The Road To Equality: The Dreams of Youth

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A generation from now, if all the dreams of reformers have come true, a special issue devoted to women will seem about as appropriate as a special issue on tall people. This is not to say that by then men and women will have become indistinguishable, their quirks and cares and concerns interchangeable. Rather, the struggles of the last decades of the 20th century will have brought about the freedom and flexibility that have always been the goals of social reform. Issues like equal pay, child care, abortion, rape and domestic violence will no longer be cast as "women's issues." They will be viewed as economic issues, family issues, ethical issues, of equal resonance to men and women. A woman heading a huge corporation will not make headlines by virtue of her gender. Half the presidential candidates may be women -- and nobody will notice.

But what will it take to get there from here? As the century fades, women find themselves at a critical juncture, a moment, perhaps, for reflection and evaluation. The cozy, limited roles of the past are still clearly remembered, sometimes fondly. The future looms with so many choices that the freedom it promises can be frightening.

The opening year of the new decade has richly sketched the dizzying choices of roles and values facing the next generation of American women and men. When Barbara Bush arrived at Wellesley College to celebrate motherhood and wifely virtues, she sparked a national debate among the young about what it means to be a successful woman. That debate was further fueled by the announcement by TV newswoman Connie Chung that she would abandon the fast track at CBS in a last-ditch drive for motherhood at age 44. Meanwhile, male role models are also in flux. Wall Street wonder boy Peter Lynch hung up his $13 billion mutual fund to do good deeds and have more time with his family. What generation in history has enjoyed such liberty to write the rules as it goes along? Over the past 30 years, all that was orthodox has become negotiable.

Young Americans inherit a revolution that has largely been won. One measure of the success of the women's movement is the ease with which it is taken for granted. Few daughters remember the barriers their mothers faced when applying for scholarships, jobs and loans -- even for a divorce. Today's young adults dismiss old gender stereotypes and limitations. They expect equal opportunities but want more than mere equality. It is their dream that they will be the ones to strike a healthy balance at last between their public and private lives: between the lure of fame and glory, and a love of home and hearth.