Gloria Steinem Context

The 1960s and 1970s were tumultuous times for the globe at large and the United States in particular. Across the country, people’s deep-seated beliefs were being shook to the core; all of a sudden, African-Americans were speaking up for themselves and demanding new rights, young men were refusing to go overseas to fight in a war they did not believe in, and, perhaps most shockingly of all, women were declaring that they could not be content just with having children and keeping house. The emergence of second wave feminism was not a completely spontaneous event, though. It had its roots in World War II, when women first began to come forward out of the private sphere of the home, from where they traditionally had not strayed, in order to act as workers in labor-depleted factories. With most young, eligible men off overseas fighting, it was up to America’s women to take over jobs in the manufacturing world. They took to the task eagerly – by 1944, 30% of all women who worked had jobs in factories. After Germany and Japan were defeated, though, the same women who had worked diligently to support their country found themselves discharged from their jobs in large numbers. They were told to go back to the home and concentrate on raising families, just as they had before the war. Reluctantly, America’s women did as they were told – but something had forever changed. As these women and their daughters grew older, they also grew more and more uncomfortable with the inevitability of being nothing more than homemakers. Betty Friedan, a housewife, was one of these uneasy women. She went to her fifteenth college reunion in 1957 only to see that her classmates, who had shown such potential and vivacity in school, had mostly settled down with husbands without realizing their dreams of having careers outside the home. By and large, they were unsatisfied with how their lives had ended up. Friedan was shocked and saddened by what she saw. The experience led her to write The Feminine Mystique, which catalyzed the second major wave of feminism. The decades after Friedan’s book was published saw opportunities for women growing by leaps and bounds. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 194 declared that it was thenceforth illegal to deny someone employment based on sex, race, religion, or natural origin. The National Organization for Women, or NOW, a major feminist support group whose mission was to serve the needs of women everywhere, was formed in 1966. In 1972, a decree called Title IX was passed, which states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” America was on the way to truly becoming a land of opportunity, where things like sex could no longer prevent people from living their dreams.

Sources:
See “Gloria Steinem Biography”