History Of The Women's Movement

In the 1970s a women’s movement was created to try and liberate American women. The liberation of women meant equal rights to men. The movement was not lead by any specific person, instead by multiple women 's liberation groups, protestors, advocates, feminist theory groups, and other individuals dedicated to women and their freedom. For example, Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Germaine Greer, and the NOW organization (National Organization for Women). There are people that believe the movement helped women and people who think that it did not help women. I believe that it did liberate American women. It created more job availability, access to birth control, and higher education. Prior to the women’s movement, many men did not want women …show more content…
Before the women 's movement, females did not have the option of the birth control pill. They could not decide when they wanted to start a family. They were expected to start a family as soon as possible. This was one of the “jobs” women had before the liberation. Taking care children and feeding them was the “career” women had. These birth rights from the movement gave women a chance to obtain the birth control pill. The birth control pill became very popular once it was released to the public. It gave women the option to focus on furthering their careers instead of expanding their families. This choice took out interruptions caused by pregnancy. Interruptions such as hormonal emotions, doctor visits, always being tired, and having extra weight on them for nine months. This pill also gave women more control of their bodies and what happened with it. It also gave them their right to the choice of birth; meaning they could choose if they wanted to have a child or they did not want one at the time. The pill helped prevent pregnancy, allowing women to further their education and enter the workforce. This also helped increase their overall productivity in working and getting things done without having to worry about …show more content…
However, there was no revolution for the domestic engineer. Women did not become free of the household work and duties. The main purpose of a woman living in the 70’s was to take care of the house, serve her husband, care for children, and reproduce. In addition to these responsibilities, women now had the added task of being students and career women. Men and some women, still expected the women to do the cooking, the cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, and keeping everyone in the family happy and healthy. When women joined the workforce, they were trying to achieve independence from their old role and start a new role in society. They unknowingly added double the amount of chores to their workload. Women quickly realized that they had to find a way to “have it all”. This was very hard for women to do back then, as the men only adapted to the workplace changes. Men could deal with the addition of women to the workplace but they had a problem with women being subtracted from caring for them at home. Women today are still having this problem. It may not be as bad as before, but the vast majority of women still have the basic job of household chores and working. They go to work, come home, cook, clean, get everyone 's needs settled, then maybe get some sleep and do it all over again. When there are parties, women are usually standing around in the kitchen talking and waiting for food to finish cooking. Men, on the other