Women's Liberation: Humanizing Rather Than Polarizing

Abstract

An alliance of various groups of women drawn together under the umbrella of the women's liberation move ment has recently demanded full social equality. The pre cise content of their demand, however, remains vague due to the diversity of the groups involved. Some individuals and groups focus on problems associated with female personality development, while others concentrate on women's labor force marginality. Still other groups explore the sources of the dissatisfaction with home roles in evidence among increasing numbers of American women. This paper attempts to explore the social determinants of the inferior position of women in society, and briefly touch on the responses of the women's liberation movement to this unfavorable position. The as signment of women on the basis of sex to home-oriented and low-status adult roles is advanced as the basic source of these varied problems. The various demands for equality can therefore be seen as aspects of the more general goal—the elimination of this assigned and low-status role set.