Betty Friedan was an American women's rights activist, feminist, and writer. She was born in 1921 February, Peoria, Illinois. Friedan was a bright student who excelled well in her studies in 1942, with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, at Smith College. Later, she was awarded a fellowship for further studies in Berkeley, at the University of California (Biography.com Editors, 2018). However, she only spent a short period there before relocating to New York, where she worked as a reporter for a short time. Consequently, Friedan was married to Carl Friedan in 1947. One year later, Friedan gave birth to Daniel, their first born. Jonathan, their second born, was born in 1952 and after four years, they got Emily, their last born. Friedan died in Washington DC, 2006.
Friedan wrote her first book, “The Problem with No Name”, in 1963. The primary idea of the book was based on feminism. She aimed to explore the idea of women going a step further to find fulfilment for themselves, beyond their traditional roles. The book was written as a result of her having to stay at home to take care of her family after her job was terminated due to her second pregnancy (Biography.com Editors, 2018). Subsequently, Friedan was not comfortable being just a homemaker because she had the ability and necessary skills that would enable her to do better. However, she kept wondering if other stay-at-home mother had a similar feeling, a thought that resulted in surveying other graduates from Smith College. The research formed her book basis, which has led to being an inspiration to many women.
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Reflection
Friedan was not happy staying at home to take care of her family. Therefore, she started educating her fellow women on how they could utilize their skills and abilities to do what would fulfil their happiness rather than just staying at home (Friedan, 1963). Subsequently, many women heeded to her teachings and started changing the culture of women performing their traditional roles only. Similarly, during the making of the modern America period, Americans also experienced the same transformation. In England for instance, a group of women referred to as New England farm daughters were the first textile-mill workers. They specialized in different fields such as cash runners and clerks, positions they were not allowed to hold before (Norton et al., 2014). Also, they employed young women as a way of supporting the initiative and securing its continuity. Additionally, women in the 20th century went through a lot of struggles as they were fighting feminism in the United States. Gender inequality was the main problem faced, denying women most of their social, political, and economic rights.
“ Giving women the business: on winning, losing, and leaving the corporate game”, is an article published by Harper’s Magazine, discussing women and the troubles they go through at their workplace. Barbara Jones is Harper’s Magazine senior editor, who served as a moderator during the discussion. Anita Blair, who part of this discussion, is the Independent Women’s Forum CEO. Barbara Ehrenreich, on the other hand, is a communist, social critic, an author, and also a political essayist. Arlie Russell Hochschild is an author and a sociology professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Lastly, Elizabeth Perle Mckenna is also an author and a publisher. She published William Morrow, Prentice-Hall, Avon Books, and Addison-Wesley (Jones, Blair, Ehrenreic, Hochschild, & McKenna, 2005). The discussion took place after Brenda Barnes, a high-ranking female executive in the U.S., announced her resignation as the CEO and president of Pepsi-Cola, in North America. In her departure, she stated that she wanted to spend more time with her children. However, the media casted Brenda as a victim of the ambivalence and anxiety imposed on women by the corporate success terms. Therefore, Jones saw the necessity of discussing the challenges that ladies face inside corporations.
Reflection
Similarly, during the making of modern America period, women were seen as the weaker gender thus not being entrusted with some tasks. For instance, the women who were working during this period were mostly the widows, free blacks, and the poor. Conversely to men, their pay was little, and most of them could not work in the shops and new factories (Norton et al., 2014). As a result, they were faced with several challenges in their workplaces due to their gender. Also, in the discussion, Barbara highlights some of the problems that women are still facing at their workplaces in the modern world. Despite a lady having equal qualifications with their male colleagues, ladies pay is lesser. Besides, she also highlighted that women employees are accused of spending a more extended period in the bathroom (Jones, Blair, Ehrenreic, Hochschild, & McKenna, 2005). In both cases, the discrimination faced by the ladies in their companies of work is based on gender. Women are treated with a lesser dignity than their male colleagues despite the skills attained.
The Relationship Between the Two Primary Sources
Both sources, “The Problem That Has No Name” and “Giving women the business: on winning, losing, and leaving the corporate game”, focuses on the challenges faced by women due to their gender. Gender inequality is a significant challenge both in the modern and traditional world. According to both sources, women are faced with more problems in their workplace, unlike their male colleagues. In the traditional world, women were denied opportunities to work on some field despite them having the required skills. Besides, the pay was little compared to that of male workers. Similarly, women are still facing the same challenge in the modern world. Barbara claimed that in some organizations, male employees have better pay than female despite them having equal qualifications.
References
Biography.com Editors. (2018). Betty Friedan biography. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/betty-friedan-9302633
Friedan, B. (1963). The Feminine Mystique: The problem that has no name. Retrieved from https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/ows/seminars/tcentury/FeminineMystique.pdf
Keetley, D. & Pettegrew, J. (2002). Public women, public words: a documentary history of American feminism. Retrieved from https://networks.h-net.org/node/24029/reviews/29987/gilmore-keetley-and-pettegrew-public-women-public-words-documentary
Jones, B., Blair, A., Ehrenreich, J., Hochschild, A. R., & McKenna, E. P. (2005). Giving women the business: on winning, losing, and leaving the corporate game. https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Giving+women+the+business%3A+on+winning%2C+losing%2C+and+leaving+the...-a020054245
Norton, M. B., Kamensky, J., Sheriff, C., Blight, D. W., Chudacoff, H. P., Logevall, F., . . . Michals, D. (2014). A People and A Nation: A history of the United States, brief edition. Retrieved from https://archive.org/stream/peopleandnationa00tunb/peopleandnationa00tunb_djvu.txt
