Mothers, Daughters, and Political Socialization: Two Generations at an American Women's College

Ch. 2 / Considering the Women’s Movement

2 Considering the Women’s Movement A mong the many questions asked of respondents, some concerned attitudes toward the women’s movement. One asked quite simply, “What is your overall opinion of the women’s movement?” As was expected, the vast majority of both mothers and daughters offered positive assessments. Among this group of college-educated women, the modal response among both generations fell at the favorable end. Two-thirds of the mothers responded positively, and more than nine in ten daughters said the same (see Table 2.1).1 When asked about the extent to which change had occurred for women since the time of their mothers’ and grandmothers’ lives and whether the change had been for the better or worse, both generations almost universally said the change had been both great in magnitude and good for women overall. And finally, the vast majority of mothers and daughters—or more than eight in ten—believed the movement remains a necessary part of the social and political landscape.2 My inquiry begins here, because in many ways attitudes toward the women ’s movement have important connections to a woman’s beliefs about gender roles and behaviors. The extent to which a woman feels warmly toward the political movement that is most responsible for opening doors and expanding opportunities for her should be a telling indication of her opinion regarding traditional gender roles and beliefs. Warm, supportive attitudes toward the movement, such as those reflected in their responses, should go hand in hand with a commitment to ending the expectation that, by virtue of their sex, women are naturally predisposed to fulfilling certain roles and holding specific beliefs. However, the interviews revealed something far more complex. Despite the movement’s broad base of support among the mothers and, even more so, 32 Chapter 2 the daughters, the extent to which respondent attitudes reflected a willingness to challenge patriarchal gender norms was more variable. Supportive attitudes toward the movement do not, it seems, predict how women will apply the movement’s message to their lives. The ways in which respondents articulated their support and concerns regarding the practical ease and utility of making choices in defiance of stereotypical gender roles is a central theme in subsequent chapters. For now, the focus is on unpacking the complex array of attitudes respondents held toward the contemporary women’s movement, both good and bad. Mothers and the Movement: Then and Now As early as 1975, the message of the American women’s movement found a receptive audience among the daughters of yesteryear. To be sure, at that time a sizable segment (20 percent) felt ambivalent about what appeared to be a radical message, and a much smaller one (13 percent) actually rejected it. Still the majority (67 percent) found much to support in it (Sigel and Reynolds 1979–1980). Apparently they had—to quote Mannheim—evaluated the accuTABLE 2.1 Reactions to the Women’s Movement by Generation Mothers (N = 23) Daughters (N = 23) Attitudes toward the movement Very favorable 35% 65% Somewhat favorable 30% 27% Neither favorable nor unfavorable 13% 0 Somewhat unfavorable 18% 4% Very unfavorable 4% 4% Perceptions of changes in women’s lives over time A lot 100% 83% Some 0 13% Just a little 0 4% No change 0 0 Perceived impact of change Has been for the better 91% 100% Has made things worse 0 0 Don’t know 9% 0 Evaluations of continued need for the movement Good earlier but no longer needed 13% 9% Good then and still needed 78% 83% Very little effect on women 0 4% None of the above 9% 4% Source: Interviews conducted in 2000 with Douglass College mothers and daughters. Considering the Women’s Movement 33 mulated cultural inventory, taught themselves to forget “that which is no longer useful and to covet that which has yet to be won” (Mannheim 1954: 295). The mothers’ recollections of the movement back then were generally consistent with Sigel’s findings some twenty-five years earlier. When describing what they thought about the movement during their college years, the mothers’ comments reflected both their support and ambivalence toward challenges to what they had accepted as truths: It was consciousness raising, it was things we hadn’t really thought about. And somebody said why are you doing this, you shouldn’t be, and our eyes were opened. I think I felt that it was very important for women to have equal pay for equal work and to...