Susan Oliver On Betty Friedan

The beginning of the twentieth century in the United States was a difficult time full of oppression for most women, They're Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston along with Kate Chopin’s The Story of an Hour, and Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper all highlight female individualism and liberation from male oppression.

Women’s Rights were the great unfinished business of the 20th century. This movement saw two waves in the 1900s, the second wave coming in the 1960s.

America would not be the great country it is today if we did not have women of such strength as Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman. Both women “shared awareness of how their sexual identity combined with their racial identity to make their whole life situation and the focus of their political struggles unique” They defied the odds by standing up for what they believed in and taking action. Without early feminism and female activist the country would not be as advanced in equality as it is today. These women are still relevant today because they represent some of the origins feminism, though women do have the right to vote and the right to own land we have a far way to go to have complete equality with men. The wage gap and social injustices still occurring to modern day women remind us that we have to look back at the strong women that helped get us where we are now and inspire us to strive for equality in all fields of life because gender should not matter, we are all human

The role of a woman in society has always fit into a perfect box. Women were expected to be the dutiful wife, loving mother and housekeeper for her family. Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique, in 1963 hoping to unveil the truth behind women’s thoughts about their role in society. Friedan exposed that things were not always, as they seemed for the average mother and homemaker in the 1950s and 1960s. Kate Chopin wrote The Awakening in the 1850’s which told the story of Edna Pontillier and her struggles as a housewife and finding her true identity. These two literary works captured how women really felt about their everyday lives. They displayed that women were often unhappy and felt unfulfilled regardless that they were living the lifestyle

“A free race cannot be born of slave mothers” - Margaret Sanger (Brainy Quote). Margaret Sanger was a nurse, a feminist and an early women’s rights activist. She devoted her time towards the legalization of birth control and educating women about family planning options. Although she received opposition, Margaret Sanger revolutionized women’s battle for reproductive rights in America.

The search of identity is an issue familiar to contemporary society as well as to the society of 1963 when Betty Friedan published her feminist manifesto The Feminine Mystique. The main idea of Friedan 's article, "The Importance of Work," is the question of how individuals can recognize their full capacities and achieve identity. She argues that human identity is meaningful purposeful work, and individuals are not identified as women or men, just human based upon their work. Friedan believes work is what an individual does in his or her life; for example, snowboarding, songwriting, hockey, football etc. Friedan was an author, an activist, and the first president of the National Organization for Women. The National Organization for Women aimed to promote women 's ideas, eliminate discrimination, and protect the equal rights of women in all aspects of life. Friedan ignited the second wave of American feminism by writing The Feminine Mystique. Friedan 's audience would most likely be women who want their rights and are annoyed with the housewife role. In her article, "The Importance of Work," Friedan uses several means of persuasion and different types of rhetorical strategies to describe the change in human identity.

As with all theories, this feminist approach to Louise Halfe’s “Body Politics” does not come without its flaws. While it can be argued that this poem criticizes the performativity of feminine gender roles in a patriarchal society, this cannot be proven definitively without knowing the author’s original intentions. Furthermore, the poem does not give its readers enough information to conclude that the society the women live in is in fact a patriarchal society. This becomes evident, as there is no reference to any masculine figure – so any assumptions about the masculine-dominant culture are purely speculative. It is possible that Halfe wrote this poem in an attempt to challenge the gender binary, however one stands to question how successfully she is in doing so. In Butler’s theory, she introduces the idea that each woman’s feminism is her

In her essay, “The Importance of Work,” from The Feminine Mystique published in 1963, Betty Friedan confronts American women’s search for identity. Throughout the novel, Betty Friedan breaks new ground, concocting the idea that women can discover personal fulfillment by straying away from their original roles. Friedan ponders on the idea that The Feminine Mystique is the cause for a vast majority of women during that time period to feel confined by their occupations around the house; therefore, restricting them from discovering who they are as women. Friedan’s novel is well known for creating a different kind of feminism and rousing various women across the nation.

Though it was frowned for a woman to act, think, write, and speak like men, that didn’t stop them. In the book, Revolutionary Mothers by Carol Berkin, we learned that women were prohibited to exercise anything out of field and house work, especially politics, this book demonstrates that over the decades, women had altered that perception.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was, no doubt, one of the most important activists for the women’s rights movement in the nineteenth century. Not only was she the leading advocate for women’s rights, she was also the “principal philosopher” of the movement . Some even considered her the nineteenth-century equivalent of Mary Wollstonecraft, who was the primary British feminist in the eighteenth century . Stanton won her reputation of being the chief philosopher and the “most consistent and daring liberal thinker” of the women’s right movement by expounding through pamphlets, speeches, essays, newspaper and letters her feminist theory . However, despite being an ardent abolitionist during the Civil War who fought for the emancipation of all slaves , her liberal feminist theory was tainted by a marked strain of racism and elitism that became more conspicuous as she started pressing for women’s suffrage .

From the outset, literature and all forms of art have been used to express their author’s feelings, opinions, ideas, and believes. Accordingly, many authors have resorted to their writing to express their feminist ideas, but first we must define what feminism is. According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, feminism is “the belief that women should be allowed the same rights, power, and opportunities as men and be treated in the same way, or the set of activities intended to achieve this state”. As early as the fifteenth century is possible to find feminist writings. Centuries later, and although she never referred to herself as one, the famous English writer Virginia Woolf became one of the greatest feminist writers of the twentieth

Eye opener for every woman who is affected by secular lies, greed and the power of secular society, which affects the reduction of human life for the simple right to cancel. In the end, the evil designs of each driven by human greed for money and power. This amazing book is part memoir, part history, and more importantly, the story of how the family has changed since the 1960s. A former writer Cosmo explains how two people change the trajectory of the Women 's Movement by binding to the Sexual Revolution and the pro abortion movement in 1967, made the Roe vs Wade probably only six years later.

Robin Morgan a poet and mother of one boy, Blake Morgan that became a musician. Born January 29, 1941 (now 75 years old). Grew up in Mount Vernon, NY then, moved to Sutton Place in Manhattan. Robin Morgan’s father “Mates Morgenstern” never showed up to his child getting born, but then later during WW2 Mates Morgenstern died in war, ever since that happened Robin Morgan grew up with no father.

Growing up, Sandra Cisneros was restrained by poverty, family problems, feeling inferior, and loneliness depicted in The House on Mango Street “Until then I am a red balloon, a red balloon tied to an anchor” (Cisneros). She looked to reading as an escape, because that was where she found friends- among the characters in her story books. Her writing is shaped by what she has experienced in her life. She grew up during the civil rights movement, which also helped to create the feeling of inferiority that she was accustomed to. This writing period was called the contemporary period, which started in the 1940s- around the end of WWII. It is composed of both poetry and prose from a variety of styles and genres. Sandra created her own style of writing that she calls “Chicana.” In her writing she speaks out against the hardships she grew up with.

Women play a pivotal role in the growth and development of social, economic and political spheres. There are countable women in the history of the world who have made remarkable contributions to the various spheres. Their accounts are recorded in books, magazines and journals amongst others. The Feminine Mystique is one of the books that received a wide audience in the 1950s. Written by Betty Friedan, the book is highly associated with the revolutions that led to the women liberation movements. The chapter on the “Problem that has No Name,” explains the dilemma of women and the challenges they faced