Betty Friedan Research Paper

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Betty Friedan Imagine a world where society frowned upon women having jobs and working outside of the house. A society where almost every single housewife was unhappy. Society only allowed men to work and get an education and for women to be happy suburban housewives and mothers. A society where women just went to college for a husband rather than an education. This is what life was like during the 20th century. All this changed thanks to women’s activist leader Betty Friedan. She was a key contributor in helping the women’s rights movement. Betty Friedan helped identify and end “the problem that has no name” by writing several books, including the Feminine Mystique, and founding organizations to help fight more rights and freedom…show more content…
“The Feminine Mystique” encourages women to seek new opportunities. The myth that women wanted to be happy housewives was explored throughout this book. “The Feminine Mystique dispelled the myth that every woman needed to be a housewife. This book was the start of a social revolution and for many changes to come. This book was the start of her significant role in the women's rights movement. This was not the only book Betty Friedan wrote though. In 1982, Betty Friedan published her second book ‘The Second Stage’” (about.com). This book was to help women with the demands of work and home. Even though this book was still very successful, it was not as successful as her first book “The Feminine Mystique”. Her third and last one that had an impact on American society and culture was “The Fountain of Age”. In this book, Betty Friedan explored the life for older women and retirement. Again, this was not nearly as famous as her first book. Writing books was not the only thing Betty Friedan did to help fight “the problem that has no name”. She was the founder of the National Organization for Women. In this organization, Friedan and other women were important and key leaders in the fight for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. She was also a co-chair of the Women, Men and Media Organization. In this, she focused on gender based research that dealt with the gender and the media. Betty Friedan did many different things that helped fight, what she called, “the problem that had no
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    She came out and accused the media as well as other professions such as doctors of discriminating against women by arguing that since they are predominately male they allow for the housewife mentality that was prevalent of the time. In 1963, Betty Friedan published “The Feminine Mystique” with the intention of critiquing the media, this work was a key aspect in the origin of the 1960’s women’s movement (Williams, 57). This work publicized the concept that the media was the central cause of society’s

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