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Historical Significance Of Betty Friedan To The Evolution Of Women's Rights

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What was the historical significance of Betty Friedan to the evolution of women’s rights in America in the 1960s? Women have always fought hard for their equality. Since the very first convention held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, countless women have joined together to try and improve the standard of life for all women within the United States. In the later years of the 19th century, women gathered behind activists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, with the hope of achieving voting rights of women under the Constitution. On August 26th, 1920, their goal was achieved with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. But the struggle did not end there. Following the successful civil rights movement in the mid 1900s, women were …show more content…

Only three years after the book was published, Friedan proved she could do more than write about the problems in society for women – she could also take action. Having attended meetings focused on the status of women within society and seeing little to no planned action being taken, Friedan knew she had to take it into her own hands. In 1966, she co-founded the National Organization for Women (NOW), serving as its first president until 1970, proving to all that she was a force for change. She encouraged women to take a bigger stand and have a bigger presence within the political world, and believed this organization would help to achieve that. Its sole purpose was to achieve equal opportunities for women in all aspects of life. It also assisted and supported women in seeking legal advice and help when they were battling workplace discrimination in court. As president, Friedan took a leading role and began multiple campaigns fighting for a number of reforms, including legalizing abortion, the right to work in any field of employment without limitations, greater presence within government, the implementation of child care facilities available for working mothers, and many others. In 1967, their first convention discussed the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion, both highly important issues. However, as abortion was a very controversial concern, NOW focused on achieving equality within the workplace and within the government. Nonetheless, Friedan knew that abortion was another topic that needed reformation, so in 1969, she helped found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (still active today under the title of NARAL Pro-Choice

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In this chapter, Betty Friedan introduces the idea of ‘glorified femininity,’ and to further explain this vision, she makes use of several rhetorical devices such as simile when she talks about how, in recent year, it’s been ‘popular [amongst men] to laugh at feminism as history's dirty joke’ but what these self-proclaimed comedians fail to see is that through feminism, women were not only able to gain suffrage but to end child labor and help win the great war, thus they not only made history for themselves, but also for America. Moreover, Friedan also makes use of an epithet when she talks about how most men thought that women were neurotic victims of ‘penis envy’ just because they denied their very nature of being a woman, which fulfills

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The women’s rights movement focused on gender equality. Liberal and conservative women disagreed on many issues that the second wave of feminism, the basis of the women’s rights movement, brought to light. Two documents reveal the differences in the opinions of the opposing sides during the women’s rights movement. In an “Interview with Phyllis Schlafly” by the Washington Star, published on January 18, 1976, Ms. Schlafly opposed both the ERA and the Women’s Rights movement. Comparatively, the “Statement of Purpose” by the National Organization for Women, published on October 29, 1966, stated that NOW stood for Women’s Rights and equality.

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Susan Oliver writes an exceptional biography that describes in detail the life, success, struggles and failures of Betty Friedan. From her childhood as a divergent American-Jew living in Peoria, Illinois to being an outstanding student and writer in school, finding her path as a strong feminist at Smith College, her struggles as a mother and wife to mothering the second feminist movement. Susan Oliver explored all the factors that contributed to Betty Friedan’s strong private and public persona. Betty Friedan, a driving force of the second feminist movement, is barely recognized for the emancipation of women. Mostly known as the author of the Feminine Mystique, Susan Oliver made sure to demonstrate that Betty Friedan was more than a mere

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As Roosevelt worked with women, she began to realise injustice that women were facing so she acted upon this. After 1920, Roosevelt began to actively work with post suffrage feminist groups and activists across America to help build a political foundation for them. She was invited to become a member of the New York State League of Women Voters; this group was devoted to the development of feminist activity and woman’s suffrage on local and state levels. The league also set goals to expand the Women’s Bureau, Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infant Protection and to support the recognition and full citizenship for American women. After 1921, she came completely engaged in every aspect of the women’s political movement and her work was all for the purpose of advancing women’s freedoms and rights.

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Women played a major role in WWII which lead on to one of the greatest social movements in history. Betty Freidan was an important pioneer of feminism and played a critical part to women’s right movements or also know as "the mother of the modern feminist movement.” Freidan was born on February 4, 1921, in Peoria, Illinois. Freidan excelled at Smith college in 1942, graduating with a bachelor’s degree psychology. Friedan became an activist while at Smith College, reeling at injustices through the power of her writing in regard to causes such as labor reform, academic freedom, and political issues leading to World War II(Terry 2).

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Betty Friedan’s article on this topic proved to be successful because acknowledging the diversity among women is a suitable feminist strategy as far as enhancing their visibility is concerned. Though many argue the feminist movement was born out of a united front among women, Betty is the one who created that united front. Having shed light on such a taboo subject, Betty created the second-wave feminism movement because of her audacity to speak up and speak out when no one else would. Betty recognized her power as a woman and her obligation to speak on the subject, “I think I understood first as a woman long before I understood their larger social and psychological

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