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Women’s liberation
Results of women’s liberation:
Business changes
Family changes
Sexual revolution
Conclusion

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 Women working

• More and more women have

participated in many fields of life:
mental or clerical position,
professionals and trades, etc.

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 Women working
• Now more and more men are
doing things that only women
used to do.
• Foreign visitors may be shocked
at first to see men do housework.

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 Women’s Liberation
• “Equal pay for equal work”
• “Equal rights for women”
• What happened in that movement?
- School textbooks and teachers are urged
to take note of women’s contribution to
history, science, and other fields.
- They argue for an end to “stereotyping” of
women on TV and other media,etc.
 • When
In the middle of 20th century

• Why
No longer content with their traditional roles as
housewives and mothers

• What
Individualism
Independence
Equality

• Results
Business changes
Family changes
Sexual revolution

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 1960 33.3%

1985 54.7%

->more women working outside

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 In the past

Nowadays

Engineers, lawyers, doctors, dentists

Other professionals: house painters,
04/22/11 plumbers,
001036 - US Cultureconstruction workers,… 8
 ->Changes in male-female relationships:

1. -more women are earning more money

independence
2. -liberated from traditional female
responsibilities:
freedom
3. -more men are doing things that only
women used to do:
equality

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 1. Single-parent families
2. Househusbands
3. Commuter couples
4. Unmarried couple households
5. Blended families

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 -is increasing markedly
1965: 10.1%
1985: 22.2%
-classified as poor
-headed by women
Some people: tragic situation
Most Americans: inevitable situation 
acceptable
 choose maintaining this unhappy marriages

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 Single-parent families

There is an increasing number of

women who have children without
intention of getting married.
 -woman’s work
supports family
financially
-man mind the house
and the children
-more and more
househusbands in
America

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 Househusbands

• Many men are doing work of

housewives and they are called
“househusbands”.

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-Both work, one in one location and the other in a
different, distant location
-maintain 2 households
-commute on weekends or less often
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 Commuter couples

• If the idea that a woman’s career aspiration

are no less important than a man’s is
accepted, this phenomenon will naturally
happen .

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 10 – 15 years ago: scandalous
Now : accepted

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growing divorce rate -> growing number of blended families 18
001036 - US Culture
 • Premarital chastity
• Marital fidelity
• Non-working wives
• Male domination in
families

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 Sexual revolution
- There is still an argument about what
a “ sex revolution” is and whether
there has been such a thing or not in
America.
- A number of changes has been given
by those who believe that there has
been one.
20
• Feel freer to talk about sex-related subjects:
Masturbation, menstruation, impotence, frigidity,
sex fantasies, promiscuous sexual behavior
• More young people are engaging in sexual
intercourse before marriage
• Homosexuals have right to behave as they wish
• However, promiscuous sexual behavior ought
to be avoided because of AIDS
• Still, traditional ideas about male-female
relationships hold sway
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 Sexual revolution

The idea that women should be virgins

at the time they marry is not as
common in the population as it used to.

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 Sexual revolution

3. -Homosexuals:
+ gay - male
+ lesbian - female
- In some communities, there has been a
legislation to protect gay people from
discrimination in housing and jobs.
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 Some traditional ideas
are still kept
• - Foreign visitors will still find that
-Foreign
traditional visitors
ideas aboutshouldn’t
male-female
relationships
make anyare still kept. about
assumption
male-female
- There relationship
are still men and women who
believe in: + premarital chastity
- Be objective
- Observe+carefully
marital fidelity
+ modesty about sexual functions
+ non-working wives
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 Summary

• Since the “women liberation movement”,

the male-female relationships in America
has developed a lot:
+ Women are now freer and can take part in
many social activities.
+ The structure of family also changed a lot.
• However, not all traditional ideas have
disappeared.
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 Cannot make any assumptions
about male-female
relationships you may
encounter

• Must observe carefully, ask

questions, and take care
not to let your own ideas
interfere with your
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understanding
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