‘Bra Flag’ Symbolizes Wisconsin Women’s Independence

In 1971, the women’s liberation movement was in full swing. Women had gone on strike a few years before. Discrimination at work and school based on gender was now illegal, but of course nowhere near eradicated. Plus, oral contraceptives had been on the market ten years, allowing women more control over their bodies and their futures. “It was a happy, exciting time,” said Marge Engelman.At the time, she was living in Appleton with her husband Ken and their two children. She said “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan changed her life. She decided to get a job at the brand-new University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, which 10 years before, never would’ve crossed her mind.“I was the first administrator on campus that was a woman,” Engelman said. “So I always felt I was walking a tightrope between buying into how men tend to do things, and how I want to do things.”

Source: ‘Bra Flag’ Symbolizes Wisconsin Women’s Independence