What does the lecture mainly concern?

The ten years of the 1960s was a period of profound change in many parts of the world. In the United States, beginning with the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s, and extending through the Vietnam War, millions of Americans began to challenge established authority. These movements were initially political. Young Americans demanded that governmental policies in race relations and international relations correspond to the ideals of justice contained in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. By the end of the decade, however, challenges to authority were carried far beyond political issues and were directed at the social order and deeply rooted cultural patterns of the country.
    The generation that came of age in the 1960s, the Baby Boom generation , sought change in almost every aspect of life in the United States. For example, they experimented with cooperative economic institutions and communal living arrangements, broke sexual taboos, altered the process of education , explored non-Western spiritual traditions, developed a strong respect for the environment, and transformed popular culture. As a whole, these changes stood for a different set of cultural values that provided a thorough critique of American society as it existed at that time. Although many" alternative lifestyles" were short-lived, cultural changes that began in that period have had a continuing effect on much of American life, particularly in attitudes toward male-female relations.
    All cultures are complex. They are a combination of closely related patterns of social interaction. As a result, changes in an important aspect of a particular culture will usually produce changes throughout the society. The Women’s Movement that began in the United States during the 1960s is a typical example of this phenomenon. From the beginning, the Women’s Movement was influenced by cultural changes that had occurred earlier in the decade. The Civil Rights Movement for racial equality and the development of the birth control pill were particularly important—the Civil Rights Movement because women involved in the effort for racial justice began to see themselves as victims of social injustice, and the birth control pill because it gave women reliable control over reproduction.
    Social, economic, and legal equality and reproductive rights continue to be the basic principles of the Women’s Movement. As some of these goals have been achieved, major changes have occurred in broader cultural patterns such as the economy and the family. At the present time, most of American women are employed. Employment is no longer confined to such traditional female occupations as teacher, nurse, or secretary. Women are now found in every occupation and at all levels of responsibility and authority. Participation in the economy has given many women an independence that has allowed them to choose whether, when, and how to form a family. Working women within families now are part of an economic partnership with men in which both adults provide support for the family unit and are responsible for the quality of life.
    The Women’s Movement has affected the relationship between men and women in the family in other ways as well. Women have challenged traditional sex roles in the household. Men are now expected to participate in child-raising and domestic activities to a much greater extent than in the past. Childbearing is now a matter of family choice, with women having the final decision in family planning.
    All of these cultural changes are strengthened in both the media and in the educational system. Children are growing up with self-images and expectations far different from those of earlier generations. Young men and women who have been influenced by the changes brought about by the Women’s Movement over the past 25 years will carry those changes to the next generation.