Women’s organizations traditionally have been at the vanguard of major movements for policy change, but recent work from the U.S. suggests these organizations are in decline (Goss 2013). One commonly cited reason is that young women – the “Millennials” who came of age enjoying the victories of the second-wave feminist movement – don’t identify as a disadvantaged group and see little reason to organize as women to advance a common policy agenda. And yet, almost by definition social-change movements are led by those with minority viewpoints. Even if new generational perspectives are responsible for women’s groups’ decline, the proper question isn’t what’s happening with young women overall, but rather what’s happening with the subset of young women whose civic skills and feminist orientation might prime them for organizational leadership. This study examines the views of roughly 50 young, college-educated women, ages 21-32, who believe that gender discrimination is a problem in society. (A companion study of non-elite women is in progress, and we hope also to report on that.) We find that many elite young women have experienced discrimination or expect to, sometimes factor anticipated sexism into their career choices, and articulate compelling reasons why discrimination is a problem. However, these women are unlikely to see themselves as part of a women’s rights movement – or even to be able to articulate what this movement is. They also hold ambivalent, even contradictory views about whether women should organize as women. Our findings suggest that elite young women represent a potentially untapped market for women’s organizations. But these groups must increase their visibility and adapt to the ambivalence that Millennials display toward identity-based calls to action.
