ipl-logo

The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan Summary

595 Words3 Pages
Were American women in the 1960s not as happy as originally thought? Betty Friedan in her text “The Feminine Mystique” (1963) described “problem that has no name.” In other words, Friedan made an argument that socialization in American culture made women believe that their identities only existed within domestic realm, making them fundamentally unhappy. Friedan claims that the real problem was rooted in the feminine mystique, the ideology that defines the ideal feminine woman only in terms of traditional marriage and motherhood. In 1963, a book that influenced the minds of millions of American women appeared. “The Feminine Mystique” became a world bestseller and a classic text of liberal feminism. Numerous women's magazines,
Show More
Related
294 Words | 2 Pages

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

Read More
1088 Words | 5 Pages

In her essay, “The Importance of Work,” from The Feminine Mystique published in 1963, Betty Friedan confronts American women’s search for identity. Throughout the novel, Betty Friedan breaks new ground, concocting the idea that women can discover personal fulfillment by straying away from their original roles. Friedan ponders on the idea that The Feminine Mystique is the cause for a vast majority of women during that time period to feel confined by their occupations around the house; therefore, restricting them from discovering who they are as women. Friedan’s novel is well known for creating a different kind of feminism and rousing various women across the nation.

Read More
682 Words | 3 Pages

Unfortunately, nearly no one could watch it since most people had only black-and-white televisions. (4) During that time, magazine articles urged women to leave the workforce and embrace their roles as wives and mothers. The idea was that a woman’s most important job was to take care of their children, but it began to generate a great deal of dissatisfaction among some. This dissatisfaction contributed to the rebirth of the feminist movement in the 1960s.

Read More
992 Words | 4 Pages

The Debilitating Struggle of Sexism The 1960s: a time period that highlighted some of the most influential civil rights movements, but have we really improved since then? Since the beginning of time women have been treated unfairly; they are more prone to being sexually assaulted/raped, have ridiculous beauty standards to live up to, and overall are treated like objects of submission and erotic pleasure. Like men, women deserve the ability to choose the lives they want to live and be who they want to be without fear and judgement. The novel, God Don’t Like Ugly by Mary Monroe, analyzes the objectification of women and provides insight to issues in the 60s that are still prevalent today.

Read More
131 Words | 1 Pages

Throughout decades the roles of women in society constantly evolves. However, society continues to limit the natural progression of women, who want more for themselves. In “Why Women Smile” by Amy Cunningham and in “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan, both discuss how the majority of time, women are always expected to act on the role given to them by society. Due to these notions that are set by society, the social roles of women have not progressed to their full potential.

Read More
751 Words | 4 Pages

In, The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan sets out to describe “the problem that has no name” regarding femininity and social constructs surrounding women post world war two, in an attempt to define the patriarchy. Published in 1963, during a time when marriages peaked in teen years and women were dropping out of college to marry- her work is largely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States. Finding herself alongside other women in the struggle of often being pressured to maintain a societal approved, stereotypical femininity, Betty writes with an undertone of bias that firmly pushes the belief that femininity has no standard and certainly not one that can be controlled by men. Though written with bias, significant research is provided within the document to support most claims Betty speaks on.

Read More
1861 Words | 8 Pages

Do You Suffra-Get It? Betty Friedan, the author of The Feminine Mystique, intrigued the female audience with her views on a problem that hid underneath the guise of anonymity. During the 1960’s, women were so well versed in the art of femininity that they were scared to question their true worth as individuals, settling for small houses that occupied successful lineages (Friedan 15). Betty Friedan’s work was a significant part of the 1960’s feminist movement, but her strong beliefs toward female oppression were not the first to gain recognition. In the midst of the 1910s, passionate leaders such as Lucretia Coffin Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony spearheaded the women’s suffrage movement through political pursuit and the establishment

Read More
283 Words | 2 Pages

Or the amazing Sylvia Rivera who fought for feminism but also the LGBTQ community. And Betty Friedan who proved in her novel, The Feminine Mystique that women can do so much more than society says. All of these women and many many more have impacted the way feminism has developed and turned into what it is now and still continue to do so. The women's movement was also started by what these women did.

Read More
121 Words | 1 Pages

During the 1950s the American economy was overflowing by good wages, opportunities for jobs, a multitude of goods, and profits. However, there were expectations in the society and roles were expected to be taken by individuals. There was a myth that women were content by dedicating their lives to being mothers and housewives. Nevertheless, not all women were eagerly to take that role. At this time, women were expected to raise kids, cook, be a good wife, and stay home; when in reality, they wanted to have equal rights and explore their own abilities and talents outside of housework and motherhood.

Read More
671 Words | 3 Pages

In her book, The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan exposes the “problem that has no name,” which is the sense of dissatisfaction and unfulfillment experienced by many women in the 1950s and 1960s. This problem stems from the societal expectation that women should find fulfillment solely through their roles as wives and mothers. As Friedan writes, “The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States” (Friedan 476).

Read More
1776 Words | 8 Pages

In the Feminine Mystique, Friedan proves the existence of a feminine mystique in American society and its deleterious effects on American society. She does this by showing society’s portrayal and expectations of women, the impact on American women by the works of

Read More
816 Words | 4 Pages

America has her problems with inequality when it comes to women’s social conduct in which they belong in society. Does a women gain importance from being independent and financially competent in society or do women who aren’t a part of the female work force less of a human than her fellow women. The 1950s society was split on the issue of where women actually fit in our society after their liberations in the 1920s with gaining their right to vote, they began to have a voice in society without much progress in the 1940s had the liberation of being working and having a disposable income for the first time in their lives and being told you need to be in the home with the children this created a tremor before the feminist earthquake. Two major theories that abide with women’s rights these are functionalism and feminism. The first theory inhibits functionalism this discusses what the roles of women in 1950s society.

Read More
703 Words | 3 Pages

to see women rising up in two different countries. As the first woman’s movement in the U.S. became more and more public, it was white women and a certain class of women that were seen, heard and chosen to be heads of these movements. Women of color for example were asked to support from the sidelines or weren’t able to participate fully in any position at all. Even the woman’s movement that sprung up from Betty Freidan’s The Feminine Mystique was praised for bringing a deep seated female issue to the forefront…alas it wasn’t every woman’s problem and one could argue as much as it brought women together as they picked it up and read it, the published work also isolated many others.

Read More
2318 Words | 10 Pages

The book reveals the private angst which many middle class women were experiencing in the 1950’s as unwaged housewives and consumers. ‘Mystique’ was Friedan’s term for the ‘problem with no name’ – the psychic distress experienced by women who had no public careers and were immured in domestic concerns. The book is based in part on a survey of Smith College graduates. The book led to the birth of America’s largest Organization- NOW (National Women’s Organization) in 1966.

Read More
826 Words | 4 Pages

“Who am I?” “What is my purpose?” “Is there something more than this?” During Betty Friedan’s time, these questions were all asked by housewives to themselves who were afflicted by the “problem with no name.” There was a disease spreading from household to household, gripping the lives of suburban housewives across America, and in the Feminine Mystique, Friedan documents and explores the problem with no name, its effects on American women, and how to cure and eradicate the plague.

Read More

More about The Feminine Mystique Betty Friedan Summary

Related Topics

Open Document