The Feminine Mystique And The Paradox Of Change - American Women In The 20th Century - Essay Example

ORDER No: 479999 First & s Course Professor Date The Feminine Mystique and the Paradox of Change: American women in the 20th Century Both works were written by authors who were deeply concerned by the place of women in modern America, in particular the changes that were brought about by the advent of World War II. Friedan’s book was conceived as a result of a reunion visit to her Alma Mater [Smith, a women’s college] during which she circulated a questionnaire to some 200 former classmates. An analysis of the responses confirmed her belief that many American women were unhappy without being aware of the cause. Some years later she published her findings, and in her book she describes this unhappiness as “The problem that has no name” (Friedan 57-79). Her contentions are backed up by a mass of research into different theories and statistics which ultimately cause her to place the blame on “an idealized image of femininity that she calls ‘the feminine mystique’ [the happy housewife]” (Friedan 79-123; 123-137). Chafe, while covering much of the same ground, concentrates on the failure of legislation and social change to achieve the true emancipation of women, who remained for many years inferior to men in terms of occupational status and reward (Chafe 135-154; Otero-Cleves 1- 2). The purpose of this essay is to examine each of the contributions in turn and to analyze their positive and negative aspects; after which a conclusion will be attempted. It should also be noted that Friedan’s book was published in 1963 while Chafe’s ideas were expounded over a quarter of a century later [1991] by which time, although their research had a considerable overlap, the approach to the problem may have shifted somewhat in the light of more recent developments. It is now appropriate to examine how Last name 2 the two writers approached the subject. The two approaches Betty Friedan As a result of the survey Friedan formed the view that women were victims of an erroneous contention that their fulfillment in life could only be achieved “through their husbands and children…such a system causes women to completely lose their identity in that of their family” (Friedan 227-268). In contrast to William Chafe, Betty Friedan confines her observations mainly to the period immediately following World War II and to a single group: “white middle-class suburban communities…[and] that men returning from war turned to their wives for mothering” (Friedan 79-123). Friedan draws copiously on her own experiences and “remembers her own decision to conform to society’s expectations by giving up her promising career to raise children and found that other young women still struggle with this decision” (enotes; Friedan 127-137) William H. Chafe Chafe’s method of dealing with the development of American women’s position in the 20th century is to consider how women - in regard to both their social and economic status – underwent a series of changes. In order to achieve this he took as his central theme the factors underlying women’s inequality and evaluated it in terms of their “political involvement in public life and their economic progress” (Chafe 21; Otero-Cleves 1). By considering how the role of women in the 20th century had developed, he was able to offer the suggestion that:- Success in the wider, political, field was not always accompanied by an enhancement of the economic status of women Even if there was a “social change on women’s political and economic experience [it did not lead to] immediate social reform” (Chafe 154-175; Otero-Cleves 1) Last name 3 Women’s inequality compared with men was not solely the result of public regard and institutional constraints, but also the result of such factors as gender, race and class. In considering these three elements of women’s “inferiority”, Chafe maintains that although winning the vote certainly gave women the freedom to exercise their civic powers, they were expected to restrict their activities to those matters considered to be “‘women’s sphere’, such as nurturance, education and morality” (Chafe 67); neither did the social change of wartime employment generate social reform since, after the war women were expected to revert to their traditional role. He also argued that this view tended to influence the labor market: “The assumption that women constituted a separate and inferior category ended up by pervading both the assignment of women personnel and the salaries they were paid” (Chafe 69) The positive aspects of each approach Whilst Friedan’s points were often confused and tended to wander into psychology, German atrocities (Friedan 166-268; 393-504) and advertising (Friedan 268-362) the message that women in the first half of the 20th century were conditioned to accept a subordinate role and to be limited to the demands of the family was spelled out loudly and clearly. She also made the point that only grudgingly and gradually were they “allowed” to pursue their own intellectual goals without fear that this would diminish their chance of marriage. Whilst she managed to explain the “Feminine Mystique” as the source of women’s unhappiness and gave them the key to do something about it, it is debatable if – despite the empowerment of women – they became much happier. William Chafe is quite firm on the three positions mentioned above and suggested that even if social changes were not followed immediately by social reform, they did contribute to the introduction of more far-reaching changes which had been brought to the surface of consciousness by World War II. Thus, women – especially “better-off white women” were able to demand, and often achieved, the right to wrk as well as have family responsibilities Last name 4 Negative positions Betty Friedan Although widely acclaimed as one of the central books on the theme of women’s place in society her treatment of the subject was widely criticized. Keith Reeve, for example, publishes a formidable catalogue of errors in her research (Reeve) which fall into the following topics: Statistics, Higher Education, Employment and Social Problems. In all of these he claims that not only were the data unreliable, comparisons were often made with inappropriate sources, essential demographic trends and “historical factors that were essential to a proper understanding” (Reeve) were ignored or handled superficially, footnotes were either incorrect or misleading, and mistakes were sometimes not merely careless but could be taken as “a deliberate attempt to mislead” (Reeve). Whilst not taking away the essential message of the work, they seriously devalue its credibility. Daniel Horowitz also offers severe criticisms of her life and persona (Horowitz) William H Chafe Chafe becomes less certain when he addresses he sources of women’s inequality. Whilst re-iterating the familiar mantra of “women’s work” he points out that opportunities of choice were not equally available to women of different class or race (Chafe 63-79). White women had access to clerical jobs while black women generally aspired to domestic service. He also maintained that “race and class have served as instruments of oppression and inequality between women, but ‘gender itself overlapped these categories’ as an additional source of inequality shared by all” (Chafe 77). He further clouds the issue by stating “In short, ‘women like men’…are so shaped by the intersection of different variables of gender, class, and race that to attempt a generalization on the basis of gender alone is ludicrous” (Chafe pp xi) “A monolith view of women’s roles becomes, therefore, inaccurate”. Conclusion Despite the negative aspects of both books – more serious and far-reaching in Friedan’s Last name 5 case – they offer a clear outline of the problems confronting women in the 20th century and the social and political changes which contributed – at least in some measure – to the betterment of their situation. Works Cited Chafe, W. H. The Paradox of Change: American Women in the 20th Century. New York: Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1991. Print enotes. The Feminine Mystique Summary & Study Guide. 2010: http://enotes.com/feminine-mystique/ Accessed 24/11/2010 Friedan, B. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Dell Publishing. 1963. Print Horowitz, D. Rethinking Betty Friedan and the Feminine Mystique: Labor Union Radicalism and Feminism in Cold War America. American Quarterly. 48. (1). 1996. Pp 1-42 Otero-Cleves, A. M. ‘What Happened and Why’: Methods and Themes in Economic and Social History. 2007: http://www.history.ox.ac.uk/ecohist/notices/bookreports/chafe_oterocleves.pdf Accessed 27/11/2010 Reeve, K. Cheerless Fantasies: A corrective Catalogue of Errors in Feminine Mystique, 2007: cheerless@en.cl Accessed 27/11/2010 Read More