I found it interesting that when she wrote this in 1949 she thought that the feminism was practically over. I guess it is a very subjective question to ask whether feminism is over yet? or will it ever end? Personally I don’t know what my answer is to these questions yet.
Betty Friedan exerpt:
This was my favorite piece of our reading for Tuesday’s class. So many of the descriptions she gave of the women in the 50’s shocked me. I didn’t realize how young women were getting married at the time or how they conformed to fit the media’s images of skinny blondes. I can still see remnants of what she described in the 50’s applicable to today’s married women. They are expected to take care of their children, do the house chores, look good, have a career, and make their husband happy all on their own. Many women in the 50’s were dissatisfied with their lives because they had very little meaning and everyday was the same but most women never said anything about it. I wonder how many married women today feel that same depression but are afraid to speak up. I think that most women today feel that they have to deal with a certain level of unhappiness because it comes with the territory. But some women may not realize that the unhappiness they choose to “deal with” also affects their children and spouse as well. How can a child not feel some sense of guilt when his mother is complaining about all the work she has to do around the house? It’s not the child’s fault that the laundry needs to be washed and the carpet needs to be vacuumed. I think that if I woman finds herself in a rut where she can’t seem to keep up with the house chores and she isn’t finding satisfaction in some area of her life then she needs to make some sort of change in her work life, home life, or both.
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