Insight into European Women

Prior to the experiences of European women from 1914 through 2001, WWII represented total war that demonstrated the participation of every segment of the European population, even the role of women. This fundamentally disrupted the traditional norm of gender roles of women with resistance movements. While men were battling in war, participating in the military, women acted as nurses, or educators during this time, which was unlike the prior domestic roles women had. The cult of domesticity began to alleviate as women began to accomplish greater roles in society. Although European women experienced the continuity of unequal gender pay from 1914 to 2001, the attitudes toward women changed because of the second wave of feminism which transformed roles by successfully leveraging legislative actions for workplace equality and advocating for reproductive rights which allowed women to gain increased independence and autonomy over their own private lives.

After the first wave of feminism which was solely based on suffrage, the second wave of feminism began, allowing for equality in social and political roles. This began with Simone de Beauvoir's book, The Second Sex, stating how men should not be superior to women because of the traditional norms in the home, specifically because of prior domesticity where the husband could beat his wife if he wanted, which gave them a sense of power. Beauvoir says “One is not born, but rather, becomes a woman”, which highlights how women should not be categorized as the other gender with men being the main one. Later, Title IV(1972) was established stating how in education and in the workforce women cannot be treated differently than men merely because of their sex. This explained how women could complete the same tasks as men in factories ,schools ,and in other jobs as well.

In contrast to earlier confrontation, the shift of equal gender pay arose in Europe along with population growth. During this period, the baby boom helped increase the population after WWII, but made mothers have to stay home with their children, reverting back to the time where women worked as housewives. While the women stayed home and focused on their domestic responsibilities, their husbands would go to work to earn money. After the baby boom ended, women started working again, but their pay decreased and was much lower than the salary of men. Because of the absence of women in the workforce during the baby boom, the money allotted to women decreased and higher pay was given to men. Some individuals brought attention to this issue and the government later went through with the Equal Pay Act. Women thought that this would finally bring equality to gender roles, but the act fell through and women continued to get unequal pay from their jobs.

Despite the unequal limits of gender pay, women gained reproductive rights along with the invention of new reproductive technology. Birth control was first made available so women could have intercourse without the fear of getting pregnant and having to take on the responsibility of a child they did not want. Soon after, abortion rights were enacted so that if a woman became pregnant and did not want to have the baby, they had the choice to terminate their pregnancy. The pill and abortion rights describe how Europe was evolving in giving women rights they should have previously had. Women also had the right to divorce their spouse. Many women were stuck in abusive relationships that they could finally be freed from, taking on their own independence and autonomy. The development of IVF (in vitro fertilization) came about as well to help women have a baby in a lab putting together the sperm and the egg and implanting it back.

The change of women's roles in society and the rights they could finally have took much time to come about, but was all finally worth it in the end. Women had their own reproductive rights over their own bodies in which they had final control over and accomplished roles in the workforce as well. Women later gain more rights in society to the present day, and are still continuously improving.