In the late 1960s and 1970s, many American girls who were old enough to know something of the era’s contemporary gender debates strongly endorsed the principle of equal pay for equal work and argued that women should have more varied job opportunities. At the same time, most teenage girls did not self-identify as feminists, and many criticized the movement for “going too far.” Drawing on early 1970s oral history interviews with girls from across the nation, this presentation will consider how girls coming of age during a time of gender contestation situated themselves culturally and politically. Faced with multiple and contradictory meanings for girlhood, many girls tried to find some kind of middle ground: to assert new rights for gender equality while protecting their sense of the entitlements of femininity.
Leslie Paris of the University of British Columbia's History Department lectures at this fall 2023 Global Women's Studies Colloquium event.
You can watch the lecture live in 238 HRCB or via Zoom by clicking here.