Women Baby Boomers: Culture Makers

Abstract

The female baby boomers are worthy of study for two unique reasons. The first is their sheer numerical size compared to the generations that were produced before and after them. They are unique because of their numbers. The second and more important reason is they have brought about significant changes in our culture in the 1990's; those changes may become a permanent part of our culture despite direct and indirect attempts to bring the boomers into conformity. Their collective attitudes and resultant behavior are changing the way we as a society define the role of women in the U.S. in the 1990's. All baby boomer women do not hold the same values or attitudes, but there are significant numbers who are creating the changes in our culture. They are the women who are working in the primary work force and will do so for most of their lives. This group includes those who have chosen to remain single and have careers. It includes those who chose to divorce or decide not to remarry after a death of a spouse. It includes those single mothers who fight poverty to provide for their children. Included also are those women who are investing in the time and training to compete in male dominated work are as such as medicine, law, politics, and space exploration. They are the women whose wages now make a difference in a couple's standard of living. They are the women who have chosen to return to outside work before their children go to school. More importantly, the women discussed in the thesis are seeking self fulfillment and actualization for themselves as few other generations of women have done before them. In so doing they are advancing the cause of equality between the sexes.