The Times Were A-Changin

The personal is political, according to one of the mantras of the
women's movement. But research shows that the relationship flows in the
other direction, too: participation in women's lib actually changed
women's personalities.

In a study conducted by psychologists Gall Agronick, Ph.D., of the
University of California-Berkeley, and Lauren Duncan, Ph.D., of Harvey
Mudd College, a group of women was interviewed at the time of their
college graduation in the late 1950s or early 1960s, and then again in
the early 1980s. Those who found the feminist movement personally
meaningful became more dominant, empathetic, self-accepting,
psychologically minded and achievement-oriented in the intervening years,
while the personalities of women who were uninvolved in the movement did
not undergo such a significant change.

The feminists' greater confidence and self-esteem eased their
transition into middle age. "Women to whom the movement was important
showed increased feelings of empowerment from college graduation to
mid-life," says Agronick. "These women were, and are, insightful,
expressive and nonconformist."

Intense interpersonal experiences such as the consciousness-raising
groups popular in the 1970s might account for these strong effects on
personality, the researchers speculate. Or it may be that the women who
changed in these ways would have done so without a movement. Even as
20-something college graduates, the ones who would later embrace women's
lib tended to be open, ambitious--and already dissatisfied with
traditional gender roles.