Many of the changes taking place in American life
reflected the fact that the role of women was in a state of
rapid transition. In the years immediately following the
war, many women gave up their jobs in factories and returned
to their traditional role as homemakers, sparking
the “baby boom” of the late 1940s and 1950s. Eventually,
however, many women became restive with their restrictive
role as wives and mothers and began to enter the
workforce at an increasing rate. Unlike the situation before
World War II, many of them were married. In 1900,
for example, married women made up about 15 percent of
the female labor force. By 1970, their number had increased
to 62 percent.
As in Europe, however, American women were still
not receiving equal treatment in the workplace, and by
the late 1960s, some began to assert their rights and speak
as feminists. Leading advocates of women’s rights in the
United States were Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem. A
journalist and the mother of three children, Friedan (b.
1921) grew increasingly uneasy with her attempt to fulfill
the traditional role of housewife and mother. In 1963, she
published The Feminine Mystique, in which she analyzed
the problems of middle-class women in the 1950s and argued
that women were systematically being denied equality
with men. The Feminine Mystique became a best-seller
and transformed Friedan into a prominent spokeswoman
for women’s rights in the United States.
As women became more actively involved in public issues,
their role in education increased as well. Beginning
in the 1980s, women’s studies programs began to proliferate
on college campuses throughout the United States.
Women also became active in promoting women’s rights
in countries around the world, and they helped organize
international conferences on the subject in Mexico City,
Copenhagen, Nairobi, and Beijing.
World History
