Women Seeking Fulfilment in Societys Expectations - Essay-Sample

Introduction

Betty Freidan (476), in her book, "The Feminist Mystique" talks about women who seemed to not live to their fulfilment. The society perceived women as housewives whose' place belonged at home. To be a successful woman, you would have to make sure that your house and family are well taken care of. The author explains that even experts wrote in columns and articles advising women that they should seek fulfilment as wives and mothers. She later writes that even the women that had perfect families had a yearning inside them, a feeling they could describe or talk about.

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The problem Betty Freidan exposes is women's equality and liberation. For years, women have wanted to do more than just sitting at home taking care of their families and doing the house chores. Women wanted the freedom to pursue their ambitions, and above all, they demanded equal treatment to their male counterparts. They did not want society to think of them as only capable of sitting at home and taking care of their husbands and children. The community focused on teaching women how to be perfect housewives. Betty Freidan (476) explains that experts focused on educating women on how to catch and keep husbands, how to cope with sibling rivalry and how to deal with adolescent rebellion.

The author writes about women who said that they felt incomplete and that they felt that they did not exist. Women wanted more than just being housewives. They wanted to pursue their dreams too, like their male counterparts. They wanted the freedom to be able to become what they dreamt about. They demanded to be treated the same way men were treated.

The film "She's Beautiful when she's angry" depicts the women's struggle to achieve equality. The women faced discrimination in society by men. In the film, Marilyn Webb narrates that at one point, she was booed by men as she stood on the stage in a bid to announce to the world that they had a movement. To her disappointment, she was booed by the movement men and they shouted unkind words to her. She was not allowed to address the men at the podium. The film depicts women who were frustrated, who were determined to fight and change the status quo. In the movie, Marilyn Webb further says that at a time that there were many liberations movement, people still viewed the women's movement as irrelevant. The film reveals that women sometimes met to talk about themselves and their positions in society. They had to meet privately because most men dismissed their liberation movements as irregular, and that they had to stick to their places.

In one of the meetings, Susan Brownmiller states that she shared her abortion encounters with fellow young women. To her relief, she reveals that she found out that she was not alone, that other women had done it too. Phyllis Schlafly (488) also explains that she felt relieved, and this only fueled the women's ambition to keep their liberation movement alive. It is depicted in the film by Heather Booth that at one point while she was addressing a meeting, a guy ordered her to stop talking and sit down. She further says that in the private sessions, women found out that the problems that they thought were unique to them happened to every other woman. Therefore, the problem was social and not as personal as they thought. This prompted women to go out and match on the streets protesting about social discrimination.

However, some people opposed the idea of women's liberation movement. Interestingly, one of the people who seemed to resist the women's liberation movement was a woman. Phyllis Schafly (488), in her article "Women's Libbers Do Not Speak For Us", she writes that the women's liberation movement attacked the role of American women as wives and mothers. She also says that the women's liberation movement was a total battering to the Family as a basic unit of the society.

She also argues that the women's liberation movement tried to coax wives and mothers to be unhappy with their roles and make them feel that they were slaves in their own homes. Phyllis Schafly (488) also maintains that American women did not want to be liberated from their husbands and children. She thought that their roles as housewives were a privilege. She further says that no American woman wanted to trade their special privileged for the Equal Rights Amendment. Phyllis Schafly (489) writes to other women not to allow the minority forming the women's liberation movement to degrade their roles in society.

Conclusion

To conclude, it is clear that women were fed up by society, whop degraded them. They were determined to make a change, hence the formation of the women's liberation movement. The women's liberation movement faced a lot of setbacks as they were viewed to be irrelevant by society. Some of the women also felt the liberation was degrading their roles in society. The essay has talked about the movie, where Marilyn Webb underscores that some years back, there were many liberations movement. However, many people still viewed the women's movement as irrelevant. The film further posits that women occasionally convened to talk about themselves and their positions in society. The essay has highlighted the problem women's equality and liberation as explained by Betty Freidan. It has stated that for many years, women have wanted to do more than just sitting at home taking care of their families and doing the house chores.

Works Cited

Block, Sharon, et al. Major Problems in American Women's History: Documents and Essays. Cengage Learning, 2014. (p. 476-479) and (p. 488-489)

Dore, Mary. "She's Beautiful When She's Angry." YouTube, uploaded by Bella Black, 17th September 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-n829QzZ58&feature=emb_title