If you want to know what feminists did during the 1960s and 1970s in the United States, you can find a good overview and plenty of specific anecdotes in Sara M. Evans’ Tidal Wave: How Women Changed America at Century’s End.
“The Way We Were”
Tidal Wave begins with a look at where women stood in U.S. society just before the women's liberation movement burst onto the scene in the 1960s. Sara Evans then chronicles feminist activism over the next several decades. Each chapter includes key figures and significant events and explains how they fit into the larger picture of what was happening in society. Tidal Wave explores what feminists did during the 1960s and 1970s and how feminism evolved with the approach of the 21st century.
Sara M. Evans is a history professor and feminist studies academic who was present at the birth of second-wave feminism. She was one of many women who started consciousness-raising groups, carried along by the tide of possibility that swept through the U.S. in the wake of The Feminine Mystique and the Civil Rights Movement. However, Tidal Wave is not a memoir, nor does it limit its story to any one particular aspect of women's liberation.
Making Waves
Although Tidal Wave concentrates on feminists in Chicago and cities on the East Coast, Sara Evans ably demonstrates how the feminist groups that formed almost overnight in those cities -- as well as the political struggles of those groups -- both influenced and reflected what was happening with women across the nation.
Tidal Wave tells how increasing national awareness of women's liberation inspired specific incidents. For example, there was a protest at a Chicago law firm on behalf of a legal secretary who was fired after refusing to make coffee for the men in the office. Sara Evans goes on to highlight how this case was part of the growing feminist wave of clerical workers standing up for women's rights. Working class women who had been stuck in the pink-collar ghetto were coming together to organize, share ideas, fight discrimination in the workplace and enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Tidal Wave also discusses some major conflicts within the women's movement, including:
- Lesbian feminist issues and the debate over the visibility of lesbians in the feminist movement;
- Whether looking for an "essentialist" women's culture at events like the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival was a mistake that polarized the movement;
- Why radical feminists separated from the liberal feminism of organizations such as NOW; and
- How the perception of a largely white-middle-class movement initially failed to draw attention to multicultural feminist issues, and what feminist leaders did or failed to do about that problem.
The feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s has been criticized for drawing attention mostly or only to white middle-class housewives, while ignoring women of any other race or economic status. Tidal Wave takes up those issues, but its history of the multicultural aspects of the feminist movement in the 1960s and 70s appears limited when compared to other sources. This may be due, in part, to Sara Evans' point of view as part of the central second-wave feminism demographic.
What About the Next Generation?
Tidal Wave doesn't stop at 1979. The book traces both the history of second-wave feminism and how it evolved into third-wave feminism. Some of the later incidents covered are:
- A gathering at which Mary Daly and Rebecca Walker exchanged words about whether "feminism" needs to be redefined;
- The pivotal role played by Phyllis Schlafly's anti-ERA campaign in the perception of backlash against feminism; and
- The Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings of the early 1990s.
Readable
Sara Evans writes in a straightforward manner without dropping too many unfamiliar names and dates that might confuse the reader. She explains new terminology in a simple essay style. The ideas are organized clearly, and the combined chronological/thematic organization of the chapters tells the story of feminism well.
Details and Jumping Off Points
Tidal Wave works well as an introduction to the 1960s and 1970s feminist movement, either for someone starting with very little background or for someone who wants to know more about the basics. For readers who want more in-depth information, the detailed endnotes provide both sources and further information about many of the incidents and concepts covered in the book.
Tidal Wave is not a thick, academic history. It is a story told in breezy detail with jumping off points for learning more about cultural history and feminist theory. It is a solid overview that might make a reluctant student forget she's learning about U.S. history. Tidal Wave can definitely teach both casual readers and interested researchers more about how women changed U.S. society in the latter half of the 20th century, and re-established feminism in the public consciousness.