In 1972, when Ms. first hit newsstands, abortion was illegal in most of the country. Women could be denied credit cards, mortgages and loans without a husband’s signature. Newspapers still segregated job listings into “Help Wanted: Male” and “Help Wanted: Female.” There were no federal protections against pregnancy discrimination, no domestic violence shelters in most communities, and only a handful of rape crisis centers nationwide. Just 15 women served in Congress, and none sat on the Supreme Court, served as governors or held Cabinet positions.
For millions of women, inequality was not abstract—it was written into law, policy and everyday life.
Yet the 1970s also became one of the most transformative decades in modern American history. Through organizing, protest, journalism and political action, feminists forced issues long dismissed as private matters into the national spotlight. The inaugural issue of Ms. featured the groundbreaking “We Have Had Abortions” petition; a year later, the Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. The decade brought new access to higher-paying jobs, new financial independence through the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, workplace protections through the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, and growing public recognition of domestic violence and sexual harassment as systemic problems demanding public solutions.
This essay is part of Feminist Lessons—part 2 of Ms.’ our three-part FEMINIST 250 project—which explores what each decade of modern feminist history can teach us about power, democracy, backlash and social change.
The lesson of the 1970s is that social change can happen faster than it seems. Rights that once appeared politically impossible became mainstream demands. Conversations that had been confined to kitchens and consciousness-raising groups reshaped laws, workplaces and institutions.
Feminists did more than win a series of reforms—they transformed what Americans believed women could expect from their democracy.
