The Women's Movement

Interest in women's equal rights was a subject of great controversy during the early years of Oates's career leading up to "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" The 1960s and early 1970s marked the escalation of the women's movement. Economic shifts meant that more women worked outside the home, and Congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment, resulting in many political battles during the long ratification process, which it ultimately failed. Many men and women reconsidered the traditional balance of power in their relationships, families, and the workplace. The Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, which made it illegal to pay men and women different wages for the same work. In 1973 the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that a woman's right to privacy allowed for legal abortion in the first trimester of a pregnancy.

Although relations between the sexes had been a...