Housewives!

Friedan's excerpt from The Feminine Mystique was kind of amusing, because it always seems that women are not balancing "home duties" with careers in an acceptable manner. Today, it is more likely to hear that women are ruining the lives of their husbands and children because they spend too much time in the office instead of in the home. In the 1950s and 1960s, women were at the opposite end of the spectrum, marrying early, having more children, and interested in securing husbands instead of jobs. This former trend is really hard for me to imagine. While my grandmother watched all of her friends marry right out of high school, she went on to college, graduated, and then went for her master's degree. She didn't get married until she was 30 years old. Afterwards, she still worked as a school teacher and librarian while being a mother to four sons. She is almost horrified when she reminisces about these times, and always tells me how grateful she is for denying my grandfather their marriage until she was satisfied with her level of education and secured a job! I admire her for sticking to her goals while women around her were marrying as soon as they could. I am not surprised that doctors found the reported "problems" that Friedan documented in her book. I don't see how so many women could be truly happy with their lives without taking time for themselves, and dedicating time to reach goals separate from family.