The Stepford Wives is a feminist novel. Published in 1972, it was written at the height of second-wave feminism and the Women’s Liberation Movement in the United States. The movement sought to resolve issues in women’s daily lives, such as their sexual and reproductive freedom, right to work, and involvement in politics, as well as the unrealistic demands that women faced. In 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, which challenged the common assumption that women in suburban post-war America were happy to be solely domestic housewives. She cited a deep, underlying boredom and dissatisfaction with life that was born out of this lifestyle. Friedan is briefly mentioned in The Stepford Wives, when Joanna admits to being a fan of hers, and the novel clearly draws on similar themes of The Patriarchal Refusal to Share Societal Power as well as The Conflicting Expectations of Modern Women. Most of the Stepford women were previously interested in women’s rights, and the robotic versions of the Stepford women symbolize many men’s desires at the time to keep women in a state of subordination. Levin’s novels often featured feminist themes, with other examples including Rosemary’s Baby and A Kiss Before Dying.

The Stepford Wives had a lasting cultural impact, and its themes continue to be relevant today. While women’s rights have evolved since the 1970s, women still face the same stereotypes and unethical treatment that they did then. Many women in 1970s America were frustrated with the fact that, despite first-wave feminism’s achievements in allowing women the rights to work and vote, women were still seen and treated as lesser-than their male counterparts. As decades passed after World War II, it seemed as if policies were changing but mainstream views on women were not. As showcased in the novel, Joanna is unsuccessful in all of her attempts to be heard, eventually falling victim to the patriarchy against which she vehemently fought.

As each woman in Stepford is murdered and made into a robot, she comes back as a picture-perfect, submissive, self-deprecating version of herself. Each says something like, “I realized I was being awfully sloppy and self-indulgent” (82), as if their previous existences, in which they made time for themselves, were evidence of a character flaw. The brainwashing aspect of the novel remains relevant outside of its science-fiction context, as even today, women receive messages from mainstream society about how they should be taking care of others rather than of themselves.

In the late 20th century, third-wave feminism sought to improve women’s rights further, drawing on the political and social power established in the second wave. This was an intersectional movement that strove to provide more visibility for LGBTQ+ individuals and women from underrepresented ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups. Today, fourth-wave feminism uses social media and the galvanizing power of the internet to address issues of rape culture, body positivity, human trafficking, the rights of sex workers, and reproductive rights, among other issues.