TheaF

= American Women in Culture and Music =

= The Culture = The 1960's in the United States brought the Women's Rights Movement, sparked by both the sexual revolution, and, perhaps more importantly, the civil rights movement. Having earned equality to men in the legal sense, women, most of them middle-class women, fought for freedom and equality on a more personal level. Women's activism began to focus on combating domestic violence and rape, and some women began creating shelters for abused women and crisis hotlines for rape victims. Having control over one's body was a focal point of women's activism as well, helped by the development of a birth control pill in the early 1960's. By 1963, 1.2 million women were using oral contraceptives. The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in 1966, first led by its president Betty Friedan. NOW fought, and still fights today, for equality between women and men. Its goal is to eliminate discrimination and harassment based on sex, and secure reproductive freedom for women. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act was passed, prohibiting pay discrimination based on sex. This movement was reflected in American culture and music. Female artists, on their own or in groups, began creating music whose lyrics focused on female independence and strength. Since then, the difference in social roles between men and women is thought to have been shrinking, but US Census data shows that while the percentages of men and women over age 25 with high school diplomas (see Fig. 1) have remained remarkably close, the disparity in income between men and women (see Fig. 2) is growing. Interestingly, many current female musicians seem to be abandoning the strong, independent attitude of past female artists and adopting weaker, more sexual images. The content of today's popular music by women focuses on looking good, getting all the boys, and flaunting one's wealth (as opposed to working to obtain it). The image of the strong and independent woman is being scrapped in favor of that of a good piece of eye candy, an ornament for men with sex appeal instead of substance, strength and character.

= Fig. 1: Percentages of US citizens over the age of 25 with a high school diploma, by gender =



||= Men ||= Women || ||= 39.5 ||= 42.5 || ||= 51.9 ||= 52.8 || ||= 67.3 ||= 65.8 || ||= 75.7 ||= 74.8 || ||= 80.1 ||= 80.7 ||
 * = Year
 * = 1960
 * = 1970
 * = 1980
 * = 1990
 * = 2000

= Fig. 2: Annual income of US citizens, by gender (dollars) (people 15 and over beginning March 1980, and people 14 years and over as of March of the following year for previous years) =




 * = Year ||= Male ||= Female ||
 * = 1967 ||= 6,054 ||= 2,483 ||
 * = 1968 ||= 6,626 ||= 2,732 ||
 * = 1969 ||= 7,202 ||= 2,945 ||
 * = 1970 ||= 7,537 ||= 3,138 ||
 * = 1971 ||= 7,892 ||= 3,333 ||
 * = 1972 ||= 8,635 ||= 3,577 ||
 * = 1973 ||= 9,289 ||= 3,799 ||
 * = 1974 ||= 9,861 ||= 4,161 ||
 * = 1975 ||= 10,429 ||= 4,513 ||
 * = 1976 ||= 11,165 ||= 4,875 ||
 * = 1977 ||= 12,063 ||= 5,291 ||
 * = 1978 ||= 13,113 ||= 5,599 ||
 * = 1979 ||= 14,311 ||= 6,026 ||
 * = 1980 ||= 15,340 ||= 6,772 ||
 * = 1981 ||= 16,515 ||= 7,440 ||
 * = 1982 ||= 17,381 ||= 8,195 ||
 * = 1983 ||= 18,109 ||= 8,780 ||
 * = 1984 ||= 19,438 ||= 9,548 ||
 * = 1985 ||= 20,652 ||= 10,173 ||
 * = 1986 ||= 21,822 ||= 10,741 ||
 * = 1987 ||= 22,798 ||= 11,538 ||
 * = 1988 ||= 24,054 ||= 12,311 ||
 * = 1989 ||= 25,746 ||= 13,226 ||
 * = 1990 ||= 26,041 ||= 13,913 ||
 * = 1991 ||= 26,369 ||= 14,449 ||
 * = 1992 ||= 26,810 ||= 14,922 ||
 * = 1993 ||= 28,939 ||= 15,761 ||
 * = 1994 ||= 30,637 ||= 16,478 ||
 * = 1995 ||= 31,454 ||= 17,265 ||
 * = 1996 ||= 32,800 ||= 18,369 ||
 * = 1997 ||= 34,794 ||= 19,511 ||
 * = 1998 ||= 36,315 ||= 20,462 ||
 * = 1999 ||= 38,384 ||= 21,312 ||
 * = 2000 ||= 40,254 ||= 22,428 ||
 * = 2001 ||= 40,859 ||= 23,602 ||
 * = 2002 ||= 41,057 ||= 23,619 ||
 * = 2003 ||= 41,483 ||= 24,630 ||
 * = 2004 ||= 42,831 ||= 25,027 ||
 * = 2005 ||= 44,850 ||= 26,261 ||
 * = 2006 ||= 46,677 ||= 28,416 ||
 * = 2007 ||= 47,137 ||= 29,249 ||
 * = 2008 ||= 47,751 ||= 29,087 ||

= The Music =

media type="file" key="The Supremes-Stop! In The Name Of Love [www.keepvid.com].mp4" width="300" height="300" The music video for The Supremes' "Stop! In the Name of Love" (1965) courtesy of YouTube.com, retrieved with KeepVid.com Themes: Frustration, deserving better

media type="file" key="JANIS_JOPLIN___BYE_BYE_BABY.mp3" width="240" height="20" Janis Joplin singing "Bye Bye Baby" (1968) courtesy of YouTube.com, retrieved with OnlineVideoConverter.com Themes: Frustration, independence, looking out for oneself, making a better life for oneself

media type="file" key="Janis_Joplin___A_Woman_Left_Lonely.mp3" width="240" height="20" Janis Joplin singing "A Woman Left Lonely" (1971) courtesy of YouTube.com, retrieved with OnlineVideoConverter.com Themes: Infidelity, taking what one wants, disregard for societal rules, sexual freedom

media type="file" key="I Am Woman by Helen Reddy LIVE 1975 Midnight Special [www.keepvid.com].mp4" width="300" height="300" Helen Reddy performing "I am Woman" live on Bart Sugarman's Midnight Special (1975) courtesy of YouTube.com, retrieved with KeepVid.com Themes: Female strength, independence, refusal to back down or be oppressed

media type="file" key="I Will Survive [www.keepvid.com].mp4" width="300" height="300" Gloria Gaynor's promotional video for her song, "I Will Survive" (1979) courtesy of YouTube.com, retrieved with KeepVid.com Themes: Independence, freedom, deserving good treatment

media type="file" key="Beyonc____If_I_Were_A_Boy___Lyrics.mp3" width="240" height="20" Beyoncé Knowles singing "If I were a Boy" (2008) courtesy of YouTube.com, retrieved with OnlineVideoConverter.com Themes: Emotional vulnerability, victimhood

media type="file" key="Beyonc____Im_Scared_Of_Lonely_With_Lyrics___New_song_2008.mp3" width="240" height="20" Beyoncé Knowles singing "Scared of Lonely" (2008) courtesy of YouTube.com, retrieved with OnlineVideoConverter.com Themes: Weakness, needing a lover for comfort

http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/education/phct41.html http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/incpertoc.html http://www-scf.usc.edu/~nicoleg/history.htm