Feminist is always a popular topic to discuss, also my best friend is a feminist, influence by her, feminist attracts to me as well. But feminist is a broad topic, through the lecture, we know that women’s role also changed with the development of world. what interests me most is what pushed women’s role changed, did they influence by politic, economic environment passively accept the change of roles or they willing to change because of consciousness raising. So I will search more information about this question. Before start my research, I already know some related knowledge through lecture blogs like how the women’s role changed within different times.

Generally, I’d like to address three stages which women’s role had apparently change. First would be Great Depression period, the "Great Depression" of the 1930s in the United States was first caused by the financial crisis. Large-scale speculation made the stock market in chaos. When the bubble expanded to the point where the economy could not bear it, the financial crisis broke out, severely hitting the real industries such as industry and agriculture, and the American economy was in a downward trend. “Unemployment and poverty wreaked havoc on the supposedly “normal” American family system—the nuclear family encouraged by Progressive maternalist reformers, with one male breadwinner who was able to support his wife and children.’’ (lecture blog module 16) Manufacturing was deeply destroyed by finical crisis which need plenty of men labor forces. So men face to the condition of unemployment, then breadwinner’s duty moved to women’s shoulder, women can find jobs easily in service industries. Some women used to stay at home have to work right now to support their family. Second period would be WWII, due to economic expansion and the loss of male workers to the armed services, there was a great need for women to enter the workforce in ways they had not before. ‘Between 1940 and 1945, some 6 million women entered the labor force, the number of women wage earners increased by over 50 percent, and by the war’s end, more than one-third of civilian workers were women.’ (lecture blog module 19), women labor force was more and more in the market, they didn’t limit to only be a housewife, they had more choices than before. The third period would be after WWII. ‘Higher education in husbands did not play a role—it was only the wife’s education that would negatively impact birth rates. This sentiment persisted through the 1950s, although it wasn’t true.’ (lecture blog module 21) During that period, it seems like women as the role of mother was emphasize most. Society underlined women as a mother and wife should take on more family responsibilities than before.

Base on the question I mentioned in the first paragraph, I find two primary sources which can lead me directly to the question, those two sources are about women consciousness raising. Professor recommended me one website which can help me find some useful information about my research question. So I use this website and type key words----consciousness raising, then loads of related articles appeared, then I click on some fun topics, read the related parts of the books, I found that in these books, they stressed feminism. After reading, I use google chrome search more information by key terms----the development of feminism. Then I click on the topic named ‘Four Waves of Feminism’, I realized that the change in the role of women is just an obvious result, behind it, it’s influenced by a number of complicated factors. Information lead me to a new angle, feminism----women’s consciousness raising. It matters a lot to women’s role change.

Back to the primary source I found, I read about six sources, then I picked two of those. The first source is ‘The process of the consciousness- raising group, for me and for the other women involved, was one- in which we began to be able- to define ourselves as individuals and as women.’ (Mother Right: A New Feminism Theory) that book was published in 1974, during this period, American women gained a new understanding of their social roles, rights and status. During the Second World War, the demand for labor increased rapidly and the number of women in employment increased substantially. It was at this time that many women stepped out of their families and received different kinds of education, even higher education. They are engaged in all walks of life and play an increasingly important role in society. In this process, women's consciousness of independence was constantly awakened, which prompted them to explore personality integrity and devote themselves to the feminist movement. Therefore, under the joint influence of higher education, law, government and women's literature, American women have been more confident to explore liberation in the aspects of freedom, equality, independence and other rights. With the rise of the feminist movement, American feminist thought further developed and the feminist movement flourished. Feminist academic research also developed rapidly, and various feminist schools emerged, injecting fresh blood into the development of feminism.

The second source I found is ‘We react to so many of the same objective conditions (from the pill, economic job scarcity, more youth in college, etc.) This helps to keep things in perspective. For example, it is not women's liberation that is making problems for the nuclear family. In part, we are an outgrowth of many of its problems.’ (Socialist Feminism: A Strategy for the Women's Movement), it was published in 1972, public opinion urged women to "return to the family", so that the traditional "concept of women" can be resurrected. The confrontation between the old ideas and the new roles set the stage for the outbreak of the feminist movement. The rise of the civil rights movement attracted many women to join it. The sexism of the civil rights movement promoted the awakening of women's self-consciousness, and the feminist movement came into being. In the 1970s, marginalized female groups such as black women and lesbians joined the movement, which increased the breadth and depth of the movement and significantly improved the status of women in politics, economy, education and the family.

Reflect on the search process, I think my question has no absolute answers, it's an open question that many factors affect the results. Although my research question didn’t change but my research process led me focus more on feminism, and how women consciousness raising affected their roles changed.

These two sources helped me solved the question I posted, the opinions from those books which I chosen stressed the importance of women as an individual, not only live for their husband and child, they had more value than they imagined. The mistakes of the child cannot be directly imputed to the mother. Most women influenced by these opinions from books then it increased the speed of women consciousness raising. Because of these, women’s roles changed directly, but it also affected by the social environment especially during Great Depression and WWII period. At first they may in order to support family passively accept the change of roles, but during the process, they gradually find the fun of work and value of themselves. Also with the raising of feminism movement, itis broader in its goals, reaching into the home to empower women, and more organized ranging from different schools to national organizations. After all, influence by both, women roles were changed.

Cited

https://dukelibraries.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15957coll6/id/606/rec/6

https://dukelibraries.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15957coll6/id/664/rec/8