Housewife Fatigue In Friedan's Cases

The cases Friedan brought up in the first chapter confirms how unhappy women are, pointing towards feminine fulfillment being met early, lack of energy, and “housewife fatigue.”2 The goals women were expected to make were to marry early, have children, and act as a modern housewife. Per Friedan’s observations, most women typically didn’t have the time or experience to set their own personal goals. With goals as a woman having been sorted out incredibly early into a woman’s timeline, it’s difficult to find a source of satisfaction for the next decade or more without setting any new goals aside from what society has expected. In addition, housewives are being taxed daily. With many husbands working a 9-5, their wives are left to sort out the
Lacking gas at the end of the day results in falling asleep just to wake up to the same schedule as the previous day. Finally, “housewife fatigue” was mentioned from an investigation into the tiredness women felt, Friedan considering the taxation of energy was coming from boredom, not working in the house throughout the day.3 The demands of repeating the same tasks every day of adulthood supposedly took a huge toll on the mentality of women. With society beginning to stress on the ideals of the average American woman, Friedan’s argument seems to reflect on the struggle with everyday life of the average white female. American women descending from other ethnicities usually had no problem looking for jobs and having another set of income alongside their husbands. Friedan seems to lean heavily into “first world problem” territory, breaking down the immense fatigue housewives had to deal with as mundane and repetitive work. Friedan’s argument had a lot of substance but lacked incorporation of all American
Friedan emphasizes how magazines and advertisements were commercially holding back information regarding potential interests and careers for women and stapling the image of being a housewife to the forefront of their media outlets. With more women beginning to marry into their later teens during the fifties, the market for magazines and reading material shifted towards their interests. Women who had gone to college were far from many. The lack of upper education resulted in more dependent and insecure women who were easier to sell.4 These young women were convinced they could obtain an easy pathway towards success as a middle-class family. Friedan briefly covers the irrational effort of advertisers “to get them young” and manipulate what’s basically fifty percent of the population into conforming to the feminine mystique.5 The structure of her argument is very misdirected, exaggerating what kind of impact advertising can make. It feels very subjective, pulling out highly specific pieces from her own personal agenda. Magazines and advertisements aren’t going to attempt to envelop all of Friedan’s bullet points of being an independent woman. Friedan has belittled how women have matured over time and women should have a decent understanding of their own personal well-being without ads to take over their