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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>
In 1969, Katy Millett wrote ''Sexual Politics'' and wrote about the patriarchal structure, which informed sex and gender oppression. Millets argued that before any other type of oppression existed, elite men first oppressed people based on sex and gender and then it extended 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> Carol Hanisch published an essay in 1970 titled “The Personal is Political.” Hanisch argued that everything was political. Whether 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 political. She determined that women needed to bring their ‘’private sphere problems’’ to the ‘’public sphere podium’’ in order to be heard. <ref>Lee, Theresa Man Ling. "Rethinking the Personal and the Political: Feminist Activism and Civic Engagement." Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy 22, no. 4 (2007): 163-79. doi:10.2979/hyp.2007.22.4.163. </ref>
