The Feminine Mystique

The Feminine Mystique Summary | Chapter 1, The Problem That Has No Name Summary

Betty Friedan begins her book with a description of the problem. The problem, which has been buried for many years, is dissatisfaction and a longing in suburban housewives. Generally, the more education and ability a woman possessed, the more she suffered from the problem that has no name. The majority of women suffered in silence. Those seeking help with these feelings of inner longing were usually advised to seek fulfillment as a wife and mother. Many were labeled as neurotic.

Women during this time were taught to pity unfeminine career women. Feminine women did not want things like an education, career or independence. This changing view of women was reflected in college enrollment. Friedan offers statistics to back up this idea. In the year 1920 forty seven percent of college students were female, by 1958 this figure dropped to thirty five percent. In addition, by this time, sixty percent of women in college dropped out to get married.

The average age for marriage dropped to twenty. A large number of girls began getting married before graduating high school. Once married, many of these girls never left home other than for shopping or driving children. The kitchen became the center of life. Mothers did not work and those working only did so to put husbands through school or help with bills, never for a career or self-fulfillment. Shortages existed in teaching, nursing and social work.

Women were marrying younger and giving birth to more children than the previous generations. The image of the suburban housewife was the dream image of womanhood and said to be the envy of all others. Friedan states that in the fifteen years after World War II the mystique of feminine fulfillment became self-perpetuating among American women. Most women were living their lives in this image. Problems of society were not a concern because women only worried about their husbands, children and domestic duties.

The countless women suffering with the problem that has no name did not talk about it. Each woman thought she was the only woman with these feelings, leaving them isolated and ashamed of their feelings. At this time, Friedan was a magazine writer and began noticing the problem among the women she encountered. Stories began surfacing around 1960 on the "Trapped Housewife."

The problem began to be blamed on a variety of issues, mainly education. Ideas such as more home economics classes in high school and discussion groups in college were put forth. The idea behind these suggestions was to prepare women for domestic life. Some thought women should not be sent to college because education was needed more for boys. The problem was often dismissed as women wanting to be men. All suggested fixes for the problem of the trapped housewife involved helping women adjust to domestic life and to help cheer them up.

Friedan contends the answer to the problem cannot be found in traditional science or psychology. She felt the right questions were not being asked. The problem exists most in those women spending their lives looking for feminine fulfillment. These women were not career women, but women whose only ambitions were to be a wife and mother. Problems began to be seen in the children of these mothers. The children were unable to endure any kind of pain or discipline. They seemed to have a lack of goals and self-reliance.

According to Friedan, the evidence of the problem was not reported publicly because it did not fit the mold of women. The problem is not a loss of femininity, too much education or the demands of domestic life. The voice in women is saying, "I want more than home and children."