Brenda Lager's Life During The Feminist Movement

Life comes with many obstacles and challenges. In the 1960s-1980s, during the Feminist Movement, women were fighting for equality, for liberation, and for freedoms. Brenda Lager was born and raised in the inner city of Cincinnati in the 1950s. She grew up in a blue collared family and her ancestor descended from indentured servants from Scotland. She is a military wife and a mother of two beautiful women. My step-mom is one of Brenda’s daughters. I met Brenda about 4 years ago when my father and her youngest daughter, Angela, started dating. As military wives, Brenda and other women on the base truly did not have power at all. “They didn’t talk to you. They only talked to the men.” Men were viewed as being more important than women. That a

The wives could partake in part-time jobs. “I was a lifeguard at one point, a dental assistant, a thrift store clerk, etc. We moved around a lot, so even if I found a job that I liked, I would have to leave it.” When she was a dental assistant, she never saw a woman dentist. Women only could be the dentist’s assistant at the time. Jobs have expanded for women. “You began to see more women in the management position.” This means women were getting more power. Women could go in police cars instead of working at a desk. We see many more women doctors now than we have had in the past. “For years, I only went to all men doctors, now you can see a female doctor whenever you want.” Most of the male doctors were friendly. “There is just something about a woman knowing a woman's body that makes it more comfortable.” When you see a construction site, you can see women working. The Feminist movement resulted in women being allowed to work at many more jobs than before and allowed them to get a higher position in their

The wife had to take care of the children. Brenda Lager said that “men did not take care of the kids. Even the hours men had off work they did not take care of the kids. When the men were home from work that was their relax time. When birth control originally came out, it made men feel inferior because women now are in control of when they were expecting or not. The pill made it finally possible for American women to separate sexuality and childbearing. Altogether, it gave women their reproductive rights. Birth control allowed women the opportunity to have a place to go that would take care of their needs. Brenda Lager explained how her grandmother had 9 kids and her mom had 8. She said, “if they could have stopped it, they would have.” It wasn’t the women’s choice to have so many kids. So, the birth control pill was a major turning point for many