Second Wave Feminism Handmaid's Tale

My research topic is second wave feminism and how it is linked to The Handmaid’s Tale and other situations. Each society throughout history has distinguished differences in the roles of its males and females. These gender role differences reflect biases, also known as prejudices, held by members of a society. Gender prejudice is also referred to as sexism and is based on stereotypes held about women and men. Stereotypes of men are usually more positive in societies than stereotypes of women as the males are considered more independent and posing greater physical stamina. Negative stereotypes of women are usually held by both men and women in a society owing to the lack of self-respect and self-confidence imparted to females by society's prejudices.

As with the earlier suffrage movement, the women's rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s occurred primarily in Western societies and benefited mostly white, middle-class women. In 1961, newly elected U.S. president John F. Kennedy (1917–1963; served 1961–63) formed the President's Commission on the Status of Women to advise him of issues of importance to women in America. Former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was its chairman. Though careful not to create too many waves because of the strong gender prejudices in society, the resulting commission's 1963 report identified national gender prejudice issues affecting women. These prejudices included discrimination in the workplace, unequal pay, few support services such as childcare and special healthcare needs for women, and inadequate legal protections. Some gains were immediately made based on the study. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 addressed the problems of pay though unequal pay between men and women would remain a problem into the twenty-first century. The landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act was expanded before passage to include restrictions against employers discriminating based on gender in addition to race. Complaints of discrimination could be taken to the newly created Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or newly established company human resources departments for