THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE 1

The Feminine Mystique

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Introduction

It is 56 years since the first publication of The Feminine Mystique in 1963. The book

was written by Betty Friedan based on what she referred as nameless problem. The Feminine

Mystique mostly talks about the challenges that women were encountering before, during and

likely after the world war two. It converses of numerous women who were doomed even after

having been married with families and substantial well-being. It describes the problems that

typical woman faced that time and how society had no concern to deal with these downsides.

Further, The Feminine Mystique goes on to discuss how women were confined from major

places and activities in society due to economic and social influence in the society

Background of Friedan

Friedan live between 1921 to 2006. She was an American, writer and activist majorly

on feminism. His writing of The Feminine Mystique brought about a strong wave of ladies’

groups in United States. Friedan in her young age she was energetic in mutually Jewish and

communalist loops. She inscribed her sense of isolation from the society and her passion

counter to inequality. She joined Peoria High School, and engaged in the school newspaper;

and after her request to write a post was crooked dejected, she hurled Tide magazine with her

six comrades, which was based on home life rather than institute life. Friedan joined Smith

College, girls/females institute, she was presented with scholarship prize for her excellence

performance while in first year.

Betty graduated in 1942 at Smith College. She moved to New York city despite

having been offer a scholarship to University of California. Freidan got married and had three

children, unfortunately lost her job while pregnant with her second born. In the process of

staying unemployed, she felt more of homeworker and started to wonder if other ladies had

the same feeling. In the quest to answer these questions, she decided to carry a survey on
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other alumnus of her former college, Smith College (Friedan, 2010). The results of the survey

formed the foundation her book The Feminine Mystique. Many of the women she

interviewed seemed unhappy and desolated in the society. They expressed their position as

that of housewives in the community. Freidan condemned the women’s position in society,

education and magazine for advertising this women’s image.

Before the arrival of The Feminine Mystique, women’s movements were dormant and

actually there seemed no movement at all. According to Friedan, after the world war 2 men

returned home and women were forced to fill the gaps men had created when going to fight.

In addition, they were likely to return to their homes and carry home chores as women. War

veterans depended on their wives for nurturing after returning from fighting during the

second world war (Friedan, 2010). Friedan data show that nearing the end of 1950s,

approximately 15 million teenage girls could be engaged at the age of 17 years and marriage

age drop to 20 years. Moreover, the number of women admitted to colleges dropped by 12

percentage around 1958.

In the course of 1950s, a large number of females dropped out of the school to get

married, or stop their education and opted to get married before what was termed as

becoming undesirable in the marriage bracket. During this time, much of media report aimed

at downsizing the women’s importance to education, describing them as fit for marriage and

house activities only (Friedan, Fermaglich & Fine, 2013). As Friedan’s survey illustrated,

most of women accepted of feeling confined as housewives. Newspapers and magazines by

then, at cheering females to appear, act and sense a certain way in order to appeal and retain a

man. In addition, studies constantly seemed to illustrate that female’s sex was a danger to

solidity of community and that overly, they were considered lesser in the community.
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According to Friedan, many of female adult were not aware that they had the same

experience of unhappiness in the society. They encountered unhappiness and even laid the

blame on themselves on which Friedan describes as problem with no name. There were no

substantial women’s movements during this time, but the Communist party and the

unifications in its revolution remained amongst the few group concerned about women

welfare in the society. As reporter, Friedan wrote about the issues affecting women in the

society and around 1946 formed a Congress of American women to undress the problems

facing the working-class ladies (Friedan, Fermaglich & Fine, 2013). Women were

constrained to schools, and spiritual institutes and government as consequence of societal and

economic aspects that were credited and connected with the part of men and women in the

society.

One of the factors depicted in by The Feminine Mystique is the decisions related to

women in magazine. The stories as well as articles maintained on how females stayed either

contented housewives or hopeless professionals, hence creating the feminine charisma; the

impression that women stayed obviously satisfied by dedicating their lives to being

housewives and moms (Friedan, 2010). Friedan dismissed this, with claim that back in 1930s,

magazines presented self-confident and sovereign superwomen, several of whom stood

involved in professions.

Friedan argue that women need to be independent. She remembers of her choice to

adapt to society’s prospects by forsaking her hopeful occupation in psychology to raise kids.

Friedan illustrate that other teenage females still fought with the alike decisions. Several

women left school prematurely to marry, due to uncertainties of waiting too long or getting

too educated not to attract a husband (Friedan, Fermaglich & Fine, 2013). She argued that

woman uniqueness is determined by her natural being. The only problem according to The

Feminine Mystique is women getting mature and seek for their being identity; in logic that
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drives past at all woman’s life. Moreover, Friedan outline the early time of feminists and how

they tried to fight for the rights of women, and assumptions that their essential duty be

singled to housewives and mothers.

Friedan outline Freud as having a great influence in United States during the time of

publication of her book. According to her, Freud describes a woman as naive and as ordained

to be housewives. Under Freud’s words, women are more less than housewives and less

wanted career in their youth and for that Freud’s study raised the feminine inscrutability

(Friedan, Fermaglich & Fine, 2013). In addition, Friedan assesses functionalism, which tries

to elaborate the social sciences in studying the institutions of the society. As the institutions

are studied on basis of functionality, women are narrowed to their erotic biological parts as

housewives and moms as well as being told that doing else would trouble the societal

stability (Friedan, Fermaglich & Fine, 2013). There was change in women’s education from

1940s to 1960s. Many ladies’ schools focused on non-challenging programs that engrossed

typically on marital, household and other topics believed suitable for women. The tutors

impacted by the functionalism sensed that much considerable education would pamper

ladies’ femininity and capacity for sexual contentment.

Consequently, these changes in education affected many girls in terms of emotional

growth at tender age, since they never required to encounter the throbbing self-crisis and

following development that arises from dealing with various adult encounters (Friedan,

2010). The Feminine Mystique displays that publicists tried to inspire housewives to reason

of themselves as specialists who required countless specific products to do their jobs, while

dispiriting housewives from having real professions (Friedan, Fermaglich & Fine, 2013).

Friedan minutes that sex cannot satisfy entirely of a somebody’s requirements, and that tries

to make it have it frequently castigates wedded females to have dealings or drive their

spouses away as they develop preoccupied with sexual activity.

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The Feminine Mystique study of females’ place in the humanity was pretty

inspirational. Politicians now know obstructions of ladies outstanding to in share to Betty

Friedan. As a result of The Feminine Mystique, the Act on equal pay was set in 1963, stating

that a woman should receive equal pay as men for same work. The Feminine Mystique

created a foundation for discovering new thoughts of females’ discovery of individual

realization separate from their old roles. Friedan established the National Organization for

Women and became the first head in 1966 (Friedan, Fermaglich & Fine, 2013). The

organization necessitated for the uplift of all blockades to identical and economic

development. Moreover, Friedan founded National Association for the Repeal of Abortion

Laws which sought for abortion rights for women. Further, she anticipated for women to play

a bigger part in the political course (Friedan, 2010). Notwithstanding the

subsequent disparagement, The Feminine Mystique irrefutably stimulated countless women

to reflect about their roles and personalities in community.

Conclusion

The Feminine Mystique was based on the encounters of women in the society during

and after the second world war. Friedan grounded her ideas considering the true picture of the

society. Being one of the affected during this time, she ventures to address these problems

and empower the women to know their role apart from being housewives. Since its first

publication, The Feminine Mystique has prompted many women to realize their potential.

The impact of Friedan’s work is witnessed in the current society through the women

movements which are established to fight for women’s rights and position in the society.
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Reference

Friedan, B. (2010). The feminine mystique. WW Norton & Company.

Friedan, B., Fermaglich, K. L., & Fine, L. M. (2013). The feminine mystique. WW Norton.