In the past 35 years, the feminist revolution has claimed to have given women a sense of liberation from the restricting patriarchal system. However, a recent UPenn study shows that women have not become any happier due to the feminist movement, and it even offers a few possible theories for the disconnect between liberation and happiness.

The first theory proposed is that the feminist movement “raised women’s expectation.”  With these new expectations, women will not feel as fulfilled if they are not able to have the successful career, children with or without a husband, and equal opportunities as men in every aspect of their life. The second theory is that women who are mothers and also work are unable to stand up to the pressures, and that everything they need to do to fill both roles is much too overwhelming.  In her latest article, Phyllis Schlafly proposes that the feminist movement’s belief that women are constantly being pushed down by their male counterparts causes women to create a “self-imposed victimhood.”

In the 1970s, when stay-at-home moms were more respected and women did not feel as much pressure to have a full-time career, women were the happiest that they have been in the past 35 years. Maybe some type of return to these past viewpoints is in order?