Revolutionary Change By Betty Friedan

Finkelstein notes that the 1963 publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique unofficially began a re-evaluation of gender roles in the United States (Finkelstein 55). Friedan explores the idea that women need more fulfillment in their lives than can be provided by the drudgery of childrearing and housekeeping. The

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.

Friedan portrays the idea of helping women with the feminine mystique that has gone on for more than twenty years. This is not a small problem, but a national one that has effected the majority of the women in the United States. Friedan’s ideas range from helping women get back into college and re-educate themselves, getting out into the workforce. Therefore freeing themselves from the

Strong-willed, intelligent, and motivated are only some of the words we can use to describe Betty Friedan. Credited as being the mother of the second wave of feminism, Friedan was an influential women’s right activist during the twentieth century but her legacy has continued to strive well into the twenty-first century. Friedan is the author of a variety of books including The Feminine Mystique, which became a phenomenon because of its powerful message to women for self-exploration outside their traditional roles. This book helped to define Friedan’s role in the fight for women empowerment and equality. It evoked emotions in many women who agreed that they did not want to fulfil traditional roles, creating an atmosphere of change. She was also the cofounder of the National Organization for Women (NOW), serving as its first president and also helped to create the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws and the National Women’s Political Caucus. With these organizations, Friedan became the face of the women’s movement and encouraged women to take a stand against the pathological idealization of women by creating a sense of community

However, the methods they used to strive to change these ideals differed from those employed by ethnic minorities. Writers, such as Betty Friedan, voiced many of the views of the feminism movement that emerged in this decade. According to Friedan in her book, The Feminine Mystique, women in the 1960s realized the, “delusions of the feminine mystique” were their, “perception[s] of entrapment.” (Doc A) Friedan’s purpose in writing The Feminine Mystique is to convince women that their current status is unsatisfactory, thus sparking a new wave of women attempting to escape the trap they had fallen into and urging her audience to redefine the role of women. Her purpose is significant because it enables her to convey to a large audience that women, in their current state, were unable to achieve social equality with men. Additionally, the National Organization for Women (NOW) emphasized the necessity to redefine the democratic and social role of women from its inception in 1966. In its purpose statement, the NOW stated, “Working women are becoming increasingly—not less—concentrated on the bottom of the job ladder.” (Doc J) The purpose of this statement is to explain what the NOW seeks to accomplish and how it strives to do so. This purpose is significant because the NOW will not falsely represent what it intends to achieve and will employ facts supporting its intentions, even if slightly

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.

The Feminine Mystique is a first person narrative about the struggles of feminism. It highlights the problems of women in the 1950s to the 1960s and challenges gender roles. The book includes several first person interviews and discusses the Second Wave of feminism. It introduces the idea of the sexulization of women being used in consumerism and the lack of sexual education in school during the time. The Feminine Mystique is a useful resource because it is considered the groundbreaking book about feminism and lists issues that women have had to deal with from the 1960s until now. The book could be used to argue the struggles that women have faced and continue to face.

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)

During the feminist movement of the 1960s, women’s rights activists concentrated largely on equality in the workplace and female domesticity. Anti-discrimination efforts like, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commision, and laws like, the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employee discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin, proved to be ineffective because of the government’s lack of enforcement. Even though acts of discrimination were against the law and were considered illegal, women were still not hired nearly as often as men were and were also not paid nearly as much as men were. In fact, our textbook, America, states, “Women who were 51 percent of the nation’s population and held 37 percent of the jobs, were paid 42 percent less than men” (Shi 1129). This prompted the founding of the National Organization of Women in June 30 1966, which chose the acronym NOW to emphasize their want and need for the end of gender discrimination in the workplace and other female efforts, like abortion and child-care centers. The Statement of Purpose was given at NOW’s first national conference in Washington, D.C. on October 29, 1966. Friedan said, “The purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and

Betty Friedan was a middle class, suburban housewife that realized she wanted more from life than being a housewife. However, she was not always a housewife; she was a highly educated woman who went to a prestigious all women college called Smith College. She earned a fellowship to study at the University of California, but she decided to be a reporter in New York City instead. Once she had her second child, she lost her job, and soon became bored with her domestic life and became affected by what she calls “The problem without a name”. So, she used her reporting skills to contact other woman who went to Smith College. She gave them a survey and that is where the research of her book came from. Her book is credited with causing the second wave

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.

In 1963, Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique which was revolutionary for that time and exposed the “happy homemaker myth”. Ms. Friedan discussed how women “feel it’s unfeminine” to want to take an active part in society on equal footing as men. More specifically, Ms. Friedan is quoted saying, “a woman today has been made to feel freakish and alone and guilty if she wants to be more than her husband’s wife, her children’s mother, if she wants to use her abilities in society.” This feeling has been coined as “the problem with no name”. Homemaker Rose Garrity said, “I felt inside very alienated from the world.

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was published February 19, 1963, a book that some have said single-handedly started the feminist movement of the 1960’s through the 1980’s. The book’s core message was that women were letting society take away their identity and in the process, were becoming more and more unhappy with their lives, even as they lived out the “ideal” life. As Friedan said, “Our culture does not permit women to accept or gratify their basic need to grow and fulfill their potentialities as human beings, a need which is not solely defined by their sexual role.” (pg. 133) The Feminine Mystique, while well-written and correct in many situations, not all people felt that is was always correct.

The journey in advocating for the equality and justice for women has left a tremendous impact in history. Women demonstrate their endless fight to be at the same level as men. From being allowed to receive an education, suffrage, to earning the same wages in the workplace as men. We recognize and honor one of the leading feminist of the 20 century. Betty Friedan is an inspiring activist whose actions have made equality for women a reality. Without her dedication in the movement, young girls may not have benefited from opportunities offered to them today. We often times neglect to remember important key figures that have strived for the better of our nation.