For the women's movement, the great post-war conceptualizer has been Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique , The Second Stage , and most recently, The Fountain of Age . It was Friedan who, in The Second Stage , challenged the direction of some within the women's movement who have veered toward an increasingly separatist view of women's issues. And today it is Friedan who emphasizes economics, not sexual politics, as the basis for women's continued progress toward equality. The Region met with Ms. Friedan at her home in Sag Harbor, New York, to talk about women and economics. Your writing seems to suggest that achieving gender parity in income is the highest priority for achieving overall gender equality.
Economic equity is an enormous empowerment of women.
Having jobs that provide income means that women can be a more effective force, a more equal force, in the political process. Women with income take themselves more seriously and they are taken more seriously. I don't mean to say that income is the only benefit women gain from working. Yes, you have to have money to live. But there is something beyond monetary rewards.