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Chapter 9

family income.However,other dynamics
were coming into play.With a decrease in
industrial and factory jobs,more men
became unemployed,which prompted
more women to enter the paid labor force.
Women began to demand higher wages to
replace the decrease in their husbands’
wages and to keep up with the expected
standard of living.
Manyfirst-generationwomenwhowork
outsidethehometodaystillsuccumbtothe
superwomansyndrome,whichisthestrategy
ofjugglinghome,work,andfamilybytrying
to“doitall.”Theyareoftenexhaustedand
unsatisfiedwithbothcareerandfamily
(Moen&Roehling,2004).

Counterrevolution: Second-Generation
Women Who Work Outside the Home and
the ERA

Many daughters whose mothers
worked full time while they were growing
up live counter to their mothers’
“juggling act.”They may wait to have
children until they can focus more time
and energy on them. They may choose to
stay home with their children, deferring
their careers to their post-parenting
years. Others choose to lighten up on
certain aspects of housework or
childrearing. They may not keep a
spotless house and may rely on outside
services and fast-food restaurants to
support their domestic duties.

Inthelate1970sandearly1980s,the

women’srevolutionwasdramatically

curtailedastherealitiesof familylife

withoutafull-timehomemakersankin.

SusanFaludireportsinherbookBacklash:

The undeclared war against American

women(1991)thatthefeministmovement

wasunderfireformanyof society’sills:

risingdivorcerates,juveniledelinquency,

infertility,emotionalillnessinwomen,and

soforth.Whetherornottheemploymentof

mothersoutsidethehomeactuallycaused

theseproblemswasnottheissue.Manyfelt

theneedtoreturntothe“goodolddays.”

Women who worked outside the home

often found themselves at odds with

women who chose not to work outside the

home.The women’s movement of the

1960s often became a“woman versus

woman”struggle in the 1970s.At the heart

of this battle was a philosophical

difference over a proposed amendment to

the Constitution—the Equal Rights

Amendment (ERA).The ERA was first

The Equal Rights Amendment was at the heart of the

struggle to provide both men and women equal rights

and bring an end to sex discrimination.

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