During the early 1960s, several events exposed the disjuncture between the images and realities of American women’s lives. As popular culture enthusiastically celebrated marriage and motherhood, women who expressed dissatisfaction with childrearing or homemaking were often dismissed as neurotic or communist. Nonetheless, increasing numbers of women were working outside the home and attaining college degrees. Many of these women encountered job discrimination. The airlines, for example, routinely fired women who were older than thirty-two or who got married. In most industries, wage disparities between men and women were commonplace. The few feminist organizations that remained active were weak.Women’s issues gained renewed visibility with the election of John F. Kennedy. In 1961, he formed the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. After the committee documented widespread pay inequities between the sexes, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which required equal wages for men and women in the same jobs. But the law’s effect was limited since few women held such “male” jobs.
Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique had a much larger impact. Born in Peoria, Illinois in 1921, Betty Goldstein graduated with a psychology degree from Smith College in 1942. After spending a year at the University of California-Berkeley, she moved to New York City. In 1947, she married Carl Friedan (they divorced in 1969). While working as a free-lance magazine writer, Friedan raised three children and lived as a suburban housewife. When she attended her college reunion in 1957, she circulated a questionnaire to her former classmates. Their answers revealed deep frustration and unhappiness. Struck by these results, Friedan interviewed dozens of women, psychologists, and other experts. She published her conclusions in The Feminine Mystique (you can read excerpts from it by clicking here). The book became an immediate and controversial bestseller. Friedan received thousands of letters from grateful women. In 1966, she helped to found the National Organization for Women (NOW). She remains an active writer and women’s activist.
After reading portions of Friedan’s words, I would like you to consider and discuss the following: According to Friedan, what is the “problem that has no name?” Why are so many women dissatisfied? What solutions does Friedan propose? Describe the social and political impact of The Feminine Mystique. Who do you think found Friedan’s message most compelling? Who do you think found it most objectionable? Your thoughts…
9 comments:
the problem was that the women were dissatisfied. they were dissatisfied because they really had nothing! they took care of their husbands and children, but felt as though they really weren't doing anything. it's like with people working monotonous jobs in factories because of the industrial revolution. women were working monotonous jobs that left them unfulfilled. part of what makes many people suffer depression is feelings of emptiness. men were allowed to believe that they could somehow change the world, but women weren't offered this hope. it was also difficult to solve because the problem wasn't in something solid but in a mass feeling, though in a way was caused by something solid. the cause was that women either weren't allowed the same jobs as men or were alienated if they went out for these jobs. it was difficult for women to speak up because they were discriminated against if they did. so they either decided not to speak up or suffered once they did. the solution for it was quite simple: let the women do what the men do!
the problem was that women werent happy with their so called 'job' as a housewife. women wanted more to do in the day then cooking and cleaning and taking care of the children. they kinda wanted to feel wanted instead of like needed. this unequalness made women go to doctors with problems that werent realy problems. and i find it pretty bad that they even made a name for it. im sorry but the 'housewife syndrome' makes us sound like we have some rare disease that makes us crazy... and even though some women seemed crazy because they were basically blank on the inside, we werent crazy. we needed more in our lives.
i think Friedan was saying that the problem with no name was the unspoken dissatisfaction of American women, the general unease. That women needed to fit this perfect family image. This problem that has no name is women feeling incomplete as if marrying, having children, and keeping house is all they are ever supposed to do. Friedan says that women would go to psychiatrists to try and find a solution to what they were feeling. they would say, "I feel empty somehow . . . incomplete." Or she would say, "I feel as if I don't exist." and that the a doctor called this the," The housewife's syndrome"
Friedan obviously got a big response from women in agreement. I think Friedan was trying to tell america that they can no longer ignore the growing sense of something missing in a women's life.
the problem that has no name is the hole in american women. they couldn't exactly name the void that they were feeling because it was merely a void sucking the life out of them. they were dissatisfied with their lives because there was nothing more than a doll house facade to it. everyday the same story, the same perfect little house, the same routine with the children. there was nothing different or worthwhile. this sort of reminds me of the nazi officer in charge of the concentration camps. he realized what he was doing, and it did affect him, but what else could he do? that was his place and he was supposed to keep it. i think that's the mindset that most women were in. they didn't know how to break free of their 'hitler' telling them how to be the perfect housewife.
these were some pretty radical ideas because [like mr. prill said today] the soviets were using these things against the u.s. in the cold war. the soviet women were not pushed into this cult of domesticity, they were allowed to go out and work. the u.s. found this to be appalling because: how dare the soviets have one up on us! so thus women will gain some out of this because when the women start using marxist language and moving for liberal changes, then that means something needs to be done before the undermine the 'well maintained' capitalist/democratic system in the u.s.
i personally enjoy the feminist movements. i admire ladies like elizabeth cady stanton and susan b. anthony and now betty friedan.
Like Betty Friedan said...What kind of a woman was she if she did not feel this mysterious fulfillment waxing the kitchen floor? There is nothing that is satifying in any of their duties. They are like slaves. Socially...they have no independence and NO voice in anything..thats why I admire Betty Freidan!
i think the main reason that women were even speaking out was because they were forced intop this lifestyle through fear or just raised up that way. and finally they got sick of it. and when one dog barks(friedan) all the dogs start barking(all other women) so its only logical that women were given equal rights.
Women have always had this problem throughout world history, and as we can see in this document, it's all starting to unravel, and women are coming to that point after the cold war where they will finally be free.
women wanted more because all they had was family. they wanted to feel self fulfilled and doing that they would have to bacome more independent. it was a great way to open the world up to women and the fact that they were unhappy and wanted to do more with their lives. heres to u betty friedan, way to go on opening the world up to the unhappiness of women! :)
women felt like crap cuz they felt and thought that they had nothing and did all of this work for there kids and husband and felt like they got nothing in return.. women didnt have any hopes or dreams that the men could have and the women basically had nothing going for them. women felt like they couoldnt speak up but this book was a way for women to..
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