The Modern Woman

The right to work and gain economic independence was one of the major battles for feminists in the 20th century. The feminist movement in the United States and abroad was a social and political movement that wanted to establish equality for women. The movement transformed the lives of many individual women and had a profound effect upon American society throughout the twentieth century. 
Fighting for Legislation

 
During the first two decades of the century, women's groups in the United States worked together to win women's suffrage, culminating in the ratification of a constitutional amendment in 1920 that guaranteed women the right the vote. During the later twentieth century, women's groups would again band together, this time to formulate and advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Though this proposed constitutional amendment eventually failed to gain approval in the late 1970s, it became a rallying point for various women's groups and drew national attention to the feminist cause. The period between 1917 and the early 1960s was marked by two world wars and a subsequent economic boom that brought many American women into the workplace, initially to provide labor during the war, and then to help achieve and maintain a new higher standard of living enjoyed by many middle-class families. However, as women joined the workforce they became increasingly aware of their unequal economic and social status. Women who were homemakers, many with college educations, began to articulate their lack of personal fulfillment—what Betty Friedan in her enormously influential The Feminine Mystique (1963) called "the problem that has no name."

Challenges Remain
Women still had challenges to face such as wage gap and gender expectations.  Some people argue that wage gap between men and a woman doesn’t exist. The statistic at the core of the debate is the estimate of how much women earn compared to men in the workplace. The Census Bureau says that, on average, a woman working full time takes home 77 cents for every dollar a man working full time takes home. Statistics from the Time Record News shows that democrats and republic also have their own views on how the wage gap works today. Democrats, who believe the 77 percent figure represents a true salary disparity, that women really are paid less than men overall. This is especially galling in an era where women dominate the education system and make up half of the workforce. They argue that the problem is so severe it needs a law to fix it. Most of the Republicans, who see the wage gap statistic as an oversimplification or an exaggeration. They argue that there are reasons for the gap that have little to do with discrimination, including personal choices of occupation, education and total hours worked. When those factors are controlled for, they say, a wage gap barely exists. The 77 percent number used by the Census Bureau is the difference between full-time wages of men and women nationally. As should be expected, the gap has gotten smaller over time due to the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and increased roles for women in the workforce.

Moving Forward
Throughout the years laws have been passed that aren’t meant to support the women. The 1960s and 1970s saw important legislation enacted to address sex discrimination in employment and education and most prominently, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the 1972 Higher Education Act. Hopefully for the years to come women can continue to be treated equally.