During the 1970’s continuation of the women’s movement made a huge change in the lives of women. The movement sent the message that there were alternative options for women besides the normal option of being a wife and a mother. Whether a woman considers herself a “feminist” or not, at the time, it created new opportunities for women to venture into other roles, than the more traditional roles of wife and mother. It opened up new educational, occupational, and legal options for women (Bianchi 1986:16).
Then, during the 1980’s, women had more options because of new liberal values. Alternatives to lifelong marriage at a young age became more acceptable. A woman may marry, postpone marriage after school, or not marry at all. And even …show more content…
Because in the 1980’s women started marrying later and divorcing more frequently. This means women were no in the position to have children. In addition, contraceptives and abortions allowed women to have control over when and how many children they had. The age of the woman when she has her first child is critical. When women start having children in their teens to early 20’s they tend to have more children throughout their lives, and gain less education, than women without children or women who have their first child after 30. Less education is correlated with lower earning wages, and women who have children at the age of 30 or later are more like likely to be more educated than women who became mothers at a younger age (Bianchi …show more content…
Even though sex roles had increasingly become more egalitarian, women were still expected to be responsible for household work, childcare, and at the time were beginning to increasingly provide income to the family. This now meant that the women’s time was spent balancing several roles (roles of work, childcare, housework) in ways that men did not and still do not experience. Some did have emotional and financial support from their husbands, but during the 1980’s an increasing amount of mothers were unmarried (Bianchi