First Paper - Feminist Theory Perspectives

The writings Feminist Class Struggle by bell hooks and The Feminine Mystique by Betty

Freidan are two great readings situated in the second-wave feminist movement with different

perspectives on feminist politics and gender equality. This essay will compare the similarities

and contrast the differences between these two important articles of feminist theory. Written in

the 1960s The Feminine Mystique is a liberal feminist article that speaks of a problem arising

from the domestic confinement of the American suburban housewife and its consequences.

Feminist Class Struggle is a radical feminist piece that is part of bell hook’s book Come Closer

to Feminism covering a list of issues in the feminist movement. It makes a contrary point that

women have been separated along the lines of class by the ruling patriarchy allowing for the

voices of only a few privileged women to be heard in the feminist movement. Furthermore, it

responds to the Feminine Mystique by clarifying the plight of the majority of American women

who were in the workforce during her time and how the voice of the confined housewife was

only representative of the minority of American women who had no experience in the real

conditions of the poor female working class. While these writings approach gender equality

differently they find common ground as second-wave feminist movements in their support for

women in society and the workforce.

There is a White Feminist approach in The Feminine Mystique that focuses on the lives

of white middle-class women and is rebuked by Feminist Class Struggle in its definition of

gender equality as the need for intersectionallity between feminist social movements. With the

numbers of women forsaking their education to get married, The Feminine Mystique encourages

American suburban housewives to pursue careers and defeat the unrewarding feminine ideal
created for them by society. Feminist Class Struggle explains how these housewives are only

representative of a privileged class minority of American women who are also well-educated

compared to the low-working class female majority at the time. Hooks compares the conditions

of the poor female working-class to suburban housewives saying, “Many of these working

women who were putting in long hours for low wages while still doing all the domestic work in

the household would’ve seen the right to stay home as ‘freedom.’ (FFE pg.38)” Feminist Class

Struggle globalizes and expands the fight for gender equality to comprise all feminist social

movements. Hooks writes, “Western women have gained class power and greater gender

inequality because a global white supremacist capitalist patriarchy enslaves and/or subordinates

masses of third-world women. (FFE pg.43)” She believes that gender equality cannot be

achieved until class elitism is dismantled by social change and highlights the experiences of

working women through the voices of lesbians and women of color.

The Feminine Mystique has a liberal perspective emphasizing giving women personal

autonomy to regulate their household life and pursue careers in society while Feminist Class

Struggle outlines the need for a radical reformist vision of feminism to dismantle the divisions of

class created by the patriarchy. The Feminine Mystique calls for important legislation to achieve

feminist social change. Friedan’s proposed bill for a national education program to support

women serious about continuing their education and making use of it in a profession was a

crucial step for white middle-class women to find their ‘inner calling’ to pursue a career of their

own and witness the plight of women in the workforce for themselves to create solidarity in

feminist labor unions and promote women’s rights in the workforce. Friedan’s advice for women

to save time on household work for more creative use was also crucial for women’s social and
personal autonomy. In Feminist Class Struggle, hooks applauds the reformist gains of some

feminist women of class power to dismantle class elitism and support their low-working class

comrades. She says that “Reformist efforts on the part of privileged groups of women to change

the workforce so that women workers would be paid more and face less gender-based

discrimination and harrassment on the job had positive impact on the lives of all women. (FFE

pg.39)” She also encourages increased solidarity between women to remove the system of class

elitism by calling on women with class power to put in place low-income housing women can

own to fight the evident ‘feminization of poverty.’

Feminist Class Struggle and The Feminine Mystique are excellent second-wave feminist

readings that raise cultural awareness for women’s educational opportunities, economic rights,

and health. In The Feminine Mystique, Friedan points to the increasing numbers of women

forsaking their education to get married. She says that “By the end of the nineteen-fifties the

average marriage age of women in America dropped to 20, and was still dropping into the

teens. .. The proportion of women attending college in comparison with men dropped from 47

per cent in 1920 to 35 per cent in 1958… By the mid-fifties, 60 percent dropped out of college to

marry or because they were afraid too much education would be a marriage bar. (EFR pg.271)”

These statistics build on Friedan’s proposal of the national education program for women to

unleash their creativity and pursue careers to get to know who they are and make an impact on

society. The national education program would provide women with money to cover their

educational expenses, and regear college to a life plan under which women can continue their

education without conflict with their marriage. Feminist Class Struggle insists that rights for

women in the workplace cannot be achieved without the reformist movement of privileged
women raising awareness of the economic rights of the majority of women doing the same work

as men for less pay and facing gender-based discrimination in the workplace in the same way

they face household confinement. One example of hook’s call for solidarity amongst women to

achieve their rights was her idea of the creation of housing co-ops with feminist principles to

show that feminist struggle is relavent to all women’s lives. The Feminine Mystique also raises

awareness of the deteriorating health of suburban housewives as they try to fit the conventional

picture of femininity and how the ‘problem with no name’ took so many women to the doctor. Its

side effects were more than just a lack of identity for women apart from being wives or mothers

and included ‘housewife’s fatigue’ causing many women to sleep more than normal adults.

To summarize, although both readings provide great ways of aspiring feminist social

change, it is clear that The Feminine Mystique represents the voices of a privileged class

minority amongst women who have the luxury of believing that work outside the home would

give them gender equality. The Feminine Mystique raises awareness of the percentages of

women choosing marriage over an education/career and the impact it has on their health. It

provides great ideas for women to achieve gender equality in this sense by outlining the

proposed feminist social policy of a national education program for women to see marriage for

what it really is and work towards a career in society. Feminist Class Struggle raises awareness

of class elitism used by the patriarchy to exploit women and create gender inequalities. It

outlines the solidarity needed between feminist social movements so that the voices of feminism

are inclusive of all women. With regards to intersectionality, I question why the majority of the

powerful voices of white middle-class women in mainstream media were not capable of

supporting the majority of women throughout the nation in achieving equal pay for the same

work as their male counterparts.