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Gail Collins When Everything Change

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“American women were about to experience an extraordinary period of change that would undo virtually every assumption about the natural limitations of their sex. It was going to be a journey of many parts—terrifying and exhilarating, silly and profound, a path to half-realized dreams, unexpected disappointments, and unimaginable opportunities,” (Collins 182). Chronicle In her book, When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women From 1060 to the Present, Gail Collins chronicles this path to “half-realized dreams, unexpected disappointments and unimaginable opportunities.” Chronicling a time of many triumphs, but also many failures, Collins outlines the events precipitating the ultimate victory and ultimate failures of the revolution. …show more content…

Despite what many believe, it was not one leader that precipitated change, but a perfect series of events: the change in the post World War II economy, the invention of the birth control pill, and the civil rights movement all made way for the moment ‘When Everything Changed.’ While writing about the catalysts for change, Collins said, “The soaring expectations of the postwar boom, followed by the decline in men’s paychecks in the 1970s, mad wives’ participation in the workforce almost a requisite for middleclass life,” (Collins 105). The very first element in the series of events that led to the perfect storm, the postwar boom, made it a necessity for most women in middleclass families to work for the first time in history. While it might seem insignificant in the larger scope of history, …show more content…

They overcame and destroyed the notion that women were inferior beings because of their ability to bare children. Sadly they also failed to achieve some of their goals, like balancing a job and a family. But in distinct contrast to these seemingly minute failures, women achieved more than the revolutionaries could have ever dreamt of, and “they still wore silly, impractical shoes,” (Collins

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