Women's Liberation Among Two Samples of Young Women

Interviews conducted in 1970 and 1971 with women who were university students and women registered with the state department of employment indicated that compared to married women, single women who did not have direct experience in the traditional female role held opinions which tended to idealize that role orientation. In particular, inexperienced women as opposed to more knowledgeable women tended to see marriage and children as the most important life experience for a woman, to have lower career commitment (p <.05), to plan to alter their career plans significantly to accommodate children (p <.05), and to idealize the sexual relationship in a marriage (p <.003). Neither group of women revealed belief patterns strongly supportive of the women's liberation movement.