Betty Friedan Women's Liberation Movement

As feminist author Betty Friedan penned in 1963, ¨The problem lay buried, unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange stirring, a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered in the middle of the twentieth century in the United States. Each suburban wife struggled with it alone¨ (Friedan 15). With her explanation of ¨the problem that has no name,¨ Friedan single-handedly commenced the Women's Liberation Movement. Despite this momentous outcome, personal reactions to the piece were contentious, as many white, educated housewives related and were appreciative of the publication, yet others suggested the necessity of psychiatric supervision for the author (Woloch 487). These displayed attitudes decisively represent the division that would plague not only the movement, but the future of American women, as well. Second-wave feminism was detrimental to American women because of the failure faced in passing legislation, the racial tension created, and the destruction of the traditional nuclear family. …show more content…
Despite the majority having positive intentions, the resulting policies were harmful to the plight of women. This factor was continuous throughout the entire movement, beginning with the Equal Pay Act of 1963. Passed during the Kennedy administration, this federal law required equal pay for equal work. Ideals such as the stated were necessary due to the fact that in female dominated fields, the median salary received by women was only forty percent of their male counterparts (Woloch