Second Blog

           As a female living in the United States, I am intrigued to learn more about the history of women’s rights in the U.S.  The idea of first wave, second wave, and third wave feminism catches my attention because I like to see the trend of change for women here in the U.S.  In the 1830s, it was not acceptable for women to speak in public.  Growing up in the late 1990s/early 2000s, I am surrounded by powerful, women speakers that I have seen, especially on TV.  In particular, Hillary Clinton and when she ran for president.  In my opinion, her speeches are very motivational and make her seem very confident.  I feel as though there were many women in the 1800s that had the ability to speak like Hillary Clinton, but weren’t given the opportunity to do so.

Moving onto second wave feminism, where women started finding a voice.  In the 1940s when the country was in a time of war, millions of high-paying industrial jobs opened to women and the government had began to offer minimal day care and house-hold assistance.  Two specific characters who stood out to me during this time period were Rosie the Riveter and Wonder Woman.  They are both strong women icons.  Lastly, third wave feminism is where I believe our country is now.

The reading from this week, The Feminine Mystique, caught my eye as well.  This book was written by Betty Friedan in 1963.  It analyzed the lives of housewives and was very influential for housewives and young college women too.  One of the parts that I found interesting within the select text from this week’s reading was when certain women refused to do specific actions because it was considered unfeminine.  For example, on page 17 of The Feminine Mystique, “In a New York hospital, a woman had a nervous breakdown when she found she could not breastfeed her baby.  In other hospitals, women dying of cancer refused a drug which research had proved might save their lives: its side effects were said to be unfeminine.” (Friedan, 17) This quote showed that many women wanted to be as feminine as possible, and would do anything they could for this to happen if need be.  I think its absurd that women would risk their lives by refusing drugs in order to be seen as feminine.  Another quote from the text found on page 18 said, “A girl refused a science fellowship at John Hopkins to take a job in a real-estate office.  All she wanted, she said, was what every other American girl wanted- to get married, have four children and live in a nice house in a nice suburb.” (Friedan, 18) I don’t think that this quote holds true as much in this current time period.  Many women are mothers with full-time jobs.  It’s cool to see how far our society has come with feminism.  I am also very interested in seeing what the future holds for women in both the U.S. and the world.