The Power of TV

The 1970s heralded rapid cultural change. Young women increasingly chose to control their fertility, delay motherhood, and capitalise on growing demand for skill-based jobs. Like men, they wanted professional careers. Attitudes were also in flux: Americans increasingly endorsed female employment. What changed?

Claudia Goldin (Nobel) suggests that oral contraceptives, skill-biased technological change and rising labour demand created new opportunities.

But is there more to it? Even if something is technically possible, we may still be fraught with doubt or immobilised by fear of social censure. How did young American women come to dream bigger?

Ask Oprah.

“Mary Taylor Moore first gave me the idea that you can own your own show and produce it. She was the one”

She’s talking about a 1970s sitcom and the power of TV.