The Feminine Mystique

In 1963,  a book titled The Feminine Mystique was published by Betty Friedan. Friedan was a middle class housewife that realized life in the house was not for her. However, she says that she, and all other housewives, had been tricked into this life. She cites sociologists who rewrote research to make women who were not completely happy with being a housewife feel bad about themselves. Friedan tells them that it is not their fault that they feel this way as society has made them feel trapped.
However, Friedan's stories about her life seriously generalize the life of a housewife. She is lucky enough to live life as a suburban housewife. Lower class women did not completely see eye to eye with everything that was being said.
There was an interview and poll in the Post in the 1960s in relation to this book, with 1,800 women who answered, they were the "typical" American women. It found that, "few people are as happy as a housewife." However, they all knew their place. Women told the reporters that, "the man should be number 1," and wives were supposed to spend their time broadening their interests for their husbands, "so they won't bore" him. One woman said, "the female doesn't expect a lot from life." Many men took the book away from their wives and were very angry when their wives were asked to participate in the interview.
In the 1960s, women were not allowed by law to file for divorce. If they were divorced, women were not allowed to return to their maiden name. Women could not rent or buy a home on her own. Some states would not allow women to open a business with her name without court approval. Any income earned belonged to the spouse that earned it. If the couple divorced, and the husband had all of the income then he got all of the money when they divorced.

I have a few questions for the class. First of all, what do you guys think of this book? Was Friedan a forward thinker or was it wrong for her to publish this book? Was she too narrow in her thinking, as she was a middle class woman? What about the women that were interviewed and said that men were above women? Were they brainwashed or did they really feel that way? What about the laws that were in place at the time? What do you think the reasoning was?



Coontz, Stephanie. "A Strange Strring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s." Basic Books, New York 2011.