The Feminine Mystique: The National Organization For Women

983 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Second wave feminist movement essay

Justine N. Peñas
HIST 2323-02 10:00 AM
FEMINISM: THEN AND NOW

“The National Organization for Women Calls for Equality” is the mission statement of The National Organization for Women (NOW), as part of the second wave feminist movement. Journalist Betty Friedan and others founded the organization in 1966, where Friedan then served as NOW’s first president. There were several events believed to have led to the creation of NOW. From 1961 to 1963 was the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. In 1963, Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” was published, addressing the traditional idea that a woman’s role in society was to be kept in the home as a good wife and mother. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited gender …show more content…

These are responsibilities that include the financial means to sustain a household, and the homemaking skills to cultivate a wholesome home life, including childcare. It is rejected that a woman must rely on a man to sustain her livelihood, just as it is rejected for only women to dominate the household. The document addresses a state of “half-equality” that discriminates against both genders.
NOW reinforces that for American women to fully exercise equal rights, it is of their responsibility. To reinvent the image of the American woman, it is a woman’s purpose in doing so to speak up and act. It is best to keep in mind that women should not act out of hostility towards men, but because of the purpose in itself, and having the self-respect and dignity to not undervalue oneself. Instead of acting against men to rise above this depravity, it should be a goal to act with …show more content…

An issue stated by NOW today and NOW during the second-wave feminist movement is economic justice. According to the National Organization for Women website, “NOW advocates for wide range of economic justice issues affecting women, from the glass ceiling to the sticky floor of poverty. These include welfare reform, livable wages, job discrimination, pay equity, housing, social security and pension reform, and much more” . Also on the website pertaining to economic justice, “winning a constitutional guarantee of equality for women remains one of NOW’s top priorities” . Along with the continuing struggle of economic justice, some pressing issues for the American woman are reproductive rights and justice, violence against women, LGBT rights, and racial justice where women are now being doubly discriminated

Show More
Related

  • Shirley Chiisholm's Patriarchy: Race, Revolution And Women

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    This source provided the unique perspective of what was thought to be the perfect household, with a man who worked and a wife who cooked and cleaned. However, it also showed how a woman could also do what a man can do, and in some cases they could do it even better. This work is appropriate to use in this essay because it shows how men talked down to their wives as if they were children. This work shows the gradual progression of woman equality and how a woman is able to make her own decisions without her husband’s input.

    Read More

  • Women In The American Revolution Essay

    2329 Words  | 5 Pages

    Throughout most of recorded history, women generally have endured significantly fewer career opportunities and choices, and even less legal rights, than that of men. The “weaker sex,” women were long considered naturally, both physically and mentally, inferior to men. Delicate and feeble minded, women were unable to perform any task that required muscular or intellectual development. This idea of women being inherently weaker, coupled with their natural biological role of the child bearer, resulted in the stereotype that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Therefore, wife and mother were the major social roles and significant professions assigned to women, and were the ways in which women identified and expressed themselves. However, women’s history has also seen many instances in which these ideas were challenged-where women (and some men) fought for, and to a large degree accomplished, a re-evaluation of traditional views of their role in society.

    Read More

  • How the Civil Rights Movement Influenced the Women's Liberation Movement

    1779 Words  | 4 Pages

    Without the civil rights movement, the women’s movement likely would never have taken off on its own. The civil rights movement and the activists involved gave women a model for success. The method the civil rights movement used demonstrated the power of solving social problems through collective action. By using lunch counter sit-ins, organizing into national networks like the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and reaching into college campuses through the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the civil rights movement was able to bring together northerners and southerners, older and younger citizens and men and women to work for a single cause. Women took inspiration from this in the creation of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and other feminist groups – NOW even states in its Statement of Purpose that “there is no civil rights movement to speak for women, as there has been for Negroes and other victims of discrimination” and that NOW must take on that responsibility.

    Read More

  • American Marriage In Transition Analysis

    1952 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dating back to the early 20th century, women’s roles in the United States were very limited. In regards to family life, women were expected to cook, clean, and take care of their homes. Men, on the other hand, were in charge of working and providing for the family. Together, these designated roles helped men and women build off of each other to ultimately keep their families in check. As the years progressed, society began to make a greater push to increase women’s rights. As women started receiving greater equality and freedom, their roles began to shift. More women had to opportunity to leave the house and join the workforce. The norm for a married couple slowly began to change as men were no longer expected to individually provide for their

    Read More

  • Success of the National Organization for Women

    1829 Words  | 4 Pages

    The fight for gender equality along with women’s rights has been a battle for centuries. Over time many, women activists and organizations have step forward to help in advancing women’s progress in the world today. One organization that has made a tremendous contribution and has been extremely influential for women is the National Organization for Women (NOW). The organization has been around since 1966 and has more than 500,000 members and more than 500 local and campus affiliates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (National Organization for Women, 2012). NOW’s organization claims that there is a social problem of gender inequality and women’s rights and their goal is to “take action” by bringing about equality for all women. The National Organization for Women has six priority issues and they include: constitutional equality amendment, reproductive rights, racism, lesbian rights, violence against women and economic justice(National Organization for Women, 2012). The organization has been quite successful in raising awareness and creating social change over the years. By using the Social Problems Process to analyze the organization it would then become evident as to why NOW has been so successful, where they still need to improve and where they are heading.

    Read More

  • Evolution of Traditional Values: A Perspective on Gender Equality

    1473 Words  | 3 Pages

    As centuries pass by, generations also pass their traditional values to the next generation. some people still think the way their ancestors thought and believe in what they believed in. During the beginning of 1890 people couldn’t have premarital sex, women had to be the caretaker while men were the breadwinner. During this century, those perspectives have changed, argued Stephanie Coontz, the author of “The American Family”. Coontz believes women should have more freedom and there should be gender equality.

    Read More

  • The Challenges Of Feminism In The 1960's

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Feminism is both an intellectual commitment and a political movement that seeks justice for women and the end of sexism in all forms” (Baptiste). Just as in the past, feminism continues to act as a controversial issue among men and women. In the 1960’s, women finally addressed workplace inequity and created woman organizations to achieve equality. In the early 1960’s, the Equal Pay Act and the Civil Rights Act set a milestone for women’s progression towards work equality. Though women have made great leaps towards true equality, women still face many challenges and continue to be categorized as the subservient gender.

    Read More

  • Women's Movement Of 1960's

    1213 Words  | 3 Pages

    But when the “Women’s Movement,” is referred to, one would most likely think about the strides taken during the 1960’s for equal treatment of women. The sixties started off with a bang for women, as the Food and Drug Administration approved birth control pills, President John F. Kennedy established the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman, and Betty Friedan published her famous and groundbreaking book, “The Feminine Mystique” (Imbornoni). The Women’s Movement of the 1960’s was a ground-breaking part of American history because along with African-Americans another minority group stood up for equality, women were finished with being complacent, and it changed women’s lives today.

    Read More

  • National Organization for Women

    2250 Words  | 5 Pages

    National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest feminist activists’ interest group in the United States that seeks to protect the individual rights of women. The influential success of NOW can be understood through the following factors. Its’ concrete background; nearly half century worth of history as foundation; well structured organization; membership incentives; the function and approach of NOW/PAC and NEP; up to date Statement of Purpose; high priority to key issues that benefits society as a whole; and lastly the services that NOW provides on the global scale. NOW currently has 500,000 active members and 550 chapters throughout the 50 states and District of Columbia.

    Read More

  • The Outdated Views in a Doll House

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    There once was a time when females had basically no rights or opportunities. Women were expected to stay at home and keep their interests purely on chores at home involving cleaning, cooking, and taking care of the kids. American Women have come a long way since this time in only around 90 years. Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll House depicts most of the outdated views on women’s rights compared to the equality women have in this day and age.

    Read More

  • Women’s Equality in Ethical Theory and Perspective

    2226 Words  | 5 Pages

    Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the entitlement of women have become more prevalent. “The general consensus at the time was that men were more capable of dealing with the competitive work world they now found themselves thrust into. Women, it was assumed, were unable to handle the pressures outside of the home. They couldn’t vote, were discourages from working, and were excluded from politics. Their duty to society was raising moral children, passing on the values that were unjustly thrust upon them as society began to modernize” (America’s Job Exchange, 2013). Although there have been many improvements in the changes of women’s equality towards the lives of women’s freedom and rights in society, some liberals believe that women have a journey to go before they receive total equality. After WWII, women continued to progress in there crusade towards receiving equality in many areas such as pay and education, discrimination in employment, reproductive rights and later was followed by not only white women but women from other nationalities ...

    Read More

  • The Equal Pay Act

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are nearly as many women as there are men working, yet, as it was discovered in 2011, on average, a woman will only earn seventy-seven cents for every dollar that a man earns. Women owned businesses make up for over a quarter of all national businesses and earn more than one point two trillion dollars (“Assessing the Past, Taking Stock of the Future” 6). Since many women are now becoming are the primary sources of income in the household, making less that a man does not only negatively affect families, but also the overall economy suffers as well. These women, among many others, are the ones who end up purchasing the supplies that go toward improving communities and stimulating the economy. There is no reason that the general public should stand for this. Women should be treated equally to men in today’s American society based on their biological compositions, psychological profiles and contributions to history.

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in American Society

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women and men are nestled into predetermined cultural molds when it comes to gender in American society. Women play the roles of mothers, housekeepers, and servants to their husbands and children, and men act as providers, protectors, and heads of the household. These gender roles stem from the many culture myths that exist pertaining to America, including those of the model family, education, liberty, and of gender. The majority of these myths are misconceptions, but linger because we, as Americans, do not analyze or question them. The misconception of gender suggests that biological truths no longer dictate our gender roles as men and women; they derive from cultural myths. We, as a nation, need to do severe critical thinking about this delusion of gender, how has limited us in the home, media, and education, how it currently limits us, and what the results of the current and future changes in gender roles will be.

    Read More

  • The Women's Liberation Movement

    1111 Words  | 3 Pages

    The focus of The Women’s Liberation Movement was idealized off The Civil Rights Movement; it was founded on the elimination of discriminary practices and sexist attitudes (Freeman, 1995). Although by the 1960s women were responsible for one-third of the work force, despite the propaganda surrounding the movement women were still urged to “go back home.” However the movement continued to burn on, and was redeveloping a new attitude by the 1970s. The movement was headed by a new generation that was younger and more educated in politics and social actions. These young women not only challenged the gender role expectations, but drove the feminist agenda that pursued to free women from oppression and male authority and redistribute power and social good among the sexes (Baumgardner and Richards, 2000).

    Read More

  • The Fight for Women's Rights

    1168 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the past, many people believed that women’s exclusive responsibilities were to serve their husband, to be great mothers and to be the perfect wives. Those people considered women to be more appropriate for homemaking rather than to be involved in business or politics. This meant that women were not allowed to have a job, to own property or to enjoy the same major rights as men. The world is changing and so is the role of women in society. In today’s society, women have rights that they never had before and higher opportunities to succeed.

    Read More

More about The Feminine Mystique: The National Organization For Women

Open Document