Before we dive into Stephanie’s life and the significance of her achievements we must first explore and understand the culture of her time to gain a broader understanding of just how important her work really is. Kwolek was born in 1923 and went on to see a total of 90 birthdays before her passing. Throughout her life the States were going through immense amounts of cultural changes in virtually every dimension. In the roaring 20’s, when Kwolek was born, feminist movements were gaining momentum as women really began carving their own places in local and eventually national governments as well as other important and respected positions. During these time periods there were many different causes that activists fought for and despite the varying perspectives on problems and concerns many were able to unite under the same basic principles to form a collective movement (Cohen, 2015).
In addition to the growing momentum of women’s rights activists there are many other significant factors and events that played a huge role in shaping the culture surrounding Kwolek’s life. The Great Depression and World War II for example both were extremely important events that helped the activist movements as the demand for income and the need for workers, respectively, increased the number of opportunities for women to join the work force and find themselves in bigger and more prominent roles of the working class. During World War II we even began to see the emergence of posters such as “Rosie the Riveter” that encourage and promote women in the workplace. It was also during these times that we began to really see a significant increase in the amount of women working alongside other women and men in industrialized companies.
Another mark of progress that is notable about the time period of Kwolek’s lifetime was the very recent development of women’s suffrage. When Kwolek was born, she was brought into a world that had just seen one of the most historically significant events. This event paved a better path for women to continue to push their movement even further, even as far as obtaining positions in national government. Finally women were able to at least have a little bit of a voice in matters and laws that concern them.
Finally, one of the most important developments outside of women’s suffrage was the development of birth control. Prior to Kwolek’s birth The Comstock act was created in order to “prohibit the advertisement, information, and distribution of any kind of birth control” throughout the United States (Thompson, 2013). During the Comstock era, Kwolek lived and likely saw Margaret Sanger open birth control clinics over and over as she persevered through prosecutions and arrests until the Comstock era came to an end in 1938. Despite the resistance women faced in obtaining birth control women were finally truly beginning to gain the power to make their own choices concerning their own bodies, something that previously did not truly exist (Thompson, 2013).
