Year-end Reflection: Angie Heuring

My experience as a blog contributor for the Women’s Center has been nothing but positive. I began writing this semester not knowing what to expect, but as the semester continued I began learning more and more about women’s issues that I was not already aware of. I have always considered myself to be fairly well in touch with the feminist movement and its place in history but as I researched the current status of women I realized the movement as a whole has a long way to go in terms of equality.

I enjoyed writing as a blog contributor because it gave me a chance to explore a different, more personal style of writing while learning about issues that are relevant today. Looking back on the semester, I am proud of what I wrote for the Women’s Center as professional work I can use in the future, and as a personal investment for my own knowledge. I would recommend interning for the Women’s Center because it is an amazing experience and something that can be used professionally in the future.

Farewell, my friends.

By Heather Shea Gasser

A few weeks ago, in advance of my official UI going away party, I had a dream about feathers (hang with me, here). It was one of those really vivid and realistic dreams, and I awoke wondering (as we often do when we have those kinds of vivid dreams) what it meant. So, I googled “feather symbolism” and learned a variety of interesting things:

-          Feathers symbolize renewal and transformation (birds shed feathers when they are ready for new ones)

-          Feathers in many cultures are associated with communication and messages

-          In Egyptian myth feathers are a symbol of the goddess Maat, the matriarchal figure of truth and justice who judged the souls of the underworld based on the “weight of a feather”

-          In the Greek myth, Icarus crafted a pair of wings made of feathers and wax, which upon flying too close to the sun melted and he came crashing back to the sea

-          Meril Crabtree writes: Yet feathers are more than history. For many, they are mystical signs, messages, or opportunities. They are scraps of synchronicity in the flowing patchwork of universal meanings. Feathers appear in unlikely places as assurances of wellbeing, as a comforting sign of abundance in the universe, and as unmistakable messengers of hope and encouragement.

Feathers, and birds generally, speak to us of lightness, freedom, of going beyond boundaries, of “getting above it all” (Above the Fray) and the need to “let it go”.

Do you remember the opening scene from Forrest Gump? The white feather floating through the air? Getting caught by a breeze, floating through the town square, amidst the trees, and eventually landing at Forrest Gump’s very dirty running shoe? He picks it up and puts it inside of a copy of a Curious George book. Tom Hanks spoke about the feather symbolism in the movie: “Our destiny is only defined by how we deal with the chance elements to our life and that’s kind of the embodiment of the feather as it comes in. Here is this thing that can land anywhere and that it lands at your feet. It has implications that are really huge.”

When Ray and I made the move from the Desert Southwest to the Palouse over five years ago, I could have landed anywhere but I landed at the University of Idaho Women’s Center, and for me the implications have been really huge.

I have learned, grown, changed, shed tears (and my feathers) a time or two. I have been renewed as a feminist and as a leader through working in the Women’s Center. I have grown as a student affairs professional, as an activist, and as a scholar.

When I think about where the Women’s Center was when I arrived, I am also gratified at the difference we have collectively been able to make over the past five years we’ve spent together. I’d like to take this opportunity to look back and note five key accomplishments of the past five years:

Five years ago when I arrived as the then “interim” director of the Women’s Center, the office was existing on a skeleton crew and missing an admin assistant. And, all of the board-appointed staff members, other than myself, were classified/hourly employees on 10-month appointments. The summer was a lonely place in the Women’s Center! Today, both program coordinators have been moved to non-faculty exempt status and have 12-month contracts, and we just recently hired a new admin assistant to fill the shoes left by two others who went on to program coordinator roles in other units on campus. The Women’s Center provides opportunities for staff professional development and encourages growth.

Five years ago, the 10-month GLBT program advisor shared an office with another staff member, was funded entirely by the Women’s Center, and focused primarily on overseeing the Safe Zone program. Today, the LGBTQA Office is located in a separate space outside of the Women’s Center, receives student fee funding to support about half of the programming and salary expenses, and has grown to be a fully-functioning office with a shared relationship with University Housing. The Women’s Center continues its support of the LGTBQA Office and aligns with the office to promote inclusion on campus of LGBTQ faculty, staff, and students including promoting the policy to add the words “gender identity and expression” to the university’s non-discrimination statement.

Five years ago, the Women’s Center published a paper newsletter (in the format of a traditional feminist ‘Zine) with a distribution of about 250 copies (sent in postal mail) quarterly. Today we have an extensive social media presence on Facebook (538 “like” us) on Twitter (502 follow us) and an active blog, since launch in 2011 has had nearly 300 posts primarily by student blog contributors who receive academic credit with over 35,000 views. Through our social media and outreach efforts, the Women’s Center’s voice, perspectives, and advocacy for gender equity reach far beyond the campus borders.

Five years ago, the Women’s Center’s programming included regular brown-bags and films, as well as several traditional annual events, truthfully, our programming was just as extensive, vital and relevant then as it is today, responding to the current needs of college students…but we have grown in the past five years, adding permanency to the annual production of Eve Ensler’s celebrated play “The Vagina Monologues”, the monthly “Got Sex?” sexual health series, Mad Men Mondays, and other regular programs to our line up. And this past fall, we saw the largest attendance at a Women’s Center event yet, when over 3,000 packed into the Kibbie Dome south stands to hear feminist icon Gloria Steinem speak in honor of the Women’s Center’s 40th Anniversary Celebration. The Women’s Center’s programming continues to bring together the campus and community for important dialogues around issues of gender equity and social justice.

Five years ago, our student staff had dwindled to only three active and engaged individuals and several of our most vibrant student organizations had seen key leaders graduate. Today, we work with a dynamic engaged and energized contingent of student staff and volunteers. Eight work-study students and many more volunteers, service learning students, and interns connect with our office each semester. Further, we have an extensive core of students who comprise our Women’s Mentoring Program, and many more student groups who are collaborators and connected to our office. Despite our off-the-beaten-path location, the Women’s Center sees significant traffic and

I share with you these accomplishments to highlight the significance and relevance that the Women’s Center has on the University of Idaho campus. Directors (11 of them) have come and gone over the years. Few of us have stayed for more than 5 years. So, to what can we attribute the growth and success? It’s because of the tremendous support that the UI Women’s Center receives from the university community, it’s because of the dynamic individuals who form the inner core team responsible for the day-to-day operations and behind the scenes activities, and it’s because of the students who continue to come through our doors with passion and activism.

In dreams feathers mean travel or the ability to move freely in live. White feathers indicate a fresh start. I leave for a fresh start and I leave the Women’s Center for a fresh start as well. For the opportunity to work with all of you, to engage around issues of social justice, feminism, activism and to grow as an individual, I will be forever grateful for my time here. This isn’t good bye, simply “see you soon.” I will be watching with interest form Michigan to see where the Women’s Center is headed next.

To all of the individuals who have shared this journey with me, thank you for making the path worth travelling.  And finally, feather rhymes with Heather.

What’s in our Feed

Bringing you timely stories of women in the news

The Feminist Revolution—lily-white and over-exposed? White women are promoted as the universal standard for femininity, humanity, and moral worth, while the mainstream media perpetuates stereotypes of Black girls as “hostile and ineducable.” Read more…

Kuwait launches a sports club for women, illustrating how the landscape for women athletes is improving across the Persian Gulf, where hard-liners have long opposed women playing sports. Read more…

Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, wants to exclude plus-sized customers from his stores. Jeffries “doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the cool kids.” Read customer responses to his controversial decision here, here and here…

The already out-of-control digital alteration of women’s bodies in media images has progressed to the utterly ridiculous. Apparently, even cartoon women now have to suffer the humiliation and injustice of having their bodies “improved” with extensive Photoshopping. The character Merida from the Disney movie ‘Brave’ recently received an unnecessary makeover. Read more…

Poetry as a Feminist Practice

By Erin Heuring

A poet, essayist, and one of the most prominent voices in modern feminism, Adrienne Rich explored the rich experiences of women through the written word. Hailed as “one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the twentieth century,” it seems fitting to honor her in the aftermath of April’s National Poetry Month. Adrienne Rich passed away March 27, 2012, but her poetry will endure for generations to come.

Adrienne Rich was born in Baltimore, Maryland on May 16, 1929. She attended Harvard and studied poetry, and later married an economics professor she had met there. After the birth of her third child, Rich produced a book of poetry which mark a dramatic shift in the themes she explored in her writing. Entitled “Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law,” the volume included more personal poetry and an exploration of what it was to be a wife and mother in the 1950s. Rich was also involved in politics and the New Left and began teaching at Columbia University. Rich’s “Diving into the Wreck” split the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry with Allen Ginsberg. After divorcing her husband, Rich began a long-term relationship with her life partner, Michelle Cliff, and acknowledged lesbianism as a political and personal issue. Rich also wrote socio-political essays, including “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” which was one of the first to bring to light the theme of lesbian existence. During this period of Rich’s life, she seem to “cross a threshold into a new relationship with the universe.” Rich died last year at her Santa Cruz, California home at the age of 82.

The poet W.S. Merwin said of Rich’s writings:

“All her life she has been in love with the hope of telling utter truth, and her command of language from the first has been startlingly powerful.”

Diving into the Wreck

First having read the book of myths,
and loaded the camera,
and checked the edge of the knife-blade,
I put on
the body-armor of black rubber
the absurd flippers
the grave and awkward mask.
I am having to do this
not like Cousteau with his
assiduous team
aboard the sun-flooded schooner
but here alone.
There is a ladder.
The ladder is always there
hanging innocently
close to the side of the schooner.
We know what it is for,
we who have used it.
Otherwise
it is a piece of maritime floss
some sundry equipment.
I go down.
Rung after rung and still
the oxygen immerses me
the blue light
the clear atoms
of our human air.
I go down.
My flippers cripple me,
I crawl like an insect down the ladder
and there is no one
to tell me when the ocean
will begin.
First the air is blue and then
it is bluer and then green and then
black I am blacking out and yet
my mask is powerful
it pumps my blood with power
the sea is another story
the sea is not a question of power
I have to learn alone
to turn my body without force
in the deep element.
And now: it is easy to forget
what I came for
among so many who have always
lived here
swaying their crenellated fans
between the reefs
and besides
you breathe differently down here.
I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage that was done
and the treasures that prevail.
I stroke the beam of my lamp
slowly along the flank
of something more permanent than
fish or weed
the thing I came for:
the wreck and not the story of the wreck
the thing itself and not the myth
the drowned face always staring
toward the sun
the evidence of damage
worn by salt and sway into this threadbare beauty
the ribs of the disaster
curving their assertion
among the tentative haunters.
This is the place.
And I am here, the mermaid whose dark hair
streams black, the merman in his armored body.
We circle silently
about the wreck
we dive into the hold.
I am she: I am he
whose drowned face sleeps with open eyes
whose breasts still bear the stress
whose silver, copper, vermeil cargo lies
obscurely inside barrels
half-wedged and left to rot
we are the half-destroyed instruments
that once held to a course
the water-eaten log
the fouled compass
We are, I am, you are
by cowardice or courage
the one who find our way
back to this scene
carrying a knife, a camera
a book of myths
in which
our names do not appear.

Lavender Graduation 2013

Erin Heuring

The LGBTQA Office would like to celebrate the accomplishment of the graduation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and ally students at the Lavender Graduation. The University of Idaho recognizes the contributions which these individuals have made to the school and community over the years of their attendance. The date of the Lavender Graduation is Tuesday, April 23 2013 (tonight!) at 7:00 pm in the Commons Clearwater/Whitewater rooms.

The history of the Lavender Graduation begins in 1995, when the director of the University of Michigan LGBT Resource Center, Ronni Sanlo, made the decision that it was time for LGBT students to have a graduation of their own similar to other racial or ethnic minorities on campus. Since that time, many universities have adopted the tradition of celebrating the fact that LGBTQA students have made it through the college experience successfully.

The keynote speaker will be Harvey Katz, a spoken word artist who addresses the mainstream understanding of gender and sexuality through spoken word poetry and rap parody. Katz is a solo member of Athens Boys Choir. Katz/Athens Boys Choir and has been performing since 2003.

Please join us in celebrating the unique accomplishments and contributions of our LGBTQA students today!

ID Human Rights Act Film Showing — Today!

Moscow, Idaho – In cities across the state, Idahoans are participating in Add the Words, Idaho’s “Week of IHRA Education.” UI VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood will join dozens of others hosting viewing parties of the Idaho Human Right’s Act Panel Discussion around the state of Idaho, from house parties and church parties, to university viewings and brown bag work lunches.

In February, Senator Cherie Buckner-Webb and Representative Grant Burgoyne hosted a Panel Discussion with a diverse group of experts on the Idaho Human Rights Act, facilitated by Dr. David Adler, Director of the Andrus Center for Public Policy. The panelists included Pam Parks, Executive Director of the Idaho Commission on Human Rights, Maryanne Jordan, Boise City Council President, Reverend Marci Glass, Pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church, John Reuter, former Sandpoint City Council President, Kevin Settles, and Clark Krause, Executive Director of the Boise Valley Economic Parntership. The discussion focused on the history of the IHRA, issues facing gay and transgender people in the state of Idaho, and how nondiscrimination legislation could help the climate of Idaho for its LGBT citizens.

Mistie Tolman, co-chair of Add the Words, Idaho, said that this year’s goal of educating both the legislature and the citizens of Idaho about the Human Right’s Act, was furthered greatly by the Panel Discussion hosted by Buckner-Webb and Burgoyne. “There are a lot of misconceptions about the Human Rights Act. There are a surprising number of people who don’t know that it is legal in Idaho to be fired just because you are gay, or are perceived to be gay, or that you can be refused service at a restaurant or kicked out of your house. The bottom line is every Idahoan is entitled to respect and legal equality. But instead today, in our beautiful state, good people are being inflicted with undeserved harm, and every day that goes by is one more day that Idahoans live in fear.”

UI VOX: Voices for Planned Parenthood will be holding their viewing Tuesday, April 9 at 1:30pm in the Borah Theater located in the University of Idaho Student Union Building.

Wear Red: Equal Pay Day

Heather Shea Gasser
Director, Women’s Center

Click on the graphic above to expand it to full size.

(reposted from 2012)
Earlier this year, a friend of mine who works at another university was faced with a modern-day equal pay dilemma. She worked as the director of a student affairs unit on her campus for several years, when a director-level vacancy within another similar-sized student affairs unit came open. Shortly after the hire of this new director was announced, my friend discovered that HIS starting salary was higher than hers. It wasn’t quite 23% higher (as is the national average when one compared female to male salaries for equal work) but it was significant enough that she was first concerned, then hurt, and then angry. I relay this all-too-familiar account because today, April 9^th, is Equal Pay Day. I am joining friends and colleagues across the country who are wearing red to symbolize how women’s wages are still “in the red” and to note how far into 2013 women must work to earn what men earned in 2012. We must also consider that for women of color, the date is even later into 2013. Latinas earn 58 cents and African American women earn 68 cents as compared to every man’s dollar. The National Committee on Pay Equity said Equal Pay Day originated in 1996 to make the public aware of the gender wage gap.

Many students who come into the Women’s Center express the sentiment that the work of the women’s movement in the 60s and 70s is over, that we have solved many of the issues and blatant discrepancies between women and men in society. We’re post-feminism. Thank you, Gloria Steinem, but we’re all good now.

We usually respond with calm justification; citing statistics about the rates of sexual harassment and assault, discuss the glass ceiling and the disproportionately low representation of women in elected office. But the issue that really resonates with students is pay. How, in 2013, are women only paid 77 cents on average compared to a dollar paid to men? Then we look at this in real-dollar annual salary terms, and it’s enough to make most non-believers gasp:

If he makes…	she makes…	If he makes…	she makes…
$10,000	$7,700	$60,000	$46,200
$20,000	$15,400	$70,000	$53,900
$30,000	$23,100	$80,000	$61,600
$40,000	$30,800	$90,000	$69,300
$50,000	$38,500	$100,000	$77,000

Here are a few stats from the American Association of University Women, who published a website called the “Simple Truth About the Pay Gap (2012)”:

• Women have only gained 13 cents toward pay equity with men in the last 30 years.
• At this rate, it will take another 60 years before we achieve pay equity.
• When men and women are paid differently for comparable work, women have fewer resources to support themselves and their families, to invest in additional education for themselves and their children and to provide for retirement.

According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, a group that has investigated pay equity nationwide, state-by-state, the gap in Idaho is even greater than then national average. In fact, Idaho ranks 43rd in the nation: “Women are paid 74 cents for every dollar paid to men, amounting to a yearly gap of $10,725 between full-time working men and women in the state.”

Naomi Grossman: Comedienne

Erin Heuring

Tonight, ​Friday April 5th, the city of Moscow will host Naomi Grossman performing her hit one-woman comedy show, Carnival Knowledge: Love, Lust, and other Human Oddities at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Theatre at 7pm. Grossman, most famous for her role as “Pepper” in American Horror Story: Asylum, is the writer, producer and star of the above mentioned comedy show. She has also starred in Girl in Argentine Landscape, been a member of the Groundlings Sunday Company, alumna of Improv Olympic, and graduate of Theatre from Northwestern University.

​This week, I had the pleasure of learning more about Grossman’s experiences working in the comedy world and was able to gain insight into her perspectives and opinions about women’s relationship to humor:
In today’s society, it is commonly thought that women aren’t as funny as men. How has this affected your experiences as a comedian?
It’s so stupid, isn’t it? And yet it’s very real. I’ve actually been told to gain a bunch of weight, because –get this– it’s “confusing for men” to see a woman who’s sexy and funny. Not that I’m so sexy. And not to hate on men — God knows I love them, or I wouldn’t have been able to write this play — but it’s as if they either want to f*** you, or laugh at you. But not both. Not so with women — there are countless tubby, not cute comedians on shows with skinny, sexy, trophy-television wives. It’s not fair. I want to see a sitcom with a ridiculously hot husband and a wife like me.

As far as how it’s affected me… it makes me mad. But what are you going do? I don’t know how to change how people perceive things. If anything, it takes the pressure off always looking good, unlike with ingenue-types. I’ve embraced who I am — a character/comedienne — I make fugly faces, and that’s how I make money! I’m not trying to be pretty — it’s nice when I am — and believe me, people can be cruel in this internet age when there’s picture posted that hasn’t been retouched. But in Hollywood, there’s always going to be someone hotter, younger, skinnier — so I’m not trying to compete. I do take care of myself though, but that’s for me. I want to be healthy and live long and look good naked, even if that means being horribly unfunny.

Have you found the world of comedy to be more difficult to break into because you are a woman? If so, in what ways specifically?
Absolutely. I’ve often been the only girl on an improv team or in a writing room. It’s rough. Of course, there’s the flip-side to that argument: that it’s actually easier because there’s not as many women with whom to compete. But that’s absurd. We have to be as funny as the men, who, for the most part, don’t have to worry about “being confusing.” And then there’s the added misconception that we’re naturally not as funny, so we have to be that much funnier just to prove that wrong.

How have you combated the myth that women can’t be funny in your own life?
That’s just it — it’s a myth. So, be funny! I don’t know. All I can do is be myself. I just do my thing, what fulfills me artistically, and makes me laugh. The best way to combat it is just to be funny.

As a woman in a male-dominated field of work, what advice do you have for other women who are attempting to work alongside men in similar male-dominated fields?
I can’t speak for other fields, but as far as comedy and acting, I’d give the same advice to a woman as I’d give to a man: do something else. Anything else. It’s a horrible life and a painstaking profession. That said, if knowing that, you still want it… to the point that you can’t possibly imagine yourself doing anything else, then fine. You are an unfortunate soul like me! So, go for it, full-hog. Your gender shouldn’t even be a consideration — just be the kind of artist you want to be. I think that part goes for any profession.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced while pursuing a career in comedy, specifically in regards to being a woman?
You’ve touched on many of them… the misconceptions, the fact that there are fewer of us, the threat of being “too confusing,” but I think societal pressures women even place on themselves are also worth noting. I’ve picked a bee-otch of a profession — it takes all I’ve got to get ahead — and yet, society says I should get married and have kids and a dog and a yard. But when? Because men don’t have the same biological clock, nor stigma associated with marriage and family, they’re often able to pursue those things whenever. Whereas women are strapped for time. Sure, I want all that — but it’s way down on my list. My career comes first and foremost. So if I can have that, AND all those other things, fantastic! If not, at least I will have been true to myself and what I want. Whether or not that’s what society would have for me really makes no difference.

—

Thank you, Naomi, for your insight and candor about women, comedy and your own experiences. If you’re still not convinced that women can be as funny as men (or especially if you are), attend this Friday’s show of Carnival Knowledge by Naomi Grossman at the Kenworthy at 7 pm.

Violence Against Women Act Reauthorized

Erin Heuring

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), a hotly debated topic in the news and in congress over the past year, was originally drafted by the office of Joe Biden and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. VAWA was then reauthorized in 2000 and 2005. In 2011, the Act was proposed to be expanded to cover same-sex couples and illegal aliens. Many Republicans opposed these alterations and, to the dismay and surprise of much of America, the Act was allowed to expire. After the November election, it became clear to the GOP that they would need to exert more effort in appealing to women voters. In February, when the bill again came to the floor of the House of Representatives, it was passed 286-138.

Provisions under VAWA include a federal rape shield law, community violence prevention programs, protections for domestic violence and stalking victims, funding for victim assistance services, programs for immigrant women and women with disabilities, and legal aid for survivors.

VAWA was the result of the efforts of grassroots groups who urged Congress to pass a law which specifically addressed the problem of violence against women. Since VAWA was passed, “the rate of sexual violence against women and girls age 12 or older fell 64 percent in a decade and has remained stable for five years […] In 2010, women and girls nationwide experienced about 270,000 rapes or sexual assaults, compared with 556,000 in 1995.” Though these numbers are encouraging, we cannot assume this means that the fight against violence towards women has been won. Women still experience 4.8 million partner-related physical assault and rapes every year, around 600 women are raped or sexually assaulted a day (taking into account unreported crimes) and its estimated that one in five women will undergo rape or attempted rape in college. African American women face higher rates of domestic violence than white women and American-Indian women are victims of violence more than twice as often as any other race. Additionally, “according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, ‘domestic violence affecting LGBT individuals continues to be grossly underreported… there is lack of awareness and denial about the existence of this type of violence and its impact, both by the LGBT people and non-LGBT people alike.” The extensions of VAWA in the recently passed version will work to further address these pervasive problems.

Since VAWA was passed, “the rate of sexual violence against women and girls age 12 or older fell 64 percent in a decade and has remained stable for five years […] In 2010, women and girls nationwide experienced about 270,000 rapes or sexual assaults, compared with 556,000 in 1995.”

In light of March 8, International Women’s Day, it’s important for us to continue to work towards making the world not only a safer place for women, but also LGBT individuals. Let’s take a note from the grassroots groups which pressured the government to take violence against women seriously throughout the 80’s and 90’s. The progress which has already been made is a testament to how women can change the world, making it a better and safer place for future generations. I’m grateful for the women who called attention to violence against women which resulted in the expanded Violence Against Women Act that we have as law today.

The Problem Without A Name

Erin Heuring

February 19, 2013 marked the 50-year anniversary of the publication of The Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan. Often called the catalyst of the second wave of feminism, The Feminine Mystique was written to explore the reason why so many housewives, who had everything society told them they needed, were still unhappy.

After being asked, in 1957, to survey her former Smith College classmates at their 15th anniversary reunion, Friedan decided to further research the reasoning behind the unhappiness that so many of the suburban housewives expressed to her. In The Feminine Mystique, Friedan explores topics varying from media’s portrayal of what women want to the current accepted psychology of Sigmund Freud. Freud viewed women to be in a permanent childlike state and destined to be either admired for their beauty in youth and valued as a housewife later in life. The idea of women’s roles to be in the home was further perpetuated by the end of World War II and the propagation of the ‘American Dream,’ where the man was the breadwinner of the family and the woman kept a spotless and idyllic household.

The final conclusion of Friedan’s work is that women should go against the ‘feminine mystique’ and seek fulfillment in meaningful work that challenges their minds instead of relying only on finding a husband, having children, and doing housework. The publication and popularity of The Feminine Mystique helped bring about the Second Wave of Feminism, a movement that accomplished greater reproductive rights for women, moved toward workplace equality, and helped battle violence against women through legislation.

Now, 50 years later, women are more likely to graduate from college than men, marry and have kids later, and make greater gains in the workplace and political sphere. The issues facing housewives in the 50’s and 60’s are often no longer the problems that which concern women today. Yet, women continue to earn less than men, make up only 20% of Congress, and the United States has yet to elect a woman for President.

In contrast to the world of The Feminine Mystique, today’s feminism includes not only white housewives, but also women of different races and classes as well as the LGBTQIA community. Feminism no longer means only equality for one group but all groups. The challenges facing feminists today are not limited to the US. There is inequality in every country in the world; violence against women is a rampant problem as well as oppression and discrimination. In this increasingly globalized society, a new wave of feminism would need to reach across the ocean to lift all types of women. Do we need a new Feminine Mystique, a new call to action? The progress women have made since the publication of The Feminine Mystique is impressive, but there is still much to be accomplished.

Women today owe Friedan much appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy but should take from her the courage to think critically about where we are and continue to pursue where we want to be.