The rise of second wave feminism in the United States spawned by Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, which was inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s, The Second Sex, took significantly longer to reach and impact the lives of European women. Even though The Second Sex was published in 1949 and Feminine Mystique was published in 1963, the French were concerned that expanding equality to include matters of the family was detrimental to French morals. In 1966, abortion in Europe was still illegal and contraception was extremely difficult to access. Many were afraid that legalization would "take from men 'the proud consciousness of their virility' and make women 'no more than objects of sterile voluptuousness'".[103] The French Parliament in 1967 decided to legalize contraception but only under strict qualifications.
Social feminists then went further to claim that women “were fundamentally different from men in psychology and in physiology…”[103] and stressed gender differences rather than simply equality, demanding that women have the right of choice to stay home and raise a family, if they so desired, by issue of a financial allowance, advocated by the Catholic church, or to go into the workforce and have assistance with childcare through government mandated programs, such as nationally funded daycare facilities and parental leave. The historical context of the times was a belief that "a society cut to the measure of men ill served women and harmed the overall interests of society".[103] As a result of this push for public programs, European women became more involved in politics and by the 1990s held six to seven times more legislative seats than the United States, enabling them to influence the process in support of programs for women and children.[103]
