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515 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. 8 (1991)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0515 and id is 1 raw text is: PREFACE This is the fifth volume of The Annals devoted entirely to the status of women, and the first since the position of women around the world was examined in 1968. The new feminist movement was in a very early stage of development at that time. Now, just five months from the twenty-fifth anniversary of the official birth of the National Organization for Women, the particular focus of this issue is a tacit recognition that, for the past generation, the status of American women and the feminist movement have been inexo- rably linked. Over the past 25 years, women in the United States have made remarkable advances in the professions, politics, the workplace, education, athletics, organized religion, and even in the family, as domestic role sharing and female sexuality have gained new recognition and legitimacy. Women are beginning to dominate the labor pool, and women's issues are far more likely to gain attention from policymakers. Frequently, it has been the feminist movement that has either directly initiated these changes or played a cata- lytic role through its advocacy of equality in education, employment, and law. Feminism has transformed our language and has itself become a house- hold word. Sexism is universally recognized as a form of bigotry. The once- closeted topics of rape and wife beating have entered general discourse as sexual assault and domestic violence. The special needs of displaced home- makers have been given voice. The women's movement, its organizations, and its literature have become institutionalized. According to a 1986 Gallup poll, 56 percent of women consider themselves to be feminists, compared with 28 percent who reject that label, 4 percent who identify with antifeminists, and 12 percent who are uncertain.' Despite these positive indicators, and especially after the final defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment in 1982, the popular media have been filled with predictions of the demise and disintegration of the women's movement. At best, it is argued, gender equality has been achieved, and feminism has become an anachronism, irrelevant to and no longer needed by women. At worst, the movement is portrayed as having seriously harmed women by ignoring the needs of pink-collar, wage-earning mothers in its support for women in careers and the professions. In particular, the unforeseen deleteri- ous consequences for women of no-fault divorce, the loss of permanent alimony, and gender-neutral child custody laws have led to the charge that women have been saddled with equal responsibility in society without full equality and the support network necessary for fulfilling this new role. The women's movement has also been accused of encouraging women to postpone 1. How Women View Work, Motherhood, and Feminism, Newsweek, 31 Mar. 1986, p. 51. 8