Women had to live up to standards of the ideal American women, which put pressure on many young girls to become that ideal women. In her memoir, as reviewed in TIME, Friedan recalled New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug’s objection to Friedan founding the National Women’s Political Caucus: “‘This is my turf,’ she screamed at me. The Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan, outlines the problem of the traditional roles that women had become accustomed to for the past fifty years. She shaved her legs, wore makeup, dressed stylishly, and, according to TIME, “insisted that it was not necessary to give up femininity to achieve equality.” It is not nourished like a woman’s by the sheer biological ability to bear children.”Īnd, after being criticized for undermining the traditional family structure in some circles, she found herself criticized elsewhere for not undermining it enough.Īlthough she was credited with helping found the second-wave feminist movement, some of the movement’s members found her too tame to lead a revolution. “The whole duty of a wife is to bolster her husband’s self-esteem,” she writes, per TIME. Rebutting the Smith College-educated Friedan and her ilk, who rejected the “ sweet, simpering and sort of stupid” feminine ideals of their day, McGinley suggested that wives let their husbands educate them.
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