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The Feminist Movement and Working-Class
Women
About the Feminist Movement:
From the late sixties into the eighties there
was a vibrant women's movement in the United States. Culturally
influential and politically powerful, on its liberal side
this movement included national organizations and campaigns
for reproductive rights, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA),
and other reforms. On its radical side it included women's
liberation and consciousness raising groups, as well as cultural
and grassroots projects. The women's movement was also made
up of innumerable caucuses and organizing projects in the
professions, unions, government bureaucracies, and other institutions.
The movement brought about major changes in the lives of many
women, and also in everyday life in the United States. It
opened to women professions and blue-collar jobs that previously
had been reserved for men. It transformed the portrayal of
women by the media. It introduced the demand for women's equality
into politics, organized religion, sports, and innumerable
other arenas and institutions, and as a result the gender
balance of participation and leadership began to change. By
framing inequality and oppression in family and personal relations
as a political question, the women's movement opened up public
discussion of issues previously seen as private, and therefore
beyond public scrutiny. The women's movement changed the way
we talk, and the way we think. As a result, arguably most
young women now believe that their options are or at least
should be as open as men's.
Language notes:
1."I'm
not a women's libber, but..." is the opening line of many
conversations in which women talk about not getting fair pay,
an equal chance for a job, decent working conditions, or the
respect given to male workers in the same job.
Women's libber: informal use for a person who support women's
liberation.
2.Even
in 1989, 25 years after Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique
signaled the start of the modern Women's Movement, many still
believe these are their own personal problems, not the result
of our economic and social systems.
Mystique: the atmosphere of mystery and veneration investing
some doctrines, arts, professions, or personages; any professional
skill or technique designed to mystify and impress the layman
3.Louise
Kapp Howe interviewed several beauticians for Pink Collar
Workers.
Beautician: one who improves the appearance of a customer's
face, body and hair, using creams and other treatment.
4.And
I don't believe in all that crap －making a husband do half
the work.
Crap: (slightly taboo slang )(something which is) worthless,
useless, nonsense, or of bad quality.
5.As
one woman put it, "A liberated' working-class woman may be
considered a slut."
Slut: a women who has sexual
relationships with a lot of men without any emotional involvement.
If a man sleeps with a lot of women he is called a stud.
6.Equal
employment opportunity first was mentioned at a union rally
in 1887; the idea has been part of working women's lives for
more than 100 years.
Rally: a big meeting.
7.
Many people still associate the word "feminist" with man-hating,
lesbianism, contempt for motherhood, and a demand that everyone
work for pay.
Lesbianism:女性同性恋关系。
8.The
problem was that this led to a high intolerance for diversity
of opinion in the early Women's Movement.
Diversity of opinion: difference in opinion.
Text 2
Free But Not Equal
More About the Women's Movement:
Despite the dramatic accomplishments of the women's movement,
and the acceptance of women's equality as a goal in most sectors
of U.S. society, gender equality has not yet been achieved.
Many more women work outside the home but most continue to
be concentrated in low-paying jobs; women earn, on the average,
considerably less than men; women are much more likely than
men to be poor. Violence against women is still widespread.
Responsibility for childcare remains largely the responsibility
of women; despite the fact that most women work outside the
home, nowhere is it seen as a societal rather than a familial
responsibility. In the sixties and seventies feminists protested
the imbalance in power between men and women in family and
personal relations. But these continue to exist.
Worst of all, there is no longer a mass women's movement.
There are many organizations working for women's equality
in the public arena and in private institutions; these include
specifically women's organizations such as the National Organization
for Women, and in environmental, health care, social justice
and other areas that address women's issues. But, where there
were once women's organizations with large participatory memberships
there are now bureaucratic structures run by paid staff. Feminist
theory, once provocative and freewheeling, has lost concern
with the conditions of women's lives and has become pretentious
and tired. This raises two questions. Why is there so little
discussion of the near-disappearance of a movement that not
so long ago was strong enough to bring about major changes
in the social and cultural landscape? What are the causes
of the movement's decline?
Language notes:
1."The
history of mankind is a history of repeated injustices on
the part of man toward woman," the statement began. "To prove
this, let these facts be known."
Injustice: unfairness.
To prove this: let this fact be known.
In this sentence, the word "this" refers to the injustice
mentioned.
2.The
other women, moved by Mrs. Stanton's fiery words, voted to
add her statement on women's suffrage to their list of facts.
Suffrage: the right to vote in national elections.
3.But
most of the other changes sought by the first women's rights
platform in 1848 were still to be won.
Platform: the main ideas and aims of political party or an
organization.
4.
In occupations of every kind, women faced discrimination just
because they were women.
Discrimination: treating different things or people in different
ways.
5.
free day care centers for the children of working mothers;
Day care center: a center set up to take care of children
during the day.
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