Maggie May

Searching for Maggie May

When presented with the idea of researching a woman who has positively influenced the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and its reputation, my first question was: Who? My professor advised that as I weeded through the thousands of women in the history of the university who were at one time students, faculty, or staff, it would be wise to choose someone with whom I share a personal interest or characteristic. I envisioned a woman I would want to study, a woman I would be proud to know and research for the Women’s Archive Project (WAP) at UNO. I have always been fascinated by the 1960s and 1970s due to their historical significance—The Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and the Second Wave Feminist Movement. It was a time that sparked protests and passion, when the First Amendment was taken full advantage of, and well-established lines were crossed or altogether rubbed out. Therefore, the concepts of this period in America’s history became my passion and subsequently the drive for the start of my research.

The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s newspaper, The Gateway, has issues available in its database dating to 1922. According to Les Valentine, UNO’s resident archivist, the Gateway Archives are the most important source material for an individual researching the University’s past. The Gateway would not only aid me in finding a woman to research for WAP, he said, but also with finding information on the subject I would eventually choose. After simply typing the word “woman” in the search engine of the online archives, I discovered a column from the spring semester of 1972 entitled “Womankind” by a student named Maggie May. I was instantly curious for two reasons. First, I was intrigued by the eleven articles, which focused on the Women’s Liberation Movement of that time, and each included a photo of Maggie herself. Secondly, I recognized the name “Maggie May” as a popular radio hit of the 1970s performed by Rod Stewart and suspected this may not be a coincidence.

Upon reading the articles, I found that “Maggie May” discussed in detail several themes of the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, including equality between the sexes in society, the workplace, and in the sexual revolution. Themes of this caliber, which catapulted the movement to become the Second Wave in Women’s Liberation history in the United States, were far too significant to simply ignore. It was she who was speaking not only to her generation of students and faculty alike, but to me, a feminist and student at the same university, nearly thirty years later. The long and daunting manhunt, or “woman-hunt,” ensued; however, every possible lead to uncover the mere traces of her existence resulted in a dead-end. Eventually, “Maggie May” was discovered to be an anonym. Not one person involved in the Women’s Studies Department or the Gateway newspaper at UNO in the early 1970s had a clue as to who the woman was. She simply remained a mystery.

Even though it was apparent she wished to protect her identity while writing her series of articles, I wanted to know what Maggie May was saying about feminism in the 1970s, how she was saying it, and if this concept is still relatable to American society today. Feminism has had a stream of negative connotations associated with it since the beginning of the movement by the very people who were, and still are, not accepting of equality between men and women. Maggie May bravely introduced the ideals of the Second Wave in “Womankind” for the University of Nebraska at Omaha students and faculty to witness, hoping to educate and potentially change the lives of women and men on campus. To fully comprehend the principles May discusses in her articles, it is imperative to first understand the history of Second Wave Feminism, the media’s portrayal of the movement, and the Women’s Liberation Strike of 1970, an event that threw the movement into the limelight of American culture. Then and only then can the unbiased writings of May on Feminism in 1970s Omaha truly be analyzed.

History of Second Wave Feminism

While Maggie May was writing her “Womankind” column for UNO’s Gateway Newspaper, the United States was in the midst of what is now known as the Second Wave Feminism Movement. Specific concerns of American women from the early 60s to the late 70s were discussed in Maggie’s articles, including better wages for female workers and the idea that the sexual revolution was harming, rather than helping women at that time. For example, Ms. Magazine featured a “Then and Now” in their Fall 2007 issue of women’s occupations and salaries in the 70s versus 2007. In 1972, women earned 59 cents for every dollar men earned whereas in 2007 women earned 77 cents for every dollar men earned. Also, that same year, women owned 4.6% of businesses as sole or majority owners, whereas they owned 40% in 2006, signifying a major jump (Ms. Magazine). Feminism and its waves have each had specific rights or issues for which were fought, but ultimately it has always stemmed from the concept of equality between the sexes. An overview of Feminism and its waves is necessary when discussing issues of this caliber and to better understand Maggie May and her “Womankind” articles.

In United States history, there have thus far been three Women’s Liberation Movements. The First Wave arguably began in 1792 with the publication of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman and lasted until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 (fig. 1), a seventy-two year struggle that finally granted women the right to vote.

Feminism became hushed as the United States saw two World Wars, but rose again upon the arrival of the Vietnam War. The Second Wave occurred from the 1960s to the crusade for the Equal Rights Amendment in 1982. The Third began in 1992, eventually winding down before the arrival of the new millennium (Head). The Third Wave saw the birth of gender-bending, the riot grrrl feminist punk rock movement, and discrimination-fighting artists the Guerilla Girls, who wore gorilla masks to hide their identities. It has been argued though that the origins of Feminism have dated back much further than the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; whether it was Aspasia in the mid-400s B.C.E Greece or Eve herself in the proverbial Garden of Eden, women throughout history have tested the boundaries instilled in society concerning the ideas of male dominance and superiority over the sexes.

A common misconception is that the Second Wave began with the protest and alleged bra-burnings of the Miss America pageant in 1968, but there is no doubt to this researcher that the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique was ultimately the beginning of the movement itself: “This book [The Feminine Mystique] explored the dissatisfaction that many upper and middle-class women felt at their limited options in life. Many reported feeling restless and unhappy, although they could not exactly identify the source of these feelings. The publication of this book forced many women to look more closely at their own lives, and it soon became a bestseller” (West). After the passage of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination in the workplace based on sex, religion, race, and national organization, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed in 1966, and in five short years, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 50,000 sex discrimination complaints (Eisenberg and Ruthsdotter).

The concept of equality in the workplace and its blurred existence along with the sexual revolution simultaneously occurring in the country sparked uproar in feminists and housewives alike. After years of women coming together, the Women’s Liberation Movement finally broke into the national spotlight with the Miss America Pageant protest in 1968. Friedan, along with Gloria Steinem, became the forerunners for women’s liberation in the 60s and 70s, inspiring many other women to take action in helping better the lives of their fellow daughters, sisters, mothers, and most importantly, themselves.

Women's Liberation in the News

he media’s portrayal of the Second Wave Liberation Movement definitely had an impact on Maggie May. Although national news stayed unbiased and careful to solely cover the facts, local Midwest news was not so careful, painting Feminism in a negative and downright insulting light. May most likely felt anger or disappointment by the local media’s representation of Feminism and took to properly and objectively covering the movement herself. An extremely common misconception about Feminism in its entirety is that its proponents are angry, bitter housewives too busy to tend to the children between ritual bra-burnings. In fact, the concept of burning brassieres in itself is truly and utterly false. On September 7, 1968, nearly four hundred protesting women gathered outside the Atlantic City Convention Center, where that year’s Miss America Pageant commenced. According to PBS’s American Experience:

One of the protest’s leading organizers was 27-year-old writer and editor Robin Morgan…Morgan took direct aim at what she called ‘the degrading mindless-boob-girlie symbol’ so prevalent in the media. Morgan attacked the ‘ludicrous ‘beauty’ standards we ourselves are conditioned to take seriously.’ She also attacked the pageant’s beauty standards as racist. As of 1968, no African American woman had taken a place among the contest’s finalists.

The women held signs declaring, “Let’s Judge Ourselves as People” and “Girls Crowned—Boys Killed,” the latter a direct protest of the Vietnam War that was well underway. Americans were witnessing the first televised war in its history, and with the media’s discovery of the U.S. government’s real intentions of its presence in Vietnam, the war quickly became unpopular to the public and began to divide the country.

A trashcan dubbed the “Freedom Trash Can” (See Figure 2) was set in the center of the protest, gathering the most media attention. Items such as copies of Playboy magazine, high heels, eyelash curlers, and dish washing detergent were tossed in as a symbol of the items placed upon women by American culture to oppress and essentially discriminate them (PBS). These items, along with bras, were viewed by the protestors and Feminists all over the country as “instruments of torture to women” according to Judith Duffett, whose eyewitness account of that day is illustrated in her article “As It Happened: Atlantic City Is A Town With Class—They Raise Your Morals While They Judge Your Ass.” Duffett explains:

Our goal was No more Miss America! Our objections to the Pageant, its racism (there’s never been a black contestant); …the degrading Mindless-Boob-Girlie symbol which puts women on a pedestal/auction block to compete for male approval; the consumer con game which makes Miss America a walking commercial and oppresses all women into commodity roles;…and the whole idea of beauty contests, which create one “winner” and millions of insecure, frustrated losers, who feel they must meet the imposed standards of beauty or face disaster: ‘You won’t get a man!’

In all actuality, no bras were burned at the Miss America Pageant protest, but the rumors still remain due to the false media portrayal. This became a major victory for Feminists; however, due to the high media coverage of the event, it was essentially the coverage they needed to obtain attention from the public, whether it was positive or negative. “The late 60s annual telecast of the Miss America Pageant was one of the highest-rated programs of the year, carrying nearly two-thirds of the night’s television audience. That year, with media coverage of the protest, a wider audience than ever before became aware of the Women’s Liberation Movement” (PBS).

As Feminism was gaining notoriety, the majority of the country recognized its existence but failed to take these new women and their unconventional ways seriously. Nebraska, a predominantly Republican state, fell short along with the rest of the Midwest. In 1970, as Feminism was gaining momentum, the Omaha World-Herald published a Magazine of the Midlands in its August 16 Sunday edition, which included an article entitled “Beauty at the Capitol.” In it, James Denney discusses the abundance of “pretty faces” working at Lincoln’s State offices using terms for the women that are anything less than laughable. Denney refers to the women as “girls” and “sweet young things,” instead of “women” or even “workers.” He also explains that the women workers were paid $300 or less per month, leading many of them to befriend one another just to make decent living arrangements. The highlight of the article, though, comes near the end when it says, “A favorite story of the last session Legislature is that a cute secretary from one of the executive departments delivered material to a senator on the legislative floor while Senator Terry Carpenter was making a speech. Her skirt was quite short and heads began turning. Carpenter is reported to have stopped his speech until the young lady left the chamber for fear the other solons would miss what he had to say” (Denney 25). James Denney referred to the women working at the Statehouse as a pack of spouse-less, child-like creatures who had nothing else to offer to the workplace than quick typing skills and a short skirt. The words “girls” and “sweet young things” used to describe them were demeaning and discriminatory; this left me wondering how many women in Omaha read this article and were outraged, or simply thought nothing of it because they were used to being called “girls” and “sweet young things.”

A week later, the Omaha World-Herald printed an ad for beauty products, such as skin cream, hairspray, and perfume with large, bold text at the top reading “Liberate the Way You Look!” To the right, two women carry signs, and one yells into a megaphone while her sign reads: “Beauty is Every Woman’s Right!” The ad is appalling due to its lack of sensibility and play on the Women’s Liberation Movement of that time. It suggests that women have the right to be beautiful, just as they have the right to equality in the workplace; it is inconceivable that these two concepts be interlaced just to sell lotions and perfume. The Midwest’s media portrayal in the 1960s and 1970s of the Liberation Movement is, in every sense of the word, mocking.