Main Post: Summary of Echols and Friedan

Summary of Echols “The reemergence of the ‘Woman Question’”

Echols’ article does a good job of explaining the transition from an all-encompassing Movement to the separation into the Women’s movement. Early 60’s political activism led to the formation of the SDS and the SNCC. Both groups were products of the new left, which differed from the old left in several ways including the encouragement of expressive politics. This called for addressing personal problems through political action. These groups took the front seat in fighting the battle for civil rights and the anti-war movement. Women participated in the activism through these groups, but it slowly became apparent that they were only allowed to do “women’s” work. As this unrest grew divisions began to occur in the group. There was tension between white women and black women, who felt as if they were being treated differently. Then there was a shift away from expressive politics, as well as the emergence of black power as the most popular strategy. All of these divisions created an environment that continually pushed white women’s problems to the side and claim that their ideas were unimportant. Women decided to learn from the civil rights movement and the shift to black power, which showed that having others define and fight for your problems is not the answer. All of these events resulted in the separation of the women’s movement from the greater Movement and gave women the inspiration to fight their own battles.

Summary of Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique”

Betty Friedan’s writing explores the idea of women’s general dissatisfaction with the life that they are living. She calls this dissatisfaction “”the problem that has no name” which accurately reflects the refusal of society to admit its existence. It simply was not socially acceptable for a woman to express that she wanted more in life than a husband and children. To say that one was not feeling fulfilled by this housewife lifestyle was interpreted as an insult to one’s husband and families. Allegiance and love for their families resulted in this unhappiness remaining hidden. Instead it manifested itself physically in “Housewife’s fatigue” and the need for prescription of drugs like tranquilizers. After exploring this hidden discontent Friedan proposed that there should be a bill similar to the GI bill to encourage the education of women. She claims that this bill would not only be beneficial to women, but that it would stop the destruction of families that can come with depression. This problem that has no name is not solely the responsibility of women to fix, but society must help and the first step is recognizing that it exists.