Discussion Questions

During the Women’s Liberation’s movement’s, there were some militant women that were fighting for equal rights for women. For their sex, to be equal to men in every way. Is it possible that had some of the less militant and more familiar with the work environment could have focused more on what was going on in the workplace at that time, that equal pay for equal work would have happened sooner?

Per Beth Bailey in Women at Work, “American advertising nevertheless played a huge role in normalizing for the American public a world in which women can –and do—do it all.” (Bailey 321) How has this advertising both helped and hurt Women’s Liberation? What factors allowed for more success and what hindered these successes from being achieved at an accelerated rate?

In “Women at Work”, Beth Bailey highlights that “the word ‘liberation’ itself, when applied to women, means something less than when used of other groups of people.” How would you compare societies reaction to feminism and womens liberation in the 60’s and 70’s to that of other revolutionary periods in history? Do you believe this equal rights movement was as important?  Is there still a need for women’s liberation activists in todays society?

When the women’s liberation movement was active during the sixties and seventies, their motives were the center of much debate. Also, their actions (such as the Miss America Pageant protest of 1968) caused the movement to appear to be controversial in the eyes of the public. Why was there so much confusion and controversy over the motives and actions of the women’s liberation movement at the time?