Stereotypes Of Women In The 1800s

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

Lingering inequalities and other social trends from previous decades brought forth the modern feminist movement in the 1960s. These feminists campaigned for gender equality with causes such as equal pay for equal work, abortion rights, and social parity. In 1963, author Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, which contained reports from a study conducted on female college graduates during the 1950s and early 1960s, which uncovered that most women labelled themselves exclusively as mothers and housewives, and were unsatisfied with the roles forced upon them. Friedan argued fervently that women needed to discover their own identities outside the roles of a wife and mother. Many believe that the arguments made in The Feminine Mystique marked the start of the modern feminist movement (Loveday, 1)

The post-war era had shaped society into conforming gender roles, where the normal family consisted of men that worked and women staying at home. It was not until 1963 when Betty Friedan’s book, The Feminist Mystique, started a new wave of feminism and women’s liberation from the suburban housewife role. Friedan was very critical about women and professional work, as she states in her book, “In the late fifties, a sociological phenomenon was suddenly remarked: a third of American women now worked. But most were no longer young and very few were pursuing careers. They were married women who held part-time jobs, selling or secretarial, to put their husbands through school, their sons

Frequently throughout American history, the woman has been viewed as the domestic housewife. Becoming a domesticated woman was essentially their way of life. From a young age they were expected to learn how to clean, cook, sew, and take care of the children (Kendall-Tackett, Web). When they were older, they led their household with the same mannerisms. Stigmas were placed on women that differed from the traditions of society. Such stigmas basically marked them as “impure.” The housewives sole job throughout the majority of American history was to cater to the needs of the family within the house. This social norm started to deteriorate post World War II. Colossal amounts of women had inundated into the work force and had no intentions of leaving. The pressing debate of the woman in the kitchen versus the woman in the office waged in the 1950’s through the 1960’s (“The Fight for Reproductive Rights” Web). The social significance of the American female gender role passively shifted out of focus. Now, it is more accepted for women to take on different roles, even male oriented roles, outside of the house and in

women were seen as inferiors to men. They were expected to be stay-at-home housewives and not bother working at jobs. Many women during the 60s, however, wanted to be independent from their husbands. In Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” she urged women to “establish professional lives of their own”. Organizations such as the National Organization for Women helped women find their ground in gaining the treatment of equality they surely needed.

In 1963 “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan censured limited and displeasing roles of the post World War II era with women 's rights. The book became an awareness for women by inspiring them to take a public stand for what they wanted to accomplish. As a result of her book helped her develop and become an

She first presents a list of article descriptions from “McCall”, a prominent women’s magazine during the time. Friedan includes article descriptions that clearly objectify women by modern standards. One of these articles comically provides insight on ‘how to find a Second Husband’. This succinct presentation of facts proves impossible to ignore. Friedan simply does not allow her female readers to hide from the facts: they are being preyed upon by male magazine editors who aim to tighten their chains to the household. In contrast, Friedan brings to light the ‘New Woman’ that emerged during the 1930s. This “New Woman” (Friedan 66) is a complete foil for the the Feminine Mystique which is part of what makes Friedan’s argument so compelling. The ‘New Woman’ of the 1930s resented the household and yearned to educate herself as well as build a career. In stark contrast the Feminine Mystique is the propagation of the image of a woman who is ‘gaily content in a world of boredom and kitchen, sex, babies, and home’. By juxtaposing the woman’s suffrage movement post-civil war with the migration of woman from the workplace back to the home post-world war two, Friedan places a seed of indignation within the female reader. If they were capable the enough to campaign for equality then, why not

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.

In Friedan’s ‘The Feminine Mystique”, she addresses the unspoken problem of women, especially housewives, in the 1950’s and 60’s. Women were taught to be a mother and wife and to embrace their femininity. They were also taught to reject academia and “pity the neurotic, unfeminine, unhappy women who wanted to be poets, physicists, or presidents.” These women were consuming what was given to them in pop culture. They dyed their hair blonde and ate chalk to lose weight. The dream for women during this time was to be the perfect suburban housewife, which included a good marriage, four children, and nice house in the suburbs.

In accordance to Betty Freidan, the 1950’s suburban housewife was “the dream image of the young American woman” ; it was the ultimate feminine fulfillment . Friedan exposes in her book, The Feminine Mystique that women were dissatisfied with their primary role of housewife, a phenomenon present throughout Western societies that Freidan identified as “the problem that has no name.” Today across contemporary Western societies, many women have the choice to enter the workforce, however the common notion that a woman’s predominant role as a housewife is still prevalent. This adds complexities to women’s lives as they attempt to juggle the double burden of paid and unpaid work, a barrier that reinforces women’s subordinate role in society and in many cases prevents women from obtaining

For centuries, writing has been one of the strongest forms of communication. Whether a person is a reader or writer, both roles are equally important in this communication process. Why does an author write a book? What message does he or she want to convey? Why does a person pick up a book to read? How do they choose which topic to write about, which book to take off the shelf? Is it random? Or is it because the book holds a certain appeal or relevance to their lives? Every reader has a different answer for this question. The beauty of this is that each person, even if reading the same book, leaves the final page with a different message; even more inspiring is that sometimes this message is not even what the writer wanted to convey. The Feminine Mystique, a book written by Betty Friedan, was a book used to put into words the dejection women faced while living their daily lives. She explained how many women were unhappy with their lives because they felt they had no real purpose, they resented that it was assumed their only role could be that of wife, mother, and caretaker. She coined it ‘the problem with no name’ because although many women experienced this resentment, none were ever able to label it. This book hit home with many of the readers. However, the book had many critics. Many people believed Friedan exaggerated some of her depictions. They believe she generalized too much, leaving out of her book the fact that there were many women who were self-sufficient and

In the 19th century, with the ever-increasing industrialization and mass production of goods filling the streets, more money was required to live comfortably. Roles were set with women taking care of domestic duties and the men working to meet the demand of the outside world. Women’s work in the household had become more and more distant to the eyes of people everywhere. Unable to change the ideologies, women were content with exerting influence over their domestic spheres, and the beliefs of “true womanhood”. The woman I have chosen is one that sought to change that mold by moving away from traditional boundaries, into a more modern way of thinking.

Women played a major role in the fight against inequality and discrimination against female gender for generations. Throughout the 20th century and up to WWI, most women saw their primary roles as being housewives and mothers, and less than 30 percent of women worked outside the home. That was the context for Demi Hansen’s life but during WWII she became a Rosie the Riveter. Women had no self-representation other than from their husbands and fathers, until WWII when opportunity’s were previously only for men was given to women which significant changes for Demi Hansen in her home and workplace. (Katz, lecture, 1/30/14)

“Before the 20th century, women had no legal identity apart from their husbands’. The biological role of women, ‘to give birth and take care of offspring’, was considered to be the main and only job of women. Women were not allowed to do labor-intensive work, as they were considered to be physically weak. While men were exposed to diverse career opportunities, women’s career opportunities were restricted to jobs related to the home. Women ran the household, undertaking domestic work and childcare themselves, as well as supervising the servants employed to cook, clean, and run daily errands. At times, women were not allowed to go outside the house for any reason unless it was approved by their husbands. They were denied any significant social and economic statuses (“Women’s”). “The increased interest in their social class position drove women to start a movement redefining their traditional roles in the society. This has been seen particularly through literature, when women began to vindicate their rights through writings. These writings outline the desire to redefine women’s role in marriage and society and opposition of the social norms