Blog for 20th century Feminism

 The first chapter of The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friendman focused on the idea that around the 1960’s, women started to become distraught and unfulfilled in their roles as home makers. I found it particularly interesting how Friedan responded to the theories of education being the cause of this phenomenon. She included excerpts from things that women of all educational backgrounds said about their lack of fulfillment as housewives. Although people thought that going to college and higher education was the reason for these women’s dissatisfaction, women who dropped out of high school to marry and start families had the same experiences of that of a woman with a PhD.

The idea of the “perfect housewife” was clearly heavily pushed in this time period. While looking at the Donna Reed intro we can see what society's “ideal” woman was seen to be. Instead of going off to work or fulfilling personal aspirations, society's “perfect” women stayed home and tended to her husband and children. 

I believe that the reason so many women found themselves dissatisfied with their lives caring for the home is because they were spending their lives fulfilling other’s needs always before their own. When life's greatest feats are having lunch ready for the kids and making sure your hair is done at the crack of dawn, what is there to look forward to? Not only was the pressure for women to stay at home, but they needed to enjoy it too. There's nothing wrong with being a homemaker or a housewife but when we expect all women to fit into the same narrow box of what is “acceptable” we don't allow them to pursue their personal goals and aspirations.