Betty Friedan The Importance Of Work Essay

In her essay “The Importance of Work,” from The Feminine Mystique published in 1963, Betty Friedan dives into the multivariate equation of self identification, and how women must involve themselves in more advanced work in society to fulfill their full human identity. Friedan wrote this essay to communicate with women about how they must have purpose and ambition if they want to live up to their potential. Friedan graduated with highest honors from the University of California Berkeley, co-founded the National Organization for Women, and has written many essays inspiring the feminist movement. “The Importance of Work,” is one of her most famous and renowned writings because of the way she uses rhetorical appeals and strategies to increase the persuasiveness of her argument.

Friedan exercises a very effective logical appeal when she presents the notion that one's identity is found in the work they do and explains how work in America has evolved over the past century and created a disadvantage for women.

In paragraph five, she writes “The identity crisis of American Women began a century ago, as more and more of the work important to the world, more and more of the work that used their human abilities and through which they were able to find self-realization in, was taken away from them.” This direct cause and effect perception can be easily followed because of the sound display of logical reasoning presented by Friedan. Throughout the essay, Friedman makes a very coherent logical appeal by stating that the expectations of women have changed resulting in women to be more passive, childlike, and feminine which does not mix well with advanced work in society. Advanced work is full of opportunities and promotions, resulting in a very competitive work environment which is not very kind to people with passive and childlike temperaments. Friedan associates these temperaments with less success in a competitive workplace and makes another comprehensible logical

appeal.
Friedan uses logical appeal in many instances to show how women are not fulfilling their human identity in society like they once had, but she also does a great job of using emotion to appeal to her audience with her articulate use of powerful language and metaphors. In paragraph thirteen, she writes “The feminine mystique has succeeded in burying millions of American women alive. Only such a personal commitment to the future can American women break out of the housewife trap and truly find fulfillment as wives and mothers.” The emotional appeal is made very effective by comparing the mystery of women’s self identity to being buried alive. She makes another powerful analogy by comparing the role of being a housewife to a trap that women will only be able to escape if they make a personal commitment to the future and become a part of the work they once took part in. These emotional appeals allow Friedan to connect with her audience effectively and convey the seriousness of women’s self identity.
In the beginning of the essay, Friedan starts the first paragraph by acknowledging the notion from many philosophers and psychologists that people are defined by work they do to an extent. She goes on to write about how work for men and women has changed because of advancements made in society. In paragraph two, she demonstrates an effective use of parallelism when she writes, “They have an unprecedented freedom to choose the kind of work they will do; they also have an unprecedented amount of time apart from the hours and days that must actually be spent in making a living.” This use of parallelism emphasizes ‘unprecedented’ and shows how the amount of freedom individuals in society possess today has never been seen before.
Allusions are an effective rhetorical strategy which address an argument without explicitly acknowledging a specific occurance. Friedan uses allusions throughout “The Importance of Work” to use generalities from psychologists and sociologists to support her claim that human identity comes from work that an individual takes part in.