T u r n i n g P o i n t
The Feminine Mystique is a turning point in history because it gave women the courage and reason to find their identity. Many women were feeling the stress and emptiness of the feminist perspective, but with this new viewpoint women were given confidence to change their “normal” lifestyle knowing they were not alone.
Despite the controversy, many women started going back to school, getting jobs, divorcing their husbands, and standing up for their pregnancy rights. Women were beginning to create their own identity rather than follow the feminine mystique the press conjured up. Increasingly, women protested for their rights, pushing new laws to be made in order to ensure women’s rights were kept.
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In 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, prohibiting discrimination in the work force. In 1966, Betty Friedan helped founder as well as became the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), whose statement of purpose was to take action to ensure women "exercise all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men” and who addressed the issues on abortion rights, violence against women, constitutional equality, promotion in diversity, lesbian rights, and economic justice.
In 1972 the Equal Rights Amendment was finally passed, being a major victory for women’s rights. Without the encouragement of this book, many women would not be where they are today, and the same goes for the different success during this women’s liberation movement.
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