What were women’s standards in the 70s through first-hand accounts, and how do they differ from today’s?

By: Kaitlyn Mixon

The 1970s decade, though wonderful and interesting in nature, is notorious for not recognizing unequal rights, discussing social stigmas and having harsh body standards. Colorado State University’s Avenir Museum of Design and Merchandising’s Blackwell Gallery hosted a 1970s nostalgia night where numerous folks told their personal stories about the 1970s through fashion, memories and tchotchkes, comparing the 70s to today.

Many women who shared their stories through the event expressed the differences between mental health awareness, women’s rights and body standards in the 70s compared to today. The standards for women in the 70s were much different than today, as women struggled to be treated equally and have the rights that they deserved. Though as the decade progressed, women began to take a stand a grow toward more equality.

An unnamed source at the event shared her t-shirt from the 1977 “Women on the Move” National Women’s Conference. The source avidly believed in women’s rights and said, “Thanks to Title 9, my daughter put herself through college for swimming. When I was in high school in the 60s and early 70s, we couldn’t even compete.”

The women in this event lived through the development of women’s rights as they lived through it. “I have lived the 70s twice,” said Mary Doe, “Since I lived the 70s, and I’m in my 70s! I have a wide perspective of what went on.” Mary taught at Rocky Mountain High School in 1973, and after being married for five years, she told her principal she would be a mom. “He said when? And I said April! And he said I have to fire you! Because a female couldn’t teach in front of kids, I don’t know where they came from in 1970!”

Mary thanks God for Ruth Bater Ginsberg on November 1st, 1973, when she took six things to the supreme court, and they decided that women teachers could teach while they were expecting. “So I taught the day my son was born,” Mary said. She continued to tell the crowd about the lack of equality in the 70s by saying, “if you got divorced in the 70s, they canceled the wife’s insurance; she was not suited to drive.”

Anita Simon agreed with Mary, telling her story of inequality and prejudice against women in the 1970s. She moved to Dallas, Texas, in the 70s and did not know much about football, but she would quickly realize that Texas high schools revolved around the sport. “The boys played football, and the girls were cheerleaders and dancers,” Simon said, “I remember being measured for this [cheer uniform]. My mom was like you are so large, we have to make this extra extra big! My daughter wore it for Halloween when she was 8.”

Simon said that every Friday, the girls were assigned a football player and had to go over and decorate his house, clean, make posters and bake him cookies. “I was a feminist tomboy type, and I hated it! But it was a way to get into the group, I guess.”

In high school, Simon said that the boys would line up along the hallways outside the cafeteria with numbers and rank the girls as they walked out. She recollected the event, “three! Ten! One! That was the premise of the school.”

Today, following her experiences growing up, Simon volunteers with middle schoolers to work on their own body image through fashion and designing their own clothes for their bodies. She is an advocate for women being comfortable in their skin, as she works in the fashion industry and wants to change the trajectory of women’s body standards.

Despite the early 70s having issues in multiple areas, the later 70s fashion styles represented the women’s empowerment movement. Women’s gender roles moved forward with clothing styles. Sarah Doe attended the event despite not growing up during the era.

“This shirt is from my dad’s college, and he graduated in 1975, so I would imagine that’s the era,” Sarah said, “knowing it was my dad’s but wearing it, I still feel actually very feminine in it, and I wonder if there were some blurs in the later 70s maybe about wearing whatever you feel good in.”

Many women agreed with the statement. Despite the unideal body standards, as the decade continued, the consensus was that women became more equal in fashion.

Marcia Simmons said that “mental health and body standards were not discussed in the 70s. Fashion styles grew more inclusive, but body type standards stayed unrealistic. Desirability changes so frequently.”

The 70s had issues, but the 70s Nostalgia Night was a fantastic event to learn more about first-hand accounts through fashion and memories while appreciating how far we have come from then.

On March 2, 2023, an unnamed source said, “You just kind of made your own things,” after sharing the purple dress (behind shown, on the wall) at the 70s Nostalgia Night through CSU’s Avenir Museum. She made the dress herself in 1972 for the Miss Teenage America Pageant, where she represented Denver in Fort Worth, Texas. Photo by: Kaitlyn Mixon

The dress the unnamed source sewed is pictured above as the Miss Teenage America Pageant winner. Miss Teenage America winner Mary Colleen Fitzpatrick (L) (Lancaster High School, Lancaster, Ohio) — 1972. Photo by Flashbak.com https://flashbak.com/?sfid=369046&_sf_s=Miss%20teenage%20America%201972