Living in an era after the first wave of American Feminism, Betty Friedan, an American author, activist, and the first president of the National American Organization for American Women, penned a book named "The Feminine Mystique." This book, written in 1963, "sparked" the second epoch of "American Feminism"(page 790). In the "Feminine Mystique" is the excerpt "The Importance of Work." In this excerpt, Friedan voices her discontent with the current state of American women in the work force, and all the while providing a strong argument for women to release themselves from the shackles of "domestic roles and feminine ideals that limited their individuality, freedom, and growth"(page 790). Throughout "The Importance of Work" Friedan's argument …show more content…
First, she gives off a vibe of a knowledgeable person throughout her excerpt by sustaining a scholarly vocabulary. Secondly, in addition to her vocabulary, she references a well-known psychologists, philosophers, and religious figures. For example, "The identity crisis, which has been noted by Erik Erikson and others in recent years in the American man, seems to occur for lack of, and be cursed by the finding of work, or cause, or purpose, or purpose that evokes his own creativity"(Friedan). Another example of Friedan referencing experts is when she writes “The very argument by Riesman an and others that man no longer finds identity in work defined as a paycheck job, assumes that identity for man comes through creative work of his own that contributes to the human community: the core of self becomes aware, becomes real, and grows through work that carries forward human society” (Friedan). This adds to her credibility because referencing experts add another layer of expertise to her argument. Friedan also appears knowledgeable on the subject of the history of American society and the roles of men and women throughput American history. “Until, and even into, the last century, strong, capable women are needed to pioneer our new land; with their husbands, they ran farms and plantations and Western homesteads"(Friedan). This showcase of her knowledge about gender roles in American society further …show more content…
She appeals to the emotions of both men and women. When appealing to men she writes about the "identity crisis" which men had endured in recent years. "The identity crisis, which has been noted by Erik Erikson and others in recent years in the American man, seems to occur for lack of, and be cursed by the finding of work, or cause, or purpose, or purpose that evokes his own creativity" (Friedan). Thus, successfully draws out the emotions of men and grabs their attention. This is effective because to convince a population you would not want to leave out roughly 50% of the population. Friedan captures the attention of women by drawing attention to the frustrations of many women by implying that women have scarce job opportunities. "How many of them have been deceived, or have deceived themselves into clinging to outgrown, childlike femininity of "Occupation: Housewife"?"(Friedan). She describes housework as boring and sedentary- to which many people may agree. Her skill in the usage of pathos captures the attention of a large
In Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan wrote about women's inequality from men to women's equality to men. She also wrote about women accepting the inequality to women fighting for equality. Friedan comes across to me as a woman with strong beliefs who puts a lot of effort and information in her book. I wasn't aware that this book would give such an extreme amount of information. Her writing style proves that she has been in a feminist movement. Her writing style shows she has a passion for every word she put into this book. She also writes in a way that makes a person interested in what her beliefs are. Friedan has a mass amount of information to prove every point she has. I believe that Feminine Mystique is probably her favorite work to write about. Her writing style proves each point she responds to.
Friedan points out that, "They [men] have an unprecedented freedom to choose the kind of work they will do; they also have an unprecedented amount of time apart from the hours and days that must actually be spent in making a living. And suddenly one realizes the significance of today's identity crisis." (790). Friedan also explains the difference in the times of the pioneer days, when women were more respected and did more, to her present time. When women were no longer needed to be doing hard work and were simply tasked with staying in their homes to raise their children. "These women were respected and self-respecting members of society whose pioneering purpose centered in the home. Strength and independence, responsibility and self-confidence, self-discipline and courage, freedom and equality were part of the American character for both men and women, in all the first generations."(791). The way Friedan conveys the past standards helped her pave the way to her main argument of women having identity crisis's. Because the order of the text was old standards of the American woman, it made sense when Friedan started explaining how things were for her in that time. After explaining the societal standards, Friedan went on to explain why women deserve to do more than only becoming a
Betty Friedan is the author of the famous book, which credited the beginning of a second –wave feminism in the United States. Friedan’s book begins with describing “the problem that has no name” to women who had everything, but were unhappy, depress and felt like they had nothing. Women are expected to be happy by buying things, a new refrigerator, house, best-selling coffee, having the right make-up, clothes and shoes, this is what the Feminine Mystique symbolized. Something that women wanted but can never have. Furthermore, society in present day is full of advertisements everywhere we go in TV, books and on the radio. The young generation as well as adults get trap in a fantasy world full of perfection. Women always want to have a thin waist, the most expensive make-up and purses, it’s all based on stereotypes. In her book, Friedan mentions that the average age of marriage was decreasing compared to increasing birthrate of women. Moreover, Friedan has been nit-pick at for focusing on the middle-class women and for prejudice against
Although this is very deep rooted, women in today’s society are making advancements, in part because of the efforts of Betty Friedan. Friedan wrote the Feminist Mystique, a book about women's roles in society in the 1950's. This book is often reviered as the most influential piece of women's rights which sparked the movement for change. In 1966, Friedan cofounded a organization called NOW, and was named the presid...
The “Feminine Mystique” is a highly influential book in the early second wave feminism movement. It is said that it helped shaped the demands of the second wave by insisting for the right to work outside the home, and to be paid equally; the right for reproductive freedom; the demand that women should not be expected to have children and be mothers if they do not want to. Betty Friedan addresses “the problem that has no name” which is the women who are highly educated, suburban housewives that are bored and want something “more” in their life. This is the point where women knew we needed a second wave. Women’s role had gone backwards and they were beginning to realize that they were all experiencing the same “problem that has no name”. “The
While motherhood represented women's primary opportunity for achievement and respect within previous societies, second-wave feminism critically explored the lived reality of women as mothers within our middle-class American society. Betty Friedan's influential The Feminine Mystique, published in 1965, indicted the deadly boredom of the suburban home, while later works such as Adrienne Rich's Of Woman Born, articulated with devastating incisiveness the oppressive qualities of the contemporary institution of motherhood. According to Rich, the intense joys of mothering children were embedded in a patriarchal structure that created agonizing conflicts for any woman who saw herself as more than merely a nurturer of her spouse and children. As feminists, we believed that the institutions of family and motherhood would change quite radically as women entered the workplace.
Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights based on the equality of the sexes. However, Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan did not agree that this definition was concrete, and it is essential to know who these women are because they were the start of the women's movement. They created feminism and equality, but each approached this idea differently. Steinem defined feminism to be an advocacy for women to become better than men. While Friedan viewed feminism to have never existed because it should have been a general human rights movement . Their ideas of feminism were split because of how they were raised and the predicaments they faced while growing up. This lead to Friedan’s belief that the National Organization for Women (NOW) had to focus
The Feminist Movement had been gaining in popularity, thanks in part to Betty Friedan's book, The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, and the establishment of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966. More women were being educated and entering the workplace, often into once male-dominated fields. Despite this, only a few female stand-up comedians gained national recognition, and those who did were regulated to making mostly self-deprecating jokes. Still, these women marched onward, challenging cultural norms and questioning gender roles with their
It talks about the lives of a few housewives from around the United States who were troubled in spite of living in material solace and being hitched with children. Furthermore, Friedan scrutinized the ladies' magazine, ladies' training framework and sponsors for making this across-the-board picture of “idealistic” ladies. The deleterious impacts incited by this picture were that it limited ladies to strictly the local circle and drove numerous women to lose their own identities. Betty Friedan initially talks about the feeling of control relating particularly to ladies of this period. "The issue that has no name," as Friedan puts it, is the "sense of dissatisfaction" ladies found with their unfulfilling lives (15). Specifically, she tends to the predicament of the rural housewife choked by social desires and caught by her white picket fence. In spite of the fact that the issue was, to a great extent, overlooked or slighted for quite a while, "it is no longer possible to ignore that voice, to dismiss the desperation of so many American women" (26). The double tightening influences of social and sexual control squeezed upon after war American ladies and introduced themselves as a rival to the opportunity of these ladies in the public arena. This regulation must be evaded by embraced assorted parts with expectations of discovering one that the two
To get the answer to her question, she began to survey women of Smith College. Her findings lead to the writing of her first book, The Feminine Mystique. The book uses other women’s personal experiences along with her own experiences to describes the idea behind being a feminist. “At every step of the way, the feminists had to fight the conception that they were violating the God-given nature of woman… The image of the feminists as inhuman, fiery man-eater, whether expressed as an offense against God or in the modern terms of sexual perversion, is not unlike the stereotype of the Negro as a primitive animal or the union member as an anarchist” (86-87). That image of women that has been created by society and the same idea applies to race and how it is something that is so prone to society about things no one can change. Feminists were the ones who were able to fight for their rights even though some may believe that isn't what women are made to be but Betty Friedan did, which motivated her to fight for women’s rights in the second wave feminist movement. She was able to accomplish helping more women fight for their rights and set the ground for the women fighting
This is due to her enormous involvement in protests, activism, and fights for equality. For example, according to Thoughtco.com, they said "In 1970, Friedan led in organizing the Women's Strike for Equality on the 50th anniversary of winning the vote for women." The Women's Strike for Equality was a national embodiment of women's rights. The National Organization for Women (NOW) organized the strike and their president [at the time] was Betty Friedan. She commenced the protest by requesting that women around the nation to stop working for the day to draw attention to the ongoing problem: the gender wage gap. The gender wage gap is the obstacle in many women's lives that separates their pay by men's pay by 20 cent. However, that is only in the present. In the 1970s, women earned 59 cent to every dollar made by men. With Friedan's leadership skills and her liberal activism flowing through her veins, this proves her heroism by revealing that she was one of the ideal leaders for the feminist and women's right movement of her
right and appeal to women had same rights as men. In 1963, Betty Friedan wrote a book which is
Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, explains the mind set of society in the 1960s. She writes that the women of the ‘60s were identified only as creatures looking for “sex, babies, and home” (Friedan 36). She goes on to say “The only passion, the only pursuit, the only goal a woman [was] permitted [was] the pursuit of a man” (Friedan 36). This mind set, this “feminine mystique,” is clearly shown throughout the show Mad Men. The side effect of the feminine mystique hurt all the women of this time. Matthew Weiner shows how this conception of the “ideal woman” hurt all of his lead women. The consequences are shown in the two women who bought into the idea, Betty and Joan, and the one who re...
Before the ERA, Schlafly did not take much interest in feminism. She turned to antifeminism which reflected a turn in grassroots conservativism to social issues, which would not be linked to communism or defense. Schlafly fought with Betty Friedan, a feminist, about the traditional family. Friedan believed that the American women were only taught to “accept traditional, middle class gender roles of homemakers and housewives.” (217) With women playing the same gender roles it could keep them from pursing their dreams and using their skills in the workplace. Social pressures have a big toll on a women for being the “perfect” mother. Even though Friedan had a point about women being labeled as an “improper mother” if they did not fit the ideal social norms, Schlafly argued that “women benefited from the ‘Christian tradition of chivalry,’ which obligated men to support and protect their wives and children.” (218) She believed women where the recipients of technology advances of the late 1800s and 1900s. Schlafly even wrote “the real liberation of women from backbreaking drudgery to prior centuries is ‘the American free enterprise system which stimulated inventive geniuses’ to provide women with laborsaving devices.” (218) Schlafly continued to argue how the ERA “was a direct threat to the protection of mothers and working women enjoyed in American society.” (218) Most women want to be a wife, mother, and homemaker which
Women during the years before the second wave were being coaxed back into the home. To quote Betty Friedan, “They were taught to pity the...