Betty Friedan Women In The 1950s

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In the early 1950s, activists like Betty Friedan or Edith Stern introduced new ways of thinking for a woman in a male dominated society. The first sparks of feminism ignited a flame that would start the huge women’s liberation movement in the 70s. Women joined together, demanding the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. They would no longer be satisfied without full constitutional rights. In the 1950’s and 1960’s American society’s view on the woman’s place reflected a traditional way of life. Many men, and women, believed that the ideal family included a male breadwinner, with a full-time stay at home wife/homemaker, and 3-4 children. A woman's life played a domestic role. Feminist writer Betty Friedan put a name to this philosophy in her book titled, The Feminine Mystique. According to the feminine mystique, “women should find fulfillment in devotion to their homes, …show more content…
America needed to rid themselves of all the previously stated myths, as well as many other binding social myths. Women should no longer be thought of as passive in nature. Women would not be thought of to have smaller brains than the male, with the inability to govern themselves. Women were not to be thought of as sex objects, with childlike natures. Women deserved to have equal pay, employment opportunity, and not have to deal with discrimination on the daily. Steinem believed that the “masculine mystique” has more to do with the trouble in this country than the female, being that masculinity depended on the subjugation of others. Steinem states that women participation in politics would be good for the country, and be able to make a lot of change. “Perhaps women elected leaders-and there will be many of them-will not be so likely to dominate black people or yellow people or men; anybody who looks different from us. After all, we won’t have our masculinity to prove.” (Steinem Testifies,
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