Is Feminism to blame for the way women are treated today? Women are now free and able to make their own decisions, or are we? "You may be free and equal now, it says to women, but you have never been more miserable". Women have so many opportunities; so many that America does not need an Equal Rights Amendment? How are we equal if we are still being discriminated against? Women are still finding it difficult to make their own decisions, not receiving as much finical aid as many men in college and are continuously being raped by various men. Faludi and Paglia discuss how women across America are still struggling to be treated fairly. .
According to Faludi, women are lacking many rights, one being the right to have an abortion. While the availability of different forms of contraception has declined and birth control research has come to a standstill, many women and even young teens today are still looking to birth control as an easy solution to not having children. Little information and laws have been passed on abortion, while the United States Supreme Court has shown little or no eagerness in protecting the right that was granted in 1973. Women also have the responsibility of finding good childcare for their children. While more than 99 percent of American private employers do not offer childcare, the United States still does not have family leave or a childcare program. From the late 1970's to the mid 1980's, the amount of money a divorced man paid in child support fell by approximately 25 percent, 140 dollars a month (Faludi). How are women suppose to work full-time and raise a family without having any childcare programs and child support money available to them? .
Unlike Faludi's thoughts of women working full time while trying to raise a family, Paglia believes that "Two parents alone cannot transmit all the wisdom of life to a child". To succeed in life children need parents, as well as, their extended family to be active in their life.
