The Feminine Mystique Summary

In the 1960s women were limited in almost every aspect from their work place to their families. During this time period about 38% of women who worked mostly occupied the jobs as teachers, nurse, or secretaries. In 1962 a women by the name of Betty Friedan wrote a book called “The Feminine Mystique”. This book focused on college educated housewives who felt trapped in the system. Friedan shocked the world by contradicting the role of what a housewife is supposed to do. She also called females to seek fulfillment of taking a job outside of the house. Friedan’s had such an impact on women that its credited for being the start of the “second wave” of the American feminist movement. Now women would take a stand for their equality right in America. The movement in the 1960s and 1970s was mainly focused on diminishing workplace inequality, such as wages and better jobs. In 1964,

Connecticut (1965). The Supreme Court ruled that the uses of contraceptives are banned because they violated the right to martial privacy. Married women were guaranteed the right to use contraceptives by the right to privacy. Although the use of contraceptives was not addressed for women outside of marriage, this still was leading to more progress in women rights. This case led on to the Eisenstadt v. Baird case in 1972. While the Griswold v. Connecticut case showcased married women and contraceptives; the Eisenstadt v. Baird focused not just on married women. This case focused on women that were single that also wanted the same advantage as married women were granted. Also in 1970 in the Shultz v. Wheaton Glass Co. the U.S court rules that both men and women jobs need to be equal to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. This allows women to receive the same amount of salary that a man would get having the same job, and they cannot change the job titles in order to pay a man