In presented by friedan in "a new life

In the years when women were only seen as wives and mothers and most weren’t able orexpected to work outside their own houses, appeared the soon-to- be best-seller by Betty Friedan, called The Feminine Mystique. She is said to be one of the main figures which helped to sparkthe beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States. The purpose of this paper is topresent the significance of the text for the gradual evolution of the women in the 1960s untiltoday. I believe that this text published in 1963 is one of great importance to the women fromthat time, as it changed the way they saw themselves and therefore the way they were perceivedby the society. It inspired women with the much needed inspiration to come out of their shellsand be their own persons. I am going to talk about the ideas and actions in “ A New Life Plan forWomen” which succeeded to bring about some important changes in the fight for women’s rightsand equality.

Borjog 2One of the most essential ideas presented by Friedan in “ A New Life Plan for Women” wasthe lack of education of the young mothers and housewives. Because of the fact that their liveswere pretty much already decided for them and they didn’t seem to have a say in that, most ofthem conformed with those unwritten rules of the time. (1) (Friedan, 233) But there were somewho strived higher and wanted to change this once and for all. “ The problem that has no name”, as Friedan named it in her book “ described the dilemma of a generation of college-educatedwomen who aspired to something more than diapering babies and mastering new recipes for theirworking husbands.” (2) (May, Women’s Roles in Twentieth-Century America, p.

20) Changingthis would bring women the opportunity to be educated, therefore considered normal, intelligentcitizens, and they could even be regarded as equal to men. What was thought by society backthen was “ that women could find fulfillment through housework, marriage, sexual passivity, andchild rearing alone.” (3) This was something which later on showed to be false.

In her book, Friedan suggested that an educational program resembling the GI bill, but for women, should becreated. She also mentioned it would be meant for women with a passion towards continuingtheir studies and applying that burning desire into a future profession. The certified ones wouldbe given tuition fees and a supplementary subsidy to help them with the cost of other expensessuch as books, travel and if needed, some help in the household. This measure wouldn’t cost asmuch as the GI bill.

In this way mothers could “ study and research projects at home during theyears when regular classroom attendance is impossible.” (4) (Friedan, 232) A different idea, but nevertheless still an interesting one would have to be the national program inspired by theDanish Folk-High- School movements. The housewives will be sent once again “ into themainstream of thought” with a complete six-week summer course, just like an intellectual “ shocktherapy.” Through this the activation of identifying their purposes would happen and the college