1960's Second Wave Feminist Movement

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Betty Friedan and the 1960’s Second Wave Feminist Movement According to Microsoft Research, “By 2018, there will be 1.4 million open technology jobs in the U.S. and, at the current rate of students graduating with degrees in computer science, only 29% of applicants will be women.” The fight for women's rights has been going on for more than 100 years, and women today continue to face discrimination in their daily lives. An important person in fighting for women’s rights was Betty Friedan, who was born on February 4, 1921 in Peoria, Illinois. As a writer, feminist, and women’s rights activist, Friedan published her book The Feminine Mystique in 1963, which began her journey of fighting for women’s rights. The book Race presents important …show more content…

Demonstrated through the pillars 2 and 4: “2. These differences in our bodies cannot change and 4. Each group has a distinct level of brain power and moral refinement, thus they are naturally and unchangeably ranked” (Aaronson 3). Society has created the idea that men and women are given differences at birth that they cannot change. They are already being separated at birth due to physical differences, but that doesn’t mean that women are any less than men, or have any affect on how smart they are. During the 1960’s women had fewer opportunities than men because of their gender. They received lower pay and were thought less of than men because they were believed to not be as smart. Which leads to pillar 4, that each group has a distinct level of brain power. Men were thought to be more advanced and they were able to go to school and get a higher education. They had a lot more of opportunities than women ever did. Even today women face challenges that men do not because of these pillars of race, that apply to gender, even without one knowing. “We know racism is bad… But that doesn’t mean we have scrubbed race out of our minds and hearts… The society we live in then shapes what form that instinct for prejudice takes. Are we encouraged to believe our biases or to doubt them?” (Aaronson 267). We know everyone should be equal in life but that does not stop us from discriminating women because of their gender. It’s like when people say to someone, “Oh, you throw like a girl.” Why do girls have to be discriminated because of simple little things like the way you throw. Everyone is unique and should be accepted by society and not judged based on physical appearances or how you do things. Everyone should be treated fairly and that is what Betty Friedan strove to

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