第二次美国妇女运动：起源、表现和影响
摘要
美国历史上第一次妇女运动以美国妇女1920年获得选举权为标志宣告结束。大规模的妇女运动从此长时间陷入沉寂。时隔四十年之后,即二十世纪六十年代,随着自由风潮席卷全国,改革呼声日益高涨,美国历史上的第二次妇女运动开始萌芽,并迅速发展成为一场全国性的运动。无论从这次运动的规模上讲,还是从其涉及问题的广泛性来说,第二次妇女运动都远远超过第一次妇女运动,并对美国妇女的生活产生了重大而深远的影响。
追根溯源来说,这次妇女运动早在二战时期就处于酝酿之中。二战成为美国妇女走出家门,参加社会生产的催化剂。不仅妇女的经济地位因此产生了巨大的改变,而且她们对自身在社会中所担任的角色也有了新的认识。然而,传统观念对于女性地位的认定仍然根深蒂固,顽固地认为她们只适合承担母亲和妻子的职责,其生活范围也应局限于家庭之中。随着越来越多的女性,尤其是已婚妇女加入劳动大军,这种传统观念与现实情况的冲突日益凸显。虽然女性自身愿意走出家庭,参与社会生产,但是强大的社会传统反对她们置社会工作于家庭责任之前。部分女性因此不得不屈从于这种传统势力所带来的压力,将生活局限于狭小的家庭范围之中。已经参加工作的妇女则处于两难境地:一方面,她们希望能够全力以赴地投入工作,实现自我追求;另一方面,传统观念要求她们像全职主妇一样承担家庭责任。这样的双重压力常常使她们感到不堪重负。先进女性最先觉察到了妇女的困境,她们开始寻求改变现状的途径。一次新的妇女运动的出现由此具备了可能性。
为第二次妇女运动的最终爆发提供适宜土壤的是二十世纪六十年代美国的自由主义浪潮。在自由主义改革精神的鼓舞下,美国社会在这段时间内爆发了黑人民权运动、激进学生的新左派运动和反越战运动等一系列要求革除社会弊病的运动。在这些运动中,妇女逐渐作为一支独立的力量显露出来。民权运动使妇女意识到自己与黑人的类似处境,即是社会中的二等公民;新左派等运动使女性意识到在男性主导的激进运动中,不仅妇女问题被忽略,而且妇女的权利和权益得不到尊重。通过这些切身的感受和自觉的反思,女性开始组建自己的组织来讨论、研究和解决妇女问题。其中最具代表性的就是“全国妇女组织”(NOW)和激进女权主义组织“妇女解放运动”。这两支主要的妇女运动力量对于美国女性在社会中的处境、面临的问题和解决妇女问题的方式有着各自不尽相同但是明确深刻的理解。她们通过采取不同的组织形式、活动方法和斗争策略,宣传了女权主义观点,提高了妇女对于自身状况的认识,使妇女问题成为全国舆论关注的焦点,并成功使立法机构通过一系列法案来保护或承认妇女的权利。正是通过这些先进妇女艰苦卓绝的努力、奋斗和持之以恒的坚定信念,美国妇女的处境得到了极大改善。妇女在社会生活中享有了更多的自由度和平等权力,并得以在家庭以外的领域中实现自己的人生价值。
本文第一章首先从二战的影响、第二次妇女运动的思想启蒙及其领导力量三个方面探讨了此次妇女运动的起源。第二章阐述了第二次妇女运动的诸多表现形式。第二次妇女运动产生于不同于第一次运动的社会背景之下,并在更为广泛的范围内寻求妇女权利,它因此呈现出许多独特的表现形式。文章的第三章通过详细介绍和分析妇女组织就几个与妇女自身密切相关的问题所发起的运动,论述了第二次美国妇女运动重大的意义和深远的影响。这一章同时也对美国历史上的传统观念对于女性角色的规定进行了回顾,指出这种传统观念限制了女性能力发挥的空间。随着越来越多的女性走出家庭,参与社会生产,这种僵化的标准与社会现实之间的冲突越来越明显,这也是促成第二次妇女运动爆发的一个重要原因。
总而言之,第二次美国妇女运动在最为广泛的范围内团结了广大女性为争取自身权利和权益而斗争。这次大规模的妇女运动唤起了公众舆论和政府机构对女性问题的关注,推动了立法机构颁布实施一系列法令来保障女性权益,提高女性的社会地位,并在一定程度上冲击了传统观念对于女性角色的认定。妇女从此进入了美国社会的主流,作为不可忽视的力量出现在美国政治、经济、社会和文化生活当中。美国妇女在运动中展示的决心、力量和取得的成就彻底改变了美国女性的生活。
The second feminist movement broke out in the United States forty years after the first movement ended and soon reached a scale that was unprecedented in history. The movement sprang in a favorable political atmosphere conducive to reform and developed at such a dazzling speed that it became a nationwide movement within a very short time. With various feminist groups putting forth a barrage of women’s issues and taking different strategies and tactics to challenge women’s inferior status in society, the second movement gained great momentum in the late 1960s, capturing intense attention from the public and the government, and achieving huge progress in improving women’s conditions in their private and public life. It left no aspect of women’s life untouched and its far-reaching influence can still be felt in women’s life in today’s America.
Large scale feminist movement had sunk into silence for forty years after the first feminist movement ended in 1920. However, the simmerings of the second movement began well during the Second World War. WWII changed women’s economic status, leading to the growing demand for redistribution of sex roles in family life. But the traditional idea that prescribed women’s role as stay-at-home mother and wife still held a firm ground, hampering such fundamental changes in women’s lives. This tension became increasingly obvious as more and more women joined the labor force. The sentiment for change of the condition was brewing.
But the viability for another organized women’s movement didn’t come until the 1960s, when the political atmosphere in the United States became increasingly liberal and the mindset of the whole country was geared to reform to correct the social problems. In the wave of the Civil Rights Movement, New Left Movement, Anti-War Movement, women emerged as an independent force and began to organize to claim their own rights. Comparing their conditions with those of the black people, women realized that they were second-class citizens in society without equal rights in social, political, economic and cultural life. They were therefore determined to organize to change the situation. As a result, NOW and Women’s Liberation Movement emerged as two leading forces, the former being the liberal or moderate wing and the latter the radical wing. With different approaches to tackle women’s issue, the two forces put forward different theories, helped make the women’s issue a national topic and pressured legislature to enact new laws to protect or acknowledge women’s rights. Millions of American women’s lives have been permanently changed because of the movement.
The thesis first probes into the origins of the second feminist movement by discussing three major factors, namely the impacts of WWII on women, the theoretical preparation and the leading organizations for the movement. Next, it discusses the many manifestations the second movement displayed in its development. Thriving under a different social circumstance different from that of the first movement and dealing with a much wider range of women’s issues, the second movement revealed its own kind of manifestations. Finally, the thesis discusses the impacts of the movement. Based on the detailed description and careful analysis of the several campaigns feminists launched, the thesis tries to demonstrate that it was due to the efforts of movement activists that American women could enjoy much more freedom and equality than they had ever dreamed before. In order to bring out the changes in full relief, this part also provides a reexamination of the traditional criteria for womanhood in American society, pointing out that these traditional criteria increasingly conflicted with women’s changing and changed roles, which furnished an important catalyst for the outbreak of the second movement.
By and large, the second feminist movement legitimated women’s participation in American social life, making them not only an indispensable force in American economy, but also a powerful group in American politics. The feminists’struggle, courage and determination as well as achievements made in the movement have fundamentally changed American women, transforming them from margin to mainstream in every aspect of American life.
追根溯源来说,这次妇女运动早在二战时期就处于酝酿之中。二战成为美国妇女走出家门,参加社会生产的催化剂。不仅妇女的经济地位因此产生了巨大的改变,而且她们对自身在社会中所担任的角色也有了新的认识。然而,传统观念对于女性地位的认定仍然根深蒂固,顽固地认为她们只适合承担母亲和妻子的职责,其生活范围也应局限于家庭之中。随着越来越多的女性,尤其是已婚妇女加入劳动大军,这种传统观念与现实情况的冲突日益凸显。虽然女性自身愿意走出家庭,参与社会生产,但是强大的社会传统反对她们置社会工作于家庭责任之前。部分女性因此不得不屈从于这种传统势力所带来的压力,将生活局限于狭小的家庭范围之中。已经参加工作的妇女则处于两难境地:一方面,她们希望能够全力以赴地投入工作,实现自我追求;另一方面,传统观念要求她们像全职主妇一样承担家庭责任。这样的双重压力常常使她们感到不堪重负。先进女性最先觉察到了妇女的困境,她们开始寻求改变现状的途径。一次新的妇女运动的出现由此具备了可能性。
为第二次妇女运动的最终爆发提供适宜土壤的是二十世纪六十年代美国的自由主义浪潮。在自由主义改革精神的鼓舞下,美国社会在这段时间内爆发了黑人民权运动、激进学生的新左派运动和反越战运动等一系列要求革除社会弊病的运动。在这些运动中,妇女逐渐作为一支独立的力量显露出来。民权运动使妇女意识到自己与黑人的类似处境,即是社会中的二等公民;新左派等运动使女性意识到在男性主导的激进运动中,不仅妇女问题被忽略,而且妇女的权利和权益得不到尊重。通过这些切身的感受和自觉的反思,女性开始组建自己的组织来讨论、研究和解决妇女问题。其中最具代表性的就是“全国妇女组织”(NOW)和激进女权主义组织“妇女解放运动”。这两支主要的妇女运动力量对于美国女性在社会中的处境、面临的问题和解决妇女问题的方式有着各自不尽相同但是明确深刻的理解。她们通过采取不同的组织形式、活动方法和斗争策略,宣传了女权主义观点,提高了妇女对于自身状况的认识,使妇女问题成为全国舆论关注的焦点,并成功使立法机构通过一系列法案来保护或承认妇女的权利。正是通过这些先进妇女艰苦卓绝的努力、奋斗和持之以恒的坚定信念,美国妇女的处境得到了极大改善。妇女在社会生活中享有了更多的自由度和平等权力,并得以在家庭以外的领域中实现自己的人生价值。
本文第一章首先从二战的影响、第二次妇女运动的思想启蒙及其领导力量三个方面探讨了此次妇女运动的起源。第二章阐述了第二次妇女运动的诸多表现形式。第二次妇女运动产生于不同于第一次运动的社会背景之下,并在更为广泛的范围内寻求妇女权利,它因此呈现出许多独特的表现形式。文章的第三章通过详细介绍和分析妇女组织就几个与妇女自身密切相关的问题所发起的运动,论述了第二次美国妇女运动重大的意义和深远的影响。这一章同时也对美国历史上的传统观念对于女性角色的规定进行了回顾,指出这种传统观念限制了女性能力发挥的空间。随着越来越多的女性走出家庭,参与社会生产,这种僵化的标准与社会现实之间的冲突越来越明显,这也是促成第二次妇女运动爆发的一个重要原因。
总而言之,第二次美国妇女运动在最为广泛的范围内团结了广大女性为争取自身权利和权益而斗争。这次大规模的妇女运动唤起了公众舆论和政府机构对女性问题的关注,推动了立法机构颁布实施一系列法令来保障女性权益,提高女性的社会地位,并在一定程度上冲击了传统观念对于女性角色的认定。妇女从此进入了美国社会的主流,作为不可忽视的力量出现在美国政治、经济、社会和文化生活当中。美国妇女在运动中展示的决心、力量和取得的成就彻底改变了美国女性的生活。
The second feminist movement broke out in the United States forty years after the first movement ended and soon reached a scale that was unprecedented in history. The movement sprang in a favorable political atmosphere conducive to reform and developed at such a dazzling speed that it became a nationwide movement within a very short time. With various feminist groups putting forth a barrage of women’s issues and taking different strategies and tactics to challenge women’s inferior status in society, the second movement gained great momentum in the late 1960s, capturing intense attention from the public and the government, and achieving huge progress in improving women’s conditions in their private and public life. It left no aspect of women’s life untouched and its far-reaching influence can still be felt in women’s life in today’s America.
Large scale feminist movement had sunk into silence for forty years after the first feminist movement ended in 1920. However, the simmerings of the second movement began well during the Second World War. WWII changed women’s economic status, leading to the growing demand for redistribution of sex roles in family life. But the traditional idea that prescribed women’s role as stay-at-home mother and wife still held a firm ground, hampering such fundamental changes in women’s lives. This tension became increasingly obvious as more and more women joined the labor force. The sentiment for change of the condition was brewing.
But the viability for another organized women’s movement didn’t come until the 1960s, when the political atmosphere in the United States became increasingly liberal and the mindset of the whole country was geared to reform to correct the social problems. In the wave of the Civil Rights Movement, New Left Movement, Anti-War Movement, women emerged as an independent force and began to organize to claim their own rights. Comparing their conditions with those of the black people, women realized that they were second-class citizens in society without equal rights in social, political, economic and cultural life. They were therefore determined to organize to change the situation. As a result, NOW and Women’s Liberation Movement emerged as two leading forces, the former being the liberal or moderate wing and the latter the radical wing. With different approaches to tackle women’s issue, the two forces put forward different theories, helped make the women’s issue a national topic and pressured legislature to enact new laws to protect or acknowledge women’s rights. Millions of American women’s lives have been permanently changed because of the movement.
The thesis first probes into the origins of the second feminist movement by discussing three major factors, namely the impacts of WWII on women, the theoretical preparation and the leading organizations for the movement. Next, it discusses the many manifestations the second movement displayed in its development. Thriving under a different social circumstance different from that of the first movement and dealing with a much wider range of women’s issues, the second movement revealed its own kind of manifestations. Finally, the thesis discusses the impacts of the movement. Based on the detailed description and careful analysis of the several campaigns feminists launched, the thesis tries to demonstrate that it was due to the efforts of movement activists that American women could enjoy much more freedom and equality than they had ever dreamed before. In order to bring out the changes in full relief, this part also provides a reexamination of the traditional criteria for womanhood in American society, pointing out that these traditional criteria increasingly conflicted with women’s changing and changed roles, which furnished an important catalyst for the outbreak of the second movement.
By and large, the second feminist movement legitimated women’s participation in American social life, making them not only an indispensable force in American economy, but also a powerful group in American politics. The feminists’struggle, courage and determination as well as achievements made in the movement have fundamentally changed American women, transforming them from margin to mainstream in every aspect of American life.
引文
Berkeley, Kathleen C., The Women’s Liberation Movement in America (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999)
Buechler, Steven M., Women’s Movements in the United States: Women Suffrage, Equal Rights, and Beyond (London: Rutgers University Press, 1990)
Carden, Maren Lockwood, The New Feminist Movement (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1974 )
Chafe, William H., The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, and Political Roles, 1920-1970 (Oxford University Press, New York, 1972)
Cott, Nancy F., The Bonds of Womanhood(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978)
Daniel, Robert L., American Women in the 20th Century (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, 1987)
Davis, Flora, Moving the Mountain: The Women’s Movement in America since 1960 (Simon and Shuster, New York, 1991 )
Deckard, Barbara Sinclair, The women’s Movement: Political, Socioeconomic, and Psychological Issues (Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1975)
Degler, Carl N., At Odds: Women and Family in America from the Revolution to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980)
Downie, Susanna et al., Decade of Achievement: 1977-1987 (Beaver Dam, WI: National Women’s Conference Center, 1988)
Echols, Alice, Daring to be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press, 1989)
Evans, Sara M., Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America (New York : The Free Press, 1989)
Evans, Sara M., Personal Politics: The Roots of Women’s Liberation in the Civil Rights and the New Left (New York: Vintage Books, 1980)
Ferree, Myra Marx and Beth Hess, Controversy and Coalition: The New Feminist Movement (Boston: G.K. Hall/Twayne, 1985)
Freeman, Jo, The Politics of Women’s Liberation (New York: David Mckay, 1975)
Friedan, Betty, The Feminine Mystique (New York: Norton, 1963)
Gatlin, Rochelle, American women Since 1945 (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1987)
Gilbert, James, Another Chance: Postwar American, 1945-1968 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981)
Hartmann, Susan M., From Margin to Mainstream: American Women and Politics Since 1960 (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1989)
Hoff, Joan, Law, Gender, and Injustice: A Legal History of U.S. Women (New York: New York University Press, 1991)
Hole, Judith and Ellen Levine, Rebirth of Feminism (New York: Quadrangle, 1971)
Kaledin, Eugenia, Mothers and More: American Women in the 1950s (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984)
Linden-Ward, Blanche and Carol Hurd Green, Changing the Future: American Women in the 1960s (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993)
Mclaughlin, Steven D et al., The Changing Lives of American Women (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988)
Norton, Katzman, et al., A People and A Nation: A History of the United States (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988)
Petchesky, Rosalind Pollack, Abortion and Women’s Choice: The State, Sexuality, and Reproductive Freedom(Boston: Northeastern University, 1984)
Richardson, Diane, &Victoria Robinson, Introducing Women’s Studies: Feminist Theory And Practice(London: MacMillan, 1993)
Rosenberg, Rosalind, Divided Lives: American Women in the Twentieth Century (New York: Hill and Wang, 1992)
Shaw, Susan M. and Janet Lee, Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions(McGraw-Hill, New York, 2004)
Simon, Rita J. and Gloria Danziger, Women’s Movements in America: Their Success, Disappointments, and Aspirations(New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991)
Smith, Page, Daughters of the Promised Land: Women in American History(Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1970)
Voydanoff, Patricia eds., Work and Family: Changing Roles of Men and Women (Mayfield Publishing company, California, 1984)
Wandersee, Winifred D., On the Move: American Women in the 1970s(Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988)
Woloch, Nancy, Women and the American Experience(McGraw-Hill, New York, fourth edition, 2006)
王政《女性的崛起:当代美国的女权运动》北京:当代中国出版社1995
王恩铭.《20世纪美国妇女研究》上海:上海外语教育出版社2002
Buechler, Steven M., Women’s Movements in the United States: Women Suffrage, Equal Rights, and Beyond (London: Rutgers University Press, 1990)
Carden, Maren Lockwood, The New Feminist Movement (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1974 )
Chafe, William H., The American Woman: Her Changing Social, Economic, and Political Roles, 1920-1970 (Oxford University Press, New York, 1972)
Cott, Nancy F., The Bonds of Womanhood(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978)
Daniel, Robert L., American Women in the 20th Century (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, 1987)
Davis, Flora, Moving the Mountain: The Women’s Movement in America since 1960 (Simon and Shuster, New York, 1991 )
Deckard, Barbara Sinclair, The women’s Movement: Political, Socioeconomic, and Psychological Issues (Harper & Row, Publishers, New York, 1975)
Degler, Carl N., At Odds: Women and Family in America from the Revolution to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 1980)
Downie, Susanna et al., Decade of Achievement: 1977-1987 (Beaver Dam, WI: National Women’s Conference Center, 1988)
Echols, Alice, Daring to be Bad: Radical Feminism in America, 1967-1975 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press, 1989)
Evans, Sara M., Born for Liberty: A History of Women in America (New York : The Free Press, 1989)
Evans, Sara M., Personal Politics: The Roots of Women’s Liberation in the Civil Rights and the New Left (New York: Vintage Books, 1980)
Ferree, Myra Marx and Beth Hess, Controversy and Coalition: The New Feminist Movement (Boston: G.K. Hall/Twayne, 1985)
Freeman, Jo, The Politics of Women’s Liberation (New York: David Mckay, 1975)
Friedan, Betty, The Feminine Mystique (New York: Norton, 1963)
Gatlin, Rochelle, American women Since 1945 (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1987)
Gilbert, James, Another Chance: Postwar American, 1945-1968 (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1981)
Hartmann, Susan M., From Margin to Mainstream: American Women and Politics Since 1960 (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1989)
Hoff, Joan, Law, Gender, and Injustice: A Legal History of U.S. Women (New York: New York University Press, 1991)
Hole, Judith and Ellen Levine, Rebirth of Feminism (New York: Quadrangle, 1971)
Kaledin, Eugenia, Mothers and More: American Women in the 1950s (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1984)
Linden-Ward, Blanche and Carol Hurd Green, Changing the Future: American Women in the 1960s (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1993)
Mclaughlin, Steven D et al., The Changing Lives of American Women (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1988)
Norton, Katzman, et al., A People and A Nation: A History of the United States (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988)
Petchesky, Rosalind Pollack, Abortion and Women’s Choice: The State, Sexuality, and Reproductive Freedom(Boston: Northeastern University, 1984)
Richardson, Diane, &Victoria Robinson, Introducing Women’s Studies: Feminist Theory And Practice(London: MacMillan, 1993)
Rosenberg, Rosalind, Divided Lives: American Women in the Twentieth Century (New York: Hill and Wang, 1992)
Shaw, Susan M. and Janet Lee, Women’s Voices, Feminist Visions(McGraw-Hill, New York, 2004)
Simon, Rita J. and Gloria Danziger, Women’s Movements in America: Their Success, Disappointments, and Aspirations(New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991)
Smith, Page, Daughters of the Promised Land: Women in American History(Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1970)
Voydanoff, Patricia eds., Work and Family: Changing Roles of Men and Women (Mayfield Publishing company, California, 1984)
Wandersee, Winifred D., On the Move: American Women in the 1970s(Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1988)
Woloch, Nancy, Women and the American Experience(McGraw-Hill, New York, fourth edition, 2006)
王政《女性的崛起:当代美国的女权运动》北京:当代中国出版社1995
王恩铭.《20世纪美国妇女研究》上海:上海外语教育出版社2002