Logos In The Importance Of Work By Betty Friedan

In this chapter of The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan denounces a fundamental notion of the mystique: The role for women in the home is equal to the role of men in society. To further explain this notion, she makes use of several different rhetorical devices such as antithesis, when she establishes a connection between the dreadful physical and mental health of full time housewives plus men working on assembly lines, and she does so in order to accentuate the hidden problems of “alcoholism, obesity, chronic fatigue, and lack of interest in sex” due to preconceived ideas about gender roles. Moreover, she makes use of logos, when she provides her readers with statistics about how “Women constituted nearly half of the professional workforce;

In her Feminine Mystique essay, “The Importance of Work”, writer Betty Friedan talks about how the identity crisis of American women beginning about a century ago. More and more of the work that was used by human abilities in which they could find self-realization that was taken from women. The identity crisis for women did not begin in America until the fire, strength, and ability of the pioneer women were no longer needed. Women today whom feel that they have no goal, purpose, or future will commit suicide. Betty Friedan attempts to explain the causes of women’s unhappiness as she tags it, “the problem that has no name”. (Friedan, pg.790, 1963) Friedan’s rhetoric in the essay is constructed and based upon three persuasive techniques, which are known as ethos, pathos, and logos. In her essay, her main goal was to bring about how successful her approach in determining the role of women in society. She did an excellent job at defending her argument with facts from history to back it up.

In “From Books As Bombs” by Louis Menand, the author talks about “The Feminine Mystique” that was published by Betty Friedan and her argumentative points on the true meaning behind being a housewife. Betty Friedan was the first president of the National Organization for Women and sought to gain rights for working women. She began documenting and recording facts from her classmates. “Friedman campaigned on behalf of the rights of working women when she was still a student at Smith.” One of her major points in the book is that “women were worse of in 1963, then they had been in 1963”. Reason being is because most jobs were taken by men and the amount of women accepted to college decreased due to gender. Friedman wants to further propose that

as the most effective form of persuasion. It is evident that logos best represents how an audience should be convinced, as seen in Amusing Ourselves to Death.

Friedan, however, was no ordinary housewife. Before starting her family, she had worked as a newspaper reporter; even after her children came, she wrote regularly for the major women 's magazines. By 1957 she was fed up with the endless stories about breast-feeding, the preparation of gourmet chip dips, and similar domestic fare that was the staple of ‘Redbook‘, ‘McCall 's‘, and ‘Ladies ' Home Journal‘. She had noticed many women like herself who worked outside the home and felt guilty because their jobs threatened their husbands ' roles as providers or took time away from their children. Thus Friedan began to wonder not only about herself as a woman, a wife, and a mother, but also about the role society had shaped women to play.

Betty Friedan believed that women should feel and be treated equal to men. Friedan fought for women to embody their power and worth. She was an activist for the women’s rights movement and a founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Her book, The Feminine Mystique, connected with her readers by illustrating the standards that women were put under for decades. In the 60’s, women were viewed as nothing but maids and child-bearers. Many women were hesitant to take a stand for this taboo subject; their own rights. Friedan took initiative when everyone else was afraid to. Betty Friedan’s contribution clearly advanced the progression of women’s equality. She accomplished this by writing her famous book, giving a debatable speech, and founding the National Organization for Women.

According to our texts and lectures, a good argument must be valid and strong, with evidence or premises, and a conclusion. The premises must be true and of quality, supported by reasoning or evidence of some sort. The premises must also logically support the conclusion or there would be no argument. The goal of an argument is to convince the reader to believe in something and to demonstrate that with careful reasoning and consideration, the writer 's point of view is legitimate. The key approaches of reasoning in an argument are persuasion tactics called logos, ethos, and pathos. Logos is the use of logic to persuade the reader with statements containing rational principles. Facts, such as statistics, or anything that can be proven is an appeal to logos. Ethos is a plan of action using ethics which help define credibility, reliability, and character through direct knowledge and/or experience in the situation at hand. Ethos is used by writers to build trust and to demonstrate their qualifications for the statements they make. Pathos is used to connect with the reader on an emotional level using tragedy, sadness, pity, and other sentimental specifics the reader can relate to. All three of these Greek artistic proofs are used in the readings of “Out Of Body Image,” by an assistant professor of politics at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Caroline Heldman, whom focuses her work on issues of gender and race, and “X-Large Boys,” by Allisa Quart, who is a graduate of Columbia

Betty Friedan advanced the Women’s Rights Movement in many ways. One of them being the publishing of the Feminine Mystique. The Feminine Mystique vented

After conducting a survey of her Smith classmates at a 15-year reunion, Friedan found that most of them were, like she was, dissatisfied suburban housewives. After five more years of researching history, psychology, sociology and economics, and conducting interviews with women across the country, Friedan charted American middle-class women’s metamorphosis from the independent,

In 1963 there was the second wave of the women’s movement when Betty Friedan published her book The Feminine Mystique, which sole purpose was to point out the, “problem that has no name” (understanding feminism by peta Bowden). The context of the book described that women were being forced to live under their true

Could you imagine what life would be like without the rights women have today? Betty Friedan was a wife, a mother, and she had a career at a labors union service editing newspapers. She was also an activist who fought for women’s rights. Her determination for women’s rights began in 1953 and lasted for almost 20 years; Mrs. Friedan never forgot the reason she was fighting, which was fighting for women’s equality in the work force (American History, 1)

The Feminine Mystique is the title of a book written by the late Betty Friedan

In the book The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan brings attention to what she calls the feminine mystique, or “the problem that has no name”. Through the use of anecdotal narratives, her own personal experiences as a journalist, editor, mother, and the interviews of many women from different backgrounds in order to unveil the truth about the women of the 1950’s. The problem which sparked the second wave of feminism in the United States is one that focuses on the inequality between men and women and the undervaluing of women in both the social and private spheres. The women of the time gave up pursuing their passions, such as getting an education or careers in science or business in order to fit the image of the stereotypical stay-at-home mom whose main goal in life is to raise her children while providing a safe and comforting home for her husband. The Feminine Mystique, as she called it, was the idea of widespread unhappiness of women, despite the preconceived notion that women were happiest when they have a family. Throughout her work, she dives into many of the problems associated with the feminine mystique and builds a powerful concept of what would eventually be labeled feminism.

Men have continuously controlled the narrative for women; women were expected to be the housewives instead of reaching for a higher education or occupations that were considered “out of their league”. Women in early to mid 1900’s were oppressed by the man’s perfect view of what a woman should and should not be. Hastily after they were given the right to vote in 1920, men pressured women to stay in the realm of expertise they had participated in for centuries, domesticity. Sylvia Plath the writer of, The Bell Jar, uses the life of Esther Greenwood to show how cultural views of women disabled them from reaching their highest abilities. In addition, Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminine Mystique, explains how many women that went along with the

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan is related to the second wave of feminism. Betty Friedan wrote about “The Problem that has no Name.” Throughout the next few pages the analysis will be on The Feminine Mystique with particular attention on “The Problem that has no Name.” In the 1960s it was uncommon for the women of the time to hold a job and raise a family. Betty Friedan worked until she was pregnant, which she was fired for, and then continued to write freelance for journals and newspapers after she had her children. She wanted to have a job and raise a family. She wanted the best of both worlds. The other part of Betty Friedan that is remarkably admirable is her view on beauty standards. She was not all that pleased that women and men had to look a certain way. How has “The Problem that has no Name” and The Feminine Mystique changed the outlook on women’s problems, how has society dealt with these problems, and how women were able to write about such problems that women face? These are the main concerns that will be addressed throughout the next few pages. By looking at the book and Betty Friedan’s life, but, also looking at other sources from the 1960s we can see how life was for women both on the home-front and the outside world.