Views on gender in America 1990s to early 2000s

"In this article we ask what structural and cultural changes might account for this unexpected stalling of gender attitudes. We show that the mid-1990s shift can be observed within almost all cohorts, across both men and women of all ethnicities (except Asian Americans) and all levels of education and income. We test and reject a variety of the most readily identifiable social structural causes to the 1990s reversal. While several demographic and structural factors can help explain the rise of liberal attitudes throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the decline after the mid-1990s is robust to all controls. Nor does the change in gender attitudes appear to be part of a broader period shift toward more conservative political and family attitudes."

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/658853

"The women's movement remained a salient force for social justice and equity in the 1990s but faced new challenges and problems. Despite substantial gains in many areas over thirty years, sexist attitudes and behavior endured. The gap between women's and men's incomes narrowed but persisted, with women earning approximately 25 percent less than men regardless of education. Abortion rights, while guaranteed, came under renewed attack and in many states were severely eroded. Sexual harassment was a recognized crime but nevertheless continued to compromise women's full equality. More women were running for and winning elective office than ever before but in 1994 women constituted only 10 percent of Congress. Women continue to be underrepresented in positions of leadership in corporations and universities. Many women earning their own incomes had to work a "second shift" because they remained responsible for most or all of their families' care, even in dual income households. And families headed by single women were among the poorest in the nation. These and other concerns shaped the ideological debates within feminism at the end of the twentieth century. The women's movement continued to contain within itself a plethora of differing analyses and opinions concerning women and social change."

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Womens_rights.aspx