Corrections appended.

“How can we understand the invisibility of Jewish women in the women’s rights movement of the 1960s and ’70s? Why were women so unwilling to admit to their Judaism but so willing to embrace their feminism?”

These are just two of the many questions raised by Prof. Joyce Antler ’63 (AMST) at her talk at the Women’s Studies Research Center this past Wednesday, titled “Ready to Turn the World Upside Down: Women’s Liberation and Jewish Identity.”

Antler began her talk with a discussion of 1970, the 50th anniversary of women’s suffrage. After hearing from multiple women from the WSRC about their experiences on this memorable day, Antler showed a picture of herself celebrating the momentous occasion, using the picture to transition into a discussion of “the trouble in society about ethnic identity and figuring out the place of ethnic identity and race in feminism.” And, she promptly added, “They don’t go together easily.”

Antler first discussed the West Side Group, a women's collective in Chicago that spawned the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union, and which she found to have been more than 75 percent Jewish. But, to her surprise and the surprise of the union, these women weren’t aware of their shared religious background — “Really? Someone else was Jewish?” Antler reiterated throughout the talk, pointing to multiple organizations in which radical feminists had hidden their religious identity. In fact, she continued, it took an outsider — Antler herself — to point out to four influential women in the CWLU, nicknamed “Our Gang of Four,” that they were all Jewish. While at first reluctant to disclose their Judaism, and despite a “tacit agreement not to discuss Jewish influence on radical feminism,” each woman admitted that growing up Jewish had influenced her becoming a radical feminist activist.

Antler continued by delving into two more women’s rights groups: Bread and Roses and the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective in Boston. According to studies conducted by Antler, out of 75 women who had been involved in the Bread and Roses collective and responded to the survey, over 50 percent were Jewish. Unlike those from the CWLU, however, many of the women who formed the Women’s Health Book Collective did recognize their Judaism. Among others, the group included a religious Orthodox woman and a Holocaust survivor, and Antler described it as the “eureka” moment in the early 1970s when the women finally realized that over three quarters of their current group was Jewish. Although some felt uncomfortable with the sexism that is often present in religion, “The presence of Judaism as a religion … established a tone of respect for religion at a time when feminists often viewed religion as irredeemably patriarchal as well as repressive,” Antler said.

Finally, Antler turned to the Red Stockings in New York, “the first and biggest women’s liberation group dedicated to women’s autonomy.” In exploring the lives of four different key women within this group, Antler again repeated the line, “I didn’t know she was Jewish,” and noted that, in some cases, there was even a pain associated with declaring oneself a Jew within women’s movements.

As the lecture transitioned into more of a conversation, many women in the audience shared their own experience with second wave feminism, both from their personal memories and from their research. Antler concluded by explaining the birth of intersectionality; it was not until the 1970s that being both a feminist and a Jew was even talked about.

In her time at the University, Antler has taught for the Afro- and African-American Studies, Women and Gender Studies and Education departments, among others. She has written and edited 11 books on topics like Jewish feminism and motherhood, including “You Never Call! You Never Write!: A History of the Jewish Mother” and “The Journey Home: How Jewish Women Shaped Modern America.”

A previous version of this article stated that the 50th anniversary of women's suffrage was in 1969, when it was in 1970. 

A previous version of this article misstated that it was the Chicago Women's Liberation Union that was 75 percent Jewish. It was actually the West Side Group, which predated the CWLU.

A previous version of this article implied that there were multiple Women's Health Book Collectives in Boston; there was only one. It also failed to note that many from the Boston Women's Health Book Collective recognized their shared Jewishness. 

A previous version of this article implied that Antler has written exclusively on Jewish feminism and motherhood. In fact, these are only two of the topics that Antler's 11 books cover.