Survival in the Doldrums: The American Women's Rights Movement, 1945 to the 1960s

by Leila J. Rupp, Verta A. Taylor

'Survival in the Doldrums' makes an important, double contribution. Substantively, it masses considerable data on a neglected and little known period. Theoretically, it argues for a reorientation of social movement analysis away from origins and life cycles and toward the continuity of movements as well as their ebb and flow in response to larger social conditions.--American Journal of Sociology

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback

First published May 21, 1987

Reviews

[Craig Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Survival in the Doldrums fills a gap in the standard story of American feminism, which typically views the period between the 20s and 60s as a time of little activism. Focusing on the National Women's Rights Party (founded by Alice Paul), Rupp makes the case that the relatively small networks of women committed to passing the Equal Rights Amendment played the role of a "sustaining elite" connecting periods of more visible activity. Includes some nice thumbnail sketches of women whose work I hadn't known about.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look into a period not well documented in US history, when women's interests fragmented into political discord after the ratification of the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote in the 1920s. The suffragettes were aging out, women wanted a softer, more collegial tone perhaps and not everyone supported the ERA. And then came WWII and the great cultural shift towards women as domestic divas, when advertising defined women as cash cows and turned the war machine to consumer goods. So what Rupp and Taylor do is unpack how the women's movement survived during this period and while women's activism was different, it served to bridge the first and second wave feminist movements and fuel the next cultural shift.