A Critical Review of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique

A Critical Review of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique

Introduction

In Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, she reveals the “problem with no name.” This undefined issue led women across the country to depression and was due to the tragic sexism in the 1960s. The main problem was how women struggled against who they were versus what the world told them they had to be. As these women grew up, they were encouraged to focus on being the ideal housewife in America. Unfortunately, many women in America made this dream come true and later found it hadn’t fulfilled their life. Instead, they found themselves only working for others and ultimately unfulfilled. The purpose of Betty Friedan’s work was to bring to light the problems the American women faced during and how it was affecting them mentally, making them depressed and unmotivated, lacking a personal identity.

Friedan begins by saying the average age of marriage for the American woman was dropping as the number of children increased. This culminated in general unhappiness that engulfed the entire generation of women raised to believe that all they could do in life was to be a mother and a housewife. She brings to light the idea that the society created that she describes as ‘The Feminine Mystique’ where only men dominated everything and deceived the population in thinking that the ideal American women could only find fulfillment in being a housewife. All over the country, the American women kept asking themselves if this is what life is all about when making beds, shopping for groceries, taking the kids to schools, and doing other housewife’s duties.

When the women were young, they were confined to believe their duty was to a husband. Once they were married, their duties were to be a wife and a mother. When American women addressed this current situation, many spoke in a desperate tone, and their eyes reflected a feeling of distress and lack of personality. Women gradually began to realize that their tasks were not based solely on housewife work. Still, they gladly accepted that this was a beginning to make them miserable and ruin their personality. While women found it ideal to say at home with their children, many said, “It doesn’t make you think about anything, and it’s rather stressful.” The women in America wanted to do more that would impact society and desired more freedom of expression.

Betty Friedan’s problem turned out to be a significant issue when the media and the women decided to talk about the problem that had no name. For many years, nobody had been talking about the question of whether women are considered inferior to men. Since the idea that women should always be doing housewife roles at home influenced the way, men, women, and children lived. While many of the unexplained issues were a result of the period’s social norms, there have been several sexist norms that have played a significant role in the matter. The gender structure had already been established, and no tasks outside the household chores were planned for the women. Instead, their rightful place was at home with the children and doing household chores. This mindset leads to women lacking a happy life.

Therefore, they started fighting for their freedom of expression in society because they wanted something more than waiting for their husbands, nurturing their children, and doing housewife chores. It was complicated for the community to grasp what the American women wanted since the “problem that has no name” could not be understood by of age problems of man such as poverty sickness or hunger. The issue with the suburban housewife was contemporary, and the frustration experienced by women was critical that led to simplistic advice being given by physicians, psychologists, and counselors because they did not understand why the American was unhappy (Friedan, 21). It prompted the doctors to coin the issue as a housewife condition that was a sign of disappointment and distress in her home life. The “problem that has no name” made the society in searching for the origin of the problem. This issue caused some doctors to equate the unhappy lives of the American women to matters involving sex, while others assumed the women were just overwhelmed with the housewife duties.

Conclusion

The American woman was not content with performing usual household roles anymore. Betty Friedan brings this to light by noticing many of the American women were unhappy as they sought to fit into the feminine mystique image. She points out that this is unhappiness was a result of the expectations of society and the media. That women need to fulfill the traditional role of a woman, which was similar to a suburban housewife. Nevertheless, the urge of American women to define themselves as happy people, but not as mere wives and mothers, was fundamental to the feminist movement.

Work Cited

Friedan, Betty. The problem that has n