The Feminine Mystique at 50

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feminine mystiqueIn 1963 Betty Friedan published “The Feminine Mystique”. The book is credited with ushering in second-wave feminism in the US which largely focused on women’s roles in the workplace, at home, in relation to men and to each other, and legal and reproductive rights. In the book Friedan writes of “the problem that has no name” meaning the unhappiness of women who wished to live more fulfilling lives outside of the confines of married motherhood. The book takes its title from the manufactured concept that women naturally wish to be wives and mothers and not much else; Friedan challenges this idea and urges women to pursue their ambitions.

Fifty years later we can see how this book has made an overwhelming impact on the life choices of girls and women, but as third wave feminism has shown and in light of recent articles highlighting the state of gender relationships and asking the Friedanian question “Can Women Have it All?” the issues facing women are far from over.

Stop by the Library today and check out “The Feminine Mystique” or one of the other seminal works on display such as “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman”, ”The Second Sex”, “The Female Eunuch”, “Sex and the Single Girl”, “Backlash”, and more!

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