Analysis Of The Feminine Mystique

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The Feminine Mystique: Chapter 1 “The Problem that Has No Name”
Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique begins with an introduction describing the problem that has no name, which is the prevalent unhappiness of women. Friedan offers some case studies about unhappy women from around the United States, and Friedan wonders whether this unhappiness is connected to the female role of housewife. Friedan describes the differences between the past three generations of women. Grandmothers, Suffrage Feminists, and Mothers. Media representation and women 's magazines nurture the image of the uneducated wife and mother who is content taking care of her family in a house which is equipped with modern technological appliances. Sometimes the media would describe the role of the woman as rewarding. Women have their education, they have worked, …show more content…

Women dropping out of college in comparison to men dropped from 47% in the 1920’s to 35% in the 1950’s. At the end of the 1950’s, twenty became the average age of women marrying in America. Friedan discussed how the ages were continuing to drop, and 14 million teenage girls were engaged by the age of 17. The women’s freedoms included choosing home furniture, appliances and the family car. Self and home care were supposed to provide the right amount of happiness for the woman. Friedan discusses the 15 years since the end of the Second World War shapes feminine mystique as the core of contemporary American culture. Women 's dream was to be perfect wives and mothers, and their main efforts were directed at acquiring material goals and maintaining them. According to Friedan, women in the 60’s gave little attention to what was going on outside of their home and neighborhood, and proudly Accepted their profession of "homemaker.” Daughters were getting married younger and younger, and only being educated until marriage. Dropping out of high school and college after finding a

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