1 janv. 1955 - The resurgance of housewives

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The pressure that these women faced led many of them to stay silent and not speak up for themselves. There was also a resurgence of housewives in the mid 1900s. Women were choosing to stay at home instead of getting an education. A lot of these women felt that there was no better life than not having to worry about working and letting your husband take care of you, but many of these women also still felt that dissatisfaction. This is what “The Problem That Has No Name” by Betty Friendan discusses. The excerpt describes women during this time as learning “that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political rights—the independence and the opportunities that the old-fashioned feminists fought for. Some women, in their forties and fifties, still remembered painfully giving up those dreams, but most of the younger women no longer even thought about them. A thousand expert voices applauded their femininity, their adjustment, their new maturity. All they had to do was devote their lives from earliest girlhood to finding a husband and bearing children.” (Friedan)
This phenomenon led women to hide their true feelings about being a housewife. Friedan also says, “She was so ashamed to admit her dissatisfaction that she never knew how many other women shared it.” This shows that even women who had chosen the American housewife lifestyle were struggling with fulfillment in life.
This text by Betty Friedan leaves out the experiences of women of color. During this time was the civil rights movement as people of color fought to have equal rights. Some might say that this was a more important battle being fought than the one white women were facing. But alas, women of color were still barely considered people and expected to accept that. It wasn't until 1965 when black women were given the right to vote, 45 years after white women.

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