Women's Movement Of The 1970s Failed To Liberate Women?

Has the Women’s Movement of the 1970s Failed to Liberate American Women? F. Carolyn Graglia argues that the movement did fail to liberate women because feminism put more expectations on women just in a different way. Feminist started convincing women that work was more important than the home and that choosing your home over work was the reason women were seen lower than men. Women were told they needed to be involved in the workplace just as much as men and leave their kids with nannies. Women were also encouraged to become more sexual and act like a man does when it comes to sexual desires. This becomes a huge problem because women become more sexually active and as Graglia states, “They are victims of the highest abortion rate in the Western …show more content…
Evans argues that the movement did in fact liberate women because more opportunities like voting, sexuality, jobs, education and sports all changed for women. The more women fought for their rights, the more things changed by law. Evans states, “Title VII passed because the small number of women then in Congress fiercely and effectively defended the need to prohibit discrimination on the basis of “sex” as well as race, religion, and national origin” (432). Women were no longer to be discriminated or have things restricted to them because of their sex, race, or religion. Discrimination also led to women running for office and Evans stated, “The sight of a genteel black woman being grilled by a committee of white men who made light of this “sexual harassment crap” mobilized thousands of women to run for office and contribute to campaigns” (434). Many other laws passed like the legalization of abortion and Title IX which allowed collegiate athletics to women. The lives of women changed dramatically especially with the years they were expected to live and the number of children they had. Women use to only live until about 48 years old and now they live until they’re about 80. They also have less children and are working more than before. The number of women in office increased tremendously as Evans stated, “In 1997 there were 60 women in congress-14 of them were women of color; 81 statewide executive officials; 1,597 state legislators; and 203 mayors of cities with population over 30,000” (435). Lastly, women were not judged as harshly if they were a single mother, as sexually active as men, or if they were lesbian. A huge difference from where they started in the early