During the 1960’s women wanted to define their own identities in society, whether that is of a housewife role, establishing a career or both. This identity push into American society created the Women’s Liberation Movement for a majority of women within the 60’s. During this period several women stood out as activists to establish safeguards against discrimination on the bases of sex; Betty Fridan, Carol Hanisch and Gloria Steinam. Each activist clearly demonstrated in their tone and message within their articles, books and speeches how to achieve the overall goal to cease the myth that women were fulfilled in their role as housewives. This document will reflect an analysis of sources that substantiates that women wanted to define their own identities within our society and on issues and concerns for family values, women’s freedom to choice, and social change.
“The Feminine Mystique,” written by Betty Friedan aimed to inspire women of all races and age to unite together, to face the truth behind women’s unhappiness with their idolized roles as housewives. The theme was to create self-determination for women and deliverance of society’s status quo. Friedan expressed a range of emotions throughout her writing that demonstrated the injustice women were faced with during the 1960s. The writings of “The Feminine Mystique,” started the platform for the Women’s Liberation Movement by inspiring the truth of the hidden secrets that women were unable to confront. The overall message was to prove that the feminine mystique denied women of their own identities, and the ability to achieve more than a housewife role.
It changed my Life: Writings on the Women’s Movement were Friedan’s way of expressing her feeling towards the Women...
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...ters. The sources let the world know that a women's liberation movement was underway.
Friedan, Hanisch and Steinem all wrote to convey that the only way to overcome the injustices of inequality for women was to unite as a community- as a whole. Each source invokes a similar image of encouragement and struggle. Reading through the writings and the hardships the Women’s Movement faced has allured an overall message of goals and clear-cut ways to achieve them. The events that took place during the 1960s Women movement has allowed for women to achieve political, social and economic rights. The implicit idea was to improve the quality of life for women. Women should have the right to choice and the right to be viewed as a contributing member of society. I feel that women have achieved their own identities in our society in great part to the activists of yesteryear.
Society continually places restrictive standards on the female gender not only fifty years ago, but in today’s society as well. While many women have overcome many unfair prejudices and oppressions in the last fifty or so years, late nineteenth and early twentieth century women were forced to deal with a less understanding culture. In its various formulations, patriarchy posits men's traits and/or intentions as the cause of women's oppression. This way of thinking diverts attention from theorizing the social relations that place women in a disadvantageous position in every sphere of life and channels it towards men as the cause of women's oppression (Gimenez). Different people had many ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities amound women, including expressing their voices and opinions through their literature. By writing stories such as Daisy Miller and The Yellow Wallpaper, Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic that took a major toll in American History. In this essay, I am going to compare Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” to James’ “Daisy Miller” as portraits of American women in peril and also the men that had a great influence.
During the 1960’s there was a lot of major events that happened in the United States. The 1960’s was known as a decade of “culture and change”, there were lots of political and cultural changes. (Anastakis, 22) One particular movement that was important to society and the country was the Women’s Movement also called the “Feminism Movement”. The first women movement which happened a few decades before focused on gender equality and overcoming different legal problems. The 1960’s women’s movement focused more on different issues such as family, sexuality, workplace issues, and also rights of reproductively. (MacLean, 45) I chose to cover this topic because women have always been influential throughout history, and I being a woman it is important to know about our rights and who paved the way for us.
Women faced multiple challenges to establish themselves as equals to men throughout history however, this would have never been possible if not for social progress movements to eliminate gender barriers. Consider the statements of “that is woman’s work” and “that is man’s work”. First, imagine the year is 1920; what vision instantly comes to your mind in what was woman’s work and what was man’s work? Now, fast forward to current day; what instantly comes to mind in consideration of what is woman’s and man’s work? The comparison of the differences of 1920 and 2014 is night and day. Crystal Eastman, a socialist feminist, observed that the 19th Amendment was an important first step but that what women really wanted was freedom and equality. She was campaigning for the equivalence of women in social, political, cultural, and economic status. In the essay titled "Now We Can Begin," she laid out a plan toward this goal that is still relevant today and shared her vision of life that she wanted for herself and women across the nation. (Eastman)
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's voices, feminist visions: classic and contemporary readings. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
Friedan, Betty. "The Problem That Has No Name." Takin' It To The Streets: A Sixties Reader, pp. 459-467. ed. Alexander Bloom and Wini Breines. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Women were supposed to be housewives who were to stay home and take care of the children and home. Over the years, this idea did not settle well with women and caused them to revolt and become liberated. The ideological and institutional constraints of 1950s American society left a significant impact on the construction of women and their identifies during this time period (Holt). During these years, the idea of Rosie the Riveter arose, which caused women to become more liberated. Women during this time period achieved independence, which caused the ideas of the 1950s woman to become even more harmful to the construction of women and their identity within society. The 1960s was a time of growth for women. It was a period of liberating experiences. For a part of this decade, women were in the work force, doing things that they felt were beneficial to themselves and society. “In an era marked by quiescence of organized feminism and the celebration of domesticity by public figures and popular culture, increasing numbers of women are seeking employment outside the home” (Meyerlwitz,1994). Women were able to make a lasting contribution to society and their homes, which helped to diminish some of the stereotypes that existed. Women during this time were educated at a high rate than years past, many of them were in fields that they had never imagined working in before or classified as
But when the “Women’s Movement,” is referred to, one would most likely think about the strides taken during the 1960’s for equal treatment of women. The sixties started off with a bang for women, as the Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman, and Betty Friedan published her famous and groundbreaking book, “The Feminine Mystique” (Imbornoni). The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was a ground-breaking part of American history because along with African-Americans another minority group stood up for equality, women were finished with being complacent, and it changed women’s lives today.
"Rediscovering American Women: A Chronology Highlighting Women's History in the United States." Issues in Feminism. Ed. Sheila Ruth. Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998. 494-509.
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
The women’s movement during the late 20th century fights to last past the temporary-minded people, while Heidi continues to hope for future equality. Similar to Wendy Wasserstein’s life, Heidi fights against the common traps falling back into a male dominated society that most women resort to during this time. While Heidi’s friends leave behind the movement as if it is just another chapter in their lives, Heidi holds on to the idea of a successful feministic society. Falling short to meet her high expectations, she finally accepts the failure of the movement, and hopes for success in the future with the next generation, especially with her daughter. Although Heidi might not have succeeded in feminism, today society is equal to women and men, and many feminists advocate a fulfilled life for all women with different goals than those of men.
Hooks begins by stating that Feminism in the United States did not emerge as a result of victimized, underprivileged women who faced sexist oppression so much so they have internalized it , but in fact by bourgeois upper-class white women whose idea's of equality were far different. She begins this criticism with Betty Friedan, a leading figure in the women's movement and the author of the classic The Feminine Mystique claiming that the book ignored the difficulty and even the existence of non-white, poor women with the assumption that her concerns were harmonious wi...
The focus of The Women’s Liberation Movement was idealized off The Civil Rights Movement; it was founded on the elimination of discriminary practices and sexist attitudes (Freeman, 1995). Although by the 1960s women were responsible for one-third of the work force, despite the propaganda surrounding the movement women were still urged to “go back home.” However the movement continued to burn on, and was redeveloping a new attitude by the 1970s. The movement was headed by a new generation that was younger and more educated in politics and social actions. These young women not only challenged the gender role expectations, but drove the feminist agenda that pursued to free women from oppression and male authority and redistribute power and social good among the sexes (Baumgardner and Richards, 2000).
Lesbian Feminism emerged from the second wave of feminism. The second wave of feminism finds its roots within Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. In her book, Friedan focuses on the need for women to find their independence socially and economically. “For women to have full identity and freedom, they must have economic independence…Only economic independence can free a woman to marry for love, not for status or financial support, or to leave a loveless, intolerable, humiliating marriage, or to eat, dress, rest, and move if she plans not to marry”[Friedan 14]. Freidan’s book was the push that women needed in order to take the necessary first steps to become independent in the traditional patriarchal society. Critique against Friedan’s book for only focusing on white, middle-class, Americans came fast am...
At the end of the 19th and start of the 20th centuries, a series of events occurred that would be known as the feminist movement. During this time, many woman were starting to change the way they thought of themselves and wanted to change their social roles. In his views on feminist analysis Donald Hall says, “Feminist methodologies focus on gender…and explore the complex ways in which women have been denied social power and the right to various forms of self-expression the many perspectives that fall under the heading ‘feminism’ vary wildly”(Hall 199). Since women were denied social power and self-expression, they went against what society saw as acceptable, a patriarchal world. In the stories The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, “Story of an Hour” also by Chopin, and “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman we see just how woman’s expected gender roles affect these woman. In The Awakening we meet Edna Pontellier who struggles with her social and gender role. In “Story of an Hour” we see a woman who is glad she is free from her husband. In “The Yellow Wallpaper” a woman fights for her happiness. Through the author’s portrayal of these characters, we see how feminism affects the actions of the characters and how the woman change.