The document summarizes themes from "The Feminine Mystique" and "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" regarding women's roles in the home, workforce, and balancing the two. After WWII, women were expected to find fulfillment through domesticity and family, but Betty Friedan's book revealed many housewives' unhappiness. Second-wave feminism emerged and more women worked, yet faced lower pay and opportunity than men. While some balance career and family, others feel women unfairly must choose between the two or feel guilty for working. The struggle to have both a successful career and family life remains an issue for women.

1. THE HOME, THE WORKFORCE,
& HAVING IT ALL
An overview of these themes from
“The Feminine Mystique” &
“Why Women Still Can’t Have It All”

2. “THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE”
Author Betty Friedan described life in the 15 years after
WWII, where women were taught that fulfillment lay in
femininity and domesticity.

3. Previously, women had fought for higher education;
now girls went to college to get a husband and, on
average, 60% dropped out to get married.

4. “Most Likely to Succeed”
The average marriage age of women in America dropped
into the teens. During this time, fourteen million girls
were engaged by age 17.

5. It was expected that marriage would transition them into a
life of happy domesticity in the suburbs

6. and in the home they would
find all the purpose and
fulfillment a woman could hope
for.

7. The Home

8. Cooking

9. Cleaning

10. Laundry

11. Teaching the next
generation

12. &
Spending time with
their families

13. …all while
being
stylish and
feminine.

14. Women “had it all.”

15. And yet…..

16. They began to look at their lives and
wonder “Is this all?”

17. Friedan’s 1963 book “The Feminine
Mystique” described what women
simply referred to as “The
Problem”—revealing that many
women were actually unhappy in
their lives as housewives.

18. This book served as a catalyst for
the beginning of the second-wave
feminism movement in the U.S.

19. The Workforce

20. The numbers of women gaining
degrees and working outside the
home began to rise

21. But although many women set out to achieve this:

22. What many of them actually got was this:
Low status jobs
Less opportunity for
advancement and
lower pay for equal
work
Under-representation at the highest levels

23. Feelings of isolation
Hostility or
the need to
constantly
prove
themselves

24. And being
stereotyped, sexualized, harassed, and/
or not taken seriously.

25. Having It All

26. Because even after the struggle to enter the workforce and gain equal
rights…..

27. In 2012, Anne-Marie Slaughter made headlines when she left her
high-profile government job to spend more time with her children,
then wrote an article about the difficulties of creating a successful
work/life balance.

28. While some women feel
satisfied with the balance
between the demands of their
work lives and their home
lives….

29. Others feel it is unacceptable for women to have to
make trade-offs that men do not have to make

30. Like feeling guilty or being labeled a “bad parent” for working
outside the home
vs.
Father works=responsible
Mother works=guilt, negative impact
on family

31. Being called a traitor to the feminist cause if she didn’t
do her part to break gender barriers in the career field

32. Or living with inequities both at home AND the office.

33. Many women
trying to have
both a career
and a balanced
life have faced
limited
options:

34. #1: Make it work….somehow

35. or
#2: Choose between them.

36. “You should be able to have a
family if you want one—however
and whenever your life
circumstances allow—and still have
the career you desire.”
--Anne-Marie Slaughter