A Problem That Has No Name

When Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique in 1963, she shined a light on “a problem that has no name.” Following World War II and the 1950s, more and more women were feeling oppressed by their role as housewives. This was especially jarring when looking at the 1950s as the era following the opportunistic 1940s for women in the work force. The inevitable return to women as housewives left women across America feeling disenfranchised. The Feminine Mystique encouraged women to recognize the pattern of female discrimination and maltreatment and actively protest the inequality. Friedan’s novel was a catalyst in launching the second wave feminism movement. The women who could identify with Friedan’s novel would come to identify as the feminists of the new era. Unlike first wave feminism, which concerned itself with women’s right to vote, second wave feminism would focus more on female independence in their sexuality and how they chose to express themselves free from oppressive norms of society. It would also focus largely on female liberation in the work place and in schools.