from the covering about a page or two at most,  in our history books about the Suffrage Movement, it really wasn't until I'd gone to university when I'd realize just how much history had been hiding from me and the rest of my classmates, and thereby entire generations. Makers: Women Who Make America, is a documentary about the Women's Liberation Movement, which chronicles the events that has led to the women's role in America today. The three part film, highlights the definitive moments and figures in the Women's Movement that have either escalated or delayed women's equality.

Some of the most poignant segments from  Makers: The Women Who Make America are: 

• Through out the 50s and the 60s, the job classifieds consisted of two categories: one for men and one for women.  The jobs posted for women were solely for degrading menial work—making it loud and clear that the job force in America was limited to men only. 
• In was not until the late 60s that a woman, Kathrine Switzer, first ran in an all exclusive male marathon (the Boston Marathon), where the director of the marathon himself tried to physically remove and expel her from the race. He did not succeed. 
• In 70's women were still not allowed to apply for their own credit cards; it was mandatory for a husband to sign off on them. 
• In the 80s Oprah became co-anchor for a news organization, and was scoffed at by her boss, when she'd asked him for equal pay.  

To learn more about Makers: Women Who Make America, go HERE.  And to watch the documentary go, HERE.

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