people feel that SNCC opened the door for the feminist movement,
as it first established many of the principles later use by feminists.
SNCC sought to change society by creating alternative institutions,
instead of altering the existing ones. It rallied the oppressed
by glorifying their qualities, and it viewed prejudice, in the
form of racism or sexism, as a core social problem.
SNCC provided more than a model for the feminist movement. In
1964, the organization published a position paper that described
the situation that women faced within SNCC itself, demonstrating
an awareness of the problem before it was fashionable. The paper
listed numerous situations where female members were placed in
positions below their skill level, while less qualified males
were placed above them. The paper compared the male oppression
of women to the white oppression of blacks.
this paper, or perhaps because of it, women did hold prominent
positions in SNCC--providing further examples for the feminist
movement. Many of the leaders of the local SNCC projects were
women, and in the 1965 election, all of the black Freedom Democratic
Party Congressional candidates from Mississippi were women.