I started first grade in 1960. Even at that young age, I was told that when I grew up, I could only be a teacher, secretary, or a nurse, but most of all I should be a wife and mother. And then, quite suddenly about 10 years later, everything changed. While I wasn't part of
…more the catalyst that made it happen, I was a thankful beneficiary.
This brilliant, highly readable, and entertaining book by Gail Collins, the first-ever female editor at The New York Times, traces the women's movement from 1960 to today in broad strokes and anecdotes. All the history and public drama are here, as well as dozens of poignant and powerful personal stories of everyday women who lived it. (And bonus! The epilogue at the end updates what happened to many of these women who are profiled in the book.)
Just to set the stage: It's 1960. The smart women who are graduating from the elite Barnard College in New York City, attend a pre-graduation party hosted by the college. At the party, the women who are engaged receive a corsage to wear. Those who are not engaged receive lemons to carry. About two-thirds of the graduating class receive corsages.
Even for those of us who lived through that time and remember things well, there is a lot of surprising information in this book—information that goes beyond the gender-based job ads that easily let employers discriminate or the fact that women were almost always paid significantly less than men who were doing the same work.
Among many other things, find out:
• The shocking laws that were on the books, including some that gave husbands control not only of wives' property, but also their earnings, as well as laws that prohibited women from serving on juries.
• How one senator's decision to play games with the 1964 Civil Rights Act had the unintended consequence of ending job discrimination for women.
• How the birth control pill was more influential in women going to medical school and law school than almost anything else.
• The dramatic effect the women's movement had on clothing. Just reading what women had to wear in the 1960s made me feel uncomfortable and itchy.
• The extraordinary impact of Title IV, especially allowing girls to play more sports in high school and college. Of everything in this book, this is the chapter I most recommend mothers have their daughters read—just so they can understand how much things have changed.
• The real reasons the Equal Rights Amendment failed, including the outsized role Phyllis Schlafly played.
• The horrifying impact on women who were involved in several headline-making sexual harassment cases in the 1990s, including Anita Hill vs. Clarence Thomas, the Navy's Tailhook scandal, and the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair.
• What happened when women were deployed for the first time in combat in the first Gulf War in 1991.
• How dating has changed, especially the "hook-up" culture that has exploded in popularity.
• The different standards for college admissions for men and women and the disturbing reason why.
Cultural and societal changes tend to happen slowly. The women's movement happened fast. Very, very fast. In a matter of just 10 to 15 years, little first grade girls who thought they could only be certain things when they grew up had everything opened to them if they worked hard and had the courage to try—just like men. (less)
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