Feminism in The United States - Second Wave

Second Wave

The Second-wave feminism began nearly as soon as World War II had ended. The end of the war had proven that women were fully capable of retaining the jobs that men had abandoned when they were deployed to battle. They sought to be freed from the traditional roles of housewife and caregiver, and wished to occupy a higher prevalence in the work force.

In the early 1960s Betty Friedan wrote a controversial book entitled The Feminine Mystique in which she critiqued the patterns of middle class women in the United States at the current time. Her emphasis focused on the assumption that women had no other roles in life other than wife and mother. Furthermore, Betty Friedan began encouraging women to strive to find their own callings in life and seek other personal and professional roles in a society that was deemed male-dominated.

During this time, women started to seek more interest in removing gender discrimination in the workplace. In 1966, roughly 30 women including Betty Friedan formed National Organization for Women where they sought to bring awareness to all the limited access women have had in mainstream society. Their goal was to reach full equality with that of men. Their founding chair members were:

-Betty Friedan: President

- Kathryn F. Clarenbach: Chair of the Board

- Aileen Hernandez: Executive Vice President

- Richard Graham: Vice President

- Caroline Davis: Secretary/ Treasurer