When Everything Changed

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present is a work of feminist historical nonfiction by Gail Collins. First published in 2009 by Little Brown, the book examines the changing roles of women between 1960 and the present day, and how much progress we’ve made in one generation. The book received a generally positive response and won the 2010 Ohioana Book Award for Nonfiction. Collins is an American journalist and author. She’s the author of several nonfiction books that all have feminist themes.

When Everything Changed focuses less on radical feminist activists and more on how changing gender roles affected ordinary women. The book is suitable for experts on feminism and readers looking for an introduction to the topic alike. Collins wrote the book to explore this radical period in history without an agenda or a political angle, and she hopes that the content stimulates further discussion across the political spectrum.

The book is divided into three parts: “1960,” “When Everything Changed,” and “Following Through.” Part I, “1960,” examines how women lived before gender expectations changed dramatically. “When Everything Changed,” Part II, looks at the explosive years of the 1960s and 1970s when feminism spread across America. In Part III, “Following Through,” Collins looks at the period between the 1970s and the present, and the future of feminism.



When Everything Changed opens in an American courtroom in 1960. A young woman, Lois Rabinowitz, goes to court to pay a speeding ticket for her boss. When she arrives at court, the judge, Magistrate Edward D. Caiazzo, challenges her for wearing slacks in his courtroom, and she’s sent home to change. Lois sends her husband instead because she refuses to wear a dress or a skirt, and this causes more outrage at the court.

Collins opens with this scene because it exposes typical gender views up until 1960. In 1960, men assume that women are morally, intellectually, and physically inferior, and that they must be supervised. Marriage is non-negotiable—women need men to control them. A woman is a man’s property, and she can’t do anything by herself.

Collins explains that, in 1960, women belong in the home. Men earn the money for the family, and they don’t have time to raise children or run the household. Women are expected to be virtuous, docile, and subservient. Collins acknowledges that some women work as lawyers and doctors, but they are generally distrusted and feared. Colleges are very reluctant to accept them.



Within a small window of time, everything changes. When Everything Changed explores the catalysts for this change—contraception, activism, women moving into the workplace, and home appliances. When the contraceptive pill arrives, women have more control over their bodies, and they embrace their new-found sexual liberation. Marriage and motherhood are no longer the only options for them.

Women move into the workplace, even if they only take low-paying roles. Advertising, Collins explains, is the most accessible sector for women. Once women begin shaping the advertising and marketing world, they influence consumers, which gives rise to activism. Women are no longer content to remain behind the scenes.

Another factor, Collins reminds us, is technology. Home appliances make homemaking much easier, and women have more time on their hands. In the 1960s and 1970s, women are looking for purpose and occupations outside of the marital home—particularly given that divorce and separation rates are on the rise. However, there’s still a long way to go. Women are actively discouraged or banned from applying for certain jobs, they’re paid less, and ambition is deemed unattractive.



Collins acknowledges that backlash was inevitable. Men are not content to see their typical gender role eroded, and many of them refuse to believe that women are their equals. What’s more, many women still cling to traditional gender roles, and it’s not until the 1980s when women at least appear to be on an equal footing with men. Again, this supposed equality doesn’t suit everyone.

When Everything Changed explores what happens in the late 1970s and 1980s, when the economy takes a downturn. Not every woman wants to work, but many are forced into the workplace to support their struggling families. This forced employment breeds resentment between women who believe they should be at home and women who want careers.

Now, Collins explains, feminism has changed forever. Many men and women see feminists as women who want to have it all at any cost. These are women who are, allegedly, sacrificing happy homes, children, marriage, and fulfilment in their attempts to have everything. Some believe that women are now settling for less because they don’t have enough of anything. Gender roles have changed so much that they are unrecognisable.



When Everything Changed considers what’s at stake for women in the future. Now, society expects so much of women that it’s impossible to achieve it all. Many men still resist gender equality, and they refuse to acknowledge women as their equals. Women are still expected to be primary caregivers, and it’s difficult to raise a family and work full-time in a competitive career.

We’ve reached a point, Collins suggests, where women are no longer on pedestals, but they’re not equal to men in the eyes of society. Only time will reveal what roles women carve out for themselves in a gender-biased America. Everything’s changed, but it hasn’t changed entirely.