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→Ideology that Shaped the Movement
After a period of time, the movement gained greater traction through more authors in the 1960s. Betty Friedan was perhaps one of the most influential writers at this time. After conducting a survey of her classmates, Friedan noticed that many of her classmates were unhappy in their marriages where their lives revolved around childcare and housework. This prompted her to write <i>The Feminine Mystique</i> in 1963 where she questioned white, middle class ideals of family life and motherhood, particularly as domestic life had stifled women and their aspirations. In her book, Friedan includes interviews with women who were unhappy in their home life, debunking the ideals of the 1950s that often showed a happy family with men at work and women focused on housework. The book fundamentally questioned if the 1950s ideals were in the best interest of women.<ref> Ryan, Barbara. <i>Feminism and the Women's Movement: Dynamics of Change in Social Movement Ideology, and Activism</i>. New York: Routledge, 1992, 42. </ref>
The book and politics in the 1960s led to some initial victories for the emerging second wave women's movement. This includes the establishment of the National Organization for Women, where Friedan joined the organization, and the first great legislative victory, which was the passage of the Equal Pay Act of 1963. This made it law for women to have an equal right to equal pay for the same jobs that men did. It made it now possible for women to now not be prevented from joining the labor force due to depressed wages.<ref>Herman, Alexis M, <i>Equal Pay: A 35-Year Perspective.</i> (Place of publication not identified: Diane Pub Co, 1998.</ref> Other changes, including the introduction of the contraceptive pill and introduction of abortion in Europe began to have political ramifications. The pill, on the one hand, allowed women to delay childbirth and establish careers in many cases. Abortion also gave women greater choices about rearing children.<ref>Norgren, Christiana A. E., <i>Abortion before Birth Control: The Politics of Reproduction in Postwar Japan.</i> Studies of the East Asian Institute. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2001.</ref>
In 1969, Katy Millett wrote <i>Sexual Politics</i> and wrote about the patriarchal structure of society that controls sex, sexual expression, and ultimately politics and the narrative of political discourse. Sex and gender oppression are common because of political discourse found in society. Millets argued that before any other type of oppression existed, elite men first oppressed people based on sex and gender, extending later to race and class. <ref>LeGates, Marlene. <i>In Their Time: A History of Feminism in Western Society</i>. New York: Routledge, 2001, 361.</ref>
In the 1970s, the second wave feminist movement expanded and continued to gain momentum. Carol Hanisch published an essay in 1970 titled “The "The Personal is Political.” Hanisch argued that everything was political, including division of household labor, gender roles, and other day-to-day activities. Whether If a women decided to have an abortion and get a job as a woman in a male dominated industry, each of these decisions was ultimately a then that decision has politicalconsequences and became politicized in society. She determined that women needed Women had to bring their ‘’private sphere problems’’ to private, household problems into the ‘’public public sphere podium’’ in order to be heardbecause issues were politicized and had consequence far outside of an individual. <ref>Lee, Theresa Man Ling. "Rethinking the Personal and the Political: Feminist Activism and Civic Engagement." <i>Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy </i> 22, no. 4 (2007): 163-79. doi:10.2979/hyp.2007.22.4.163. </ref>
== One Movement or Two? ==