Abstract
Published in 1963, Betty Friedan’s bestseller The Feminine Mystique is almost 50 years old. The book was controversial, and, as Coontz says, some people loved it, and some people hated it, but almost everyone agreed that the book was influential. The “feminine mystique” is about the myth of the happy housewife. Today, there are many new ideas about feminism, much of which have not been incorporated into conventional thinking. This is especially true in relation to poor women, different sexualities, and a global perspective.
Coontz has written a useful historical analysis and critique of Friedan’s book in relation to its immediate impact in the 1960s and 1970s and for women in the United States at the present time from a popular point of view. This review looks at Coontz’s book historically and from feminist perspectives that were articulated in the special issue of Affilia on critical feminisms in social work in November 2010.
The Feminine Mystique was published on the heels of the post–World War II period of the 1950s. Coontz describes four main themes of this era, viewed as a conservative period, even though major changes were occurring: (1) soldiers had returned from the war and women who had worked outside the home were no longer needed (or wanted) in the workforce; after delaying marriage there was a resurgence of the traditional nuclear family; (2) Senator Joseph McCarthy was conducting hearings that generally stifled expressions of differences; (3) the civil rights movement did not have much room for women’s concerns; and (4) it was a period when Freudian psychoanalysis was a dominant influence in which any discontent was considered a problem of gender or sexual maladjustment. The Feminine Mystique gave legitimacy to feelings of discontent.
Coontz acknowledges the white, middle-class, educated woman bias of The Feminine Mystique. She emphasizes that Friedan cared mainly about personal independence and personal issues of education, career, and marriage and less about social justice and social change. Although Coontz notes that working-class women also benefited from the book, she does not convey the political context of postmodern and postcolonial women.
Herein lies the main criticism that Affilia readers will likely have of The Feminine Mystique and Coontz’s analysis of it: They both lack a discussion of the intersection among race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and other economic and political issues. Although Coontz recognizes the conflicts that diverse women currently experience in their everyday lives, she minimizes tensions that exist because of oppression and power relations in the society.
I believe that change in women’s roles and status in the United States has been uneven. The literature on middle-class women’s struggles with work–home balance issues is extensive and dominates the discussion, including Coontz’s analysis of current conditions. This is why the articles in Affilia are so timely. Books like A Strange Stirring help us to understand the past from a traditional perspective and the importance of Friedan's work. Affilia’s authors provide guideposts for where we need to go from here in not only understanding current women’s issues on a global level but in translating this understanding into feminist social work theory, education, practice, and research.