Reference no: EM134028636

"Betty Freidan discovered that many American women were discontented due to the expectations placed on them at the time gave them a very limit view of what they could do and accomplish. Many of these women were brought up from a young age to believe that when they grow up that they should aspire to find a man, marry him, have children, stay home and raise those kids, and be a dutiful wife. What many of these women discovered was that, after doing those things they had been told to do, they still felt that something was missing from their lives. What Betty Friedan did was she not only put a name to this phenomenon of discontentment , but she was also able to bring it out into the light of day. So many of the women felt guilty and ashamed for not being fulfilled being a wife and mother , and this meant many of them suffered in silence, feeling like they were the only ones who were feeling this way . After the release of the Feminist Mystique , many American women now had a name to put to how they were feeling and also now knew that they weren't alone . Freidan writes that women from the 1920s and 1930s were heading towards unprecedented independence, but after World War II, many of them reverted back to the expectations of just being a mother and a wife . Betty Freidan began to question other women like herself, who had gone to college and had gave up their careers to be stay at home parents and if they were happy that they made these decisions. She was questioning whether there was another way for American women to live other than being a traditional housewife and mother. Her research and her book are credited with helping to transform American culture in to the1960s and 1970s.