9.8, 9.12 & 9.14 - 20th century Feminism, Technology, & Trends

9.8 - 20th century Feminism 

New opportunities for Women - began to emerge in Western & Eastern Europe 

1. With the postwar economic boom came a high demand for labor 

- Cus of Marshall Plan - $13 billion in European funds from America = more jobs for europeans

2. Economy of Western Europe shifting from male-dominated jobs (coal mining or shipbuilding) to knowledge economy - ppl work with their brains 

• Women had an easier time entering the knowledge economy 

3. Younger women went to college after the war to work in the knowledge economy

• Still found it hard in the workplace, could only find part-time work & paid less than men

= efforts of feminism in the west caused the second wave of feminism 

1st wave of feminism (late 1800’s & early 1900’s) - women protested for women's right to vote (women suffrage) = voting rights didn’t come until 2nd wave of feminism 

• Some gov’s gave women suffrage since recognition of women's work during WW1 = women working in men’s place in factories & other work 

List of women’s suffrage recognition from gov’s 

 1918 - Sweden, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Germany, Britain, Czechoslovakia

 1920 - U.S    1945 - France 

After WW2 many woman went back to their roles as wives, content after gaining rights, 2nd wave feminists understood need for equality in a male-dominated society

1st wave = rights to vote 

2nd wave = societal issues & inequalities, Ex. education, marriage laws, professional careers

Simone de Bouvoir - gave foundation for feminism in The Second Sex = argued women’s societal standards - should be abolished, women should have every opportunity men have = for Western feminism 

In Soviet Bloc & Soviet Union - women gained rights through government policy and not feminist agitation - since Russian Rev. women were recognized as equal to men & had more equality than any western country - many of the same problems for women in both western & eastern countries 

Marriage & Reproductive rights

Divorce laws shifted = giving women agency in the divorce, previously husband’s choice 

Women gained control of child reproduction

- Birth control pill - effort of Margaret Sanger (American feminist) = giving women the choice to get pregnant by changing their hormones, Roman Church against since God was in control of reproduction & the pill was against God 

- In vitro Fertilization - egg could be fertilized outside the womb & planted in a woman’s uterus = gave children to couples who couldn’t get pregnant & women the choice to get pregnant without a man

Women in Politics 

Margaret Thatcher - Britian’s first female prime minister = conservative, goal to get rid of welfare state policies from previous liberal labor party 

• got rid of gov programs, lowered taxes for wealthy, & privatized state-run agencies 

Mary Robinson - Irelands first female president = modernized Ireland - worked with divorce, contraception & homosexuality 

Edith Cresson (Socailist) - France’s first female prime minister = office was accused of corruption 

9.12 - Technology 

New Medical Technologies

1. Birth Control Pill - funded by Margaret Sanger (American feminist), contained hormones that keep a women from getting pregnant, a chance for women to take control of reproduction

2. Abortion - abortion itself wasn’t new but the scientific procedure was, antiseptic tools & antibiotics could guard against infection = safer procedure 

3. Fertility Treatments - if a women couldn’t concevie it was considered a judgement from god = god who opened the womb & closed it, now = scientists discovered causes of infertility - In vitro fertilization (In glass) = an egg & a sperm could be unitied outside of a womens body, aka. in a test tube = first baby from a test tube in 1978 England

4. Genetic Engineering - when scientists discovered they could alter the genetic code of DNA of organisms = cure genetic diseases 

Objections to new medicine 

Due to the new technology ppl could have longer lives but came with societal questions 

Welfare states = medicial care from craddle-to-grave & longer lives would = more expensive, Longer lives = increased taxes for health care & no one likes more taxes 

Main moral objector = Roman Catholic Church - still had belief of God opening & closing the womb & the new technological advancements for contraception was against god, Catholics believe that life is the moment of conception & ppl were created in the image & agency of god = getting rid of a child (abortion) was equal to murder, in vitro = who are we to open gods womb with a test tube

Gentetic engineering = Eugenics - weeding out undesirable for desirable, Ex. Hitlers final solution = eungics since elimating whole races for a desirable race (Aryan geneology), scientists could alter gentics = scary

9.14 - 20th & 21st Century Culture, Arts, & Demographic Trends

New Philosophy 

Before WW’s everyone believed that science would make a perfect world, After everyone realized the destruction that science would create = decrease confidence that science could solve our problems, philosophy = strong reaction against enlightenment rationalism

Extentialism - assumed the world was absurd & meaning needed to be founded despite absurdity, Friedrich Nietzche - God was dead & we have killed him = life was meaningless

Post Modernism (1950s) - pointed out that all truth was relative, every culture sees the world differently = no one culture is the truth, truth is culturally conditioned 

Enlightenmet rationalism = didn’t reign supreme 

Organized Religion 

Europe grew secular after 1900’s-2000’s, religion was still socially & culturally  important despite challenges to faith, Church had to contend with totalitarian states & responses were mixed - 

Church responding to Totalitarianism

(Germany) Dietrich Bonhoffer - realized confessing to Church were vocal against Nazi policies (anti-jewish), accused of participating in the assiassination of Hitler = executed 

(Italy) Mussolini - recognized that he needed the Cathoic churchs support = recognized the independence of the Vatican city & proclaimed Catholicism as the official religion of Italy - the pope supported the fascist government 

(Poland) Solidarity - polish trade union existed outside the Warsaw Pact, Soviets tried to repress but never worked, 1978 - Catholic Cardinal of Poland elected pope = John Paul 2 - financially supported solidarity to undermine Soviets 

Second Vatican Council (Vatican 2) - 1960’s reform movement

Catholic Church responded to the modern world

• Allowed priests to talk in the vernacular language (lang. of the region) at mass & live off friendlier terms with other christian sections (Protestants & Eastern Orthodox) = revival of Cathoism 

A Revolution in the Arts - undermined objective knowledge 

Cubism - paintings became nonsensical (3D in 2D), Pablo PIccaso 

Futurism (Italian & Russian movements) - emphasized the future = too free them from their previous life, Ex. Natalia Gonkarova (Russia), finger pointing backwards while the cyclist pedals towards the future 

Dadaism - felt purposelessness of life after WW’s = if life is without purpose art should be too, Ex. Marcel Duchamp, Fountain - shows a urinal = pointlessness of western aesthetic values

Surrealism - SIgmund Frued showed chaotic & interior worlds of human beings = art reflected, Ex. Salvador Dali, Persistence of memory - looks like a dream, melting clocks = weirdness of relativity of time 

Bauhaus school of Architecture (Germany) - made during interwar years, designed based on function - focused on the uselssness of form, looked like boxes of steel & glass

Writers

James Joyce (Irish novelist), Stream of consciousness - reproduce the characters thoughts on paper w/out punctuation or convections of composition, Ex. Ulysses (James Joyce) - jumping from one idea to another without a connection, Franz Kafka - combined elegant writing w/ imagination, Metamorphosis - the character wakes up to be a large beetle 

Mass Production of Goods and Babies 

Consumerism - disposable income increased, factories made many consumer products, ppl were able to spend money on comfortable products, Ex. electricity, cars, indoor plumbing, plastics, nice clothing 

 Baby Boom - during post-war years there was a baby boom, some european govs encouraged baby boom - invested in neonatlist policies - policies that encourage babys = paid maternity leave, tax credits for each child born - was in Western countries more than the Soviet Union - result of massive death from the war 

Civil Rights Movements 

Gay & Lesbain civil rights movements 

Homosexuality was outlawed in most european states, Ex. Homosexual Front for Revolutionary Action (France 1971) - interrupted radio broadcast where Catholic priest was arguing against homosexuality, movment across Europe fought for equality of LGBTQ ppl

• France movments succedded, while Eastern hesatiant 

Revolts of 1968

Counterculture movement - protested against conformatiy of consumers & growing inequality w/ rich & poor = Revolts of 1968 - students lead protests against inequality against Vietnam War & oppresive govs, Ex. France (May 1968) - students influenced by New Left protested conservative policies in their university lead to violent clashes with police = property destroyed & students were injured, general strike w/ 10 million workers = could fall if protestors were injured = France gov & university  made reforms