"Almost fifty years later, many of the women I interviewed still insist that her book saved their sanity, and maybe even their lives."
-Stephanie Coontz, author of A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s
Impact
Our topic, The Feminine Mystique, can be attributed to one of the biggest turning points in the women’s rights movement. This was important because it took part in encouraging women across the nation to become an individual force as well as to venture and explore options previously admonished. She writes, “the problem lay buried, unspoken for many years in the minds of American women." Women were bound to the household, chained to her family’s needs, expected to be the best wives, only by the nation’s perspective; Betty Friedan was determined to change that. In highlighting different areas overlooked by women and the conflicts they present, The Feminine Mystique helped to alter the mindset of women, to question their role in society, and to disregard negative ideas about being unfeminine. The customs of today were conventional during this time; if not for the people who defended the rights of women, our society would not be as it is today. Rights such as in the workforce and in health were developed during this time period. Would women in this time go to school, if their founding mothers didn’t have the courage to go against traditions and go to school? Where would women stand today if they had not come together to fight for their rights? This book was a major influence upon women which lead to the events and happenings that greatly impact the present day.
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