By: Kendall Pass
Gender roles in the 1960s were changing dramatically. With the rise of the feminist movement, women were becoming more independent and slowly breaking the stereotypical thoughts of the world. Women started to enter the workforce, which in turn, made women realize they did not have to live up to society’s standards. There was also an increasing number of jobs in boutiques and women’s clothing stores which gave women income. The end of domestic violence was a key factor for women in this era. Because of this movement, women are thought as equals and not as inferiors. Men started to be more accepting at the fact the women were not just “meant for the household.” During the 1960s, there was in creation of birth control which made women have more freedom and changed the traditional role in the family. Feminists demanded the right to abortion on demand, free childcare provisions and equal pay. This led up to the sexual revolution in the 1960s. This revolution brought in many groups including feminists, gay right campaigners, hippies, and many other political movements. The women of Britain were scorning the masculine world of hard work and honest labor by spending their time listening to music, collecting records, socializing, and dancing in night clubs.
With more freedom came more opportunity for women to express themselves; this includes music. For years women would have the same type of song that would be acceptable for society. Yet, in the 1960s Mod movement, female singers would be forever changed. Some key female singers of the decade include Janis Joplin, Carole King and Joni Mitchell, and Aretha Franklin. In particular, Carole King and Joni Mitchell sang about their thoughts and feelings which were new to this era. Women were not holding back when it came to musical expression; they wanted to be heard. The mod movement changed the way music was forever, especially when it came to the female artists of the decade.
Sources:
Friedan, B. (1983). The feminine mystique (20th anniversary ed.). New York: Norton.
Davis, F. (1991). Moving the mountain: the women's movement in America since 1960. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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