In the early 1970s, feminism seemed as American as apple pie, a cause supported by both Democrats and Republicans, men and women.

 In the early 1970s, feminism seemed as American as apple pie, a cause supported by both Democrats and Republicans, men and women. Yet some have argued that conservative organizers like Phyllis Schlafly won the war against feminism. Are they right? How, if at all, did women's position in American society change between World War II and the end of the 1970s? Among the issues you should address are at least three of the following: how, if at all, the idealization of the housewife during the postwar era differed from the veneration for "Rosie the Riveter" during World War II; how feminists tried to solve "the problem that has no name" during the 1960s and 1970s; how issues of lesbian and gay rights affected the feminist movement; and the extent to which conservative mobilization against feminism represented a reassertion of traditional gender roles and/or a reflection of the "culture wars" of the 1970s.