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In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan, a freelance author and 1942 Smith graduate, intertwines anecdotes and observations from her own life with facts and evaluation from her research, creating a work with which the feminine reader can readily identify. Her starting point was her own personal experience. Friedan had everything a woman from the 1950's was supposed to have--a fantastic husband, wonderful kids, financial security, and a great house--but she was not entirely happy.

Society stated the truly fulfilled, feminine woman was a full-time homemaker who fully committed herself to her husband and kids. Friedan was a dedicated wife and mother who loved and appreciated her family. Still, something significant seemed to be missing from her life.

Friedan began to wonder about the adventures of other homemakers and whether they had been completely happy or should they also felt that something important was missing from their own lives. Back in 1957, Friedan decided to learn, turning to fellow Smith College graduates to the answers. Her research revealed these highly educated, smart suburban housewives were discontented. Like Friedan, most women experienced uneasy feelings of incompleteness or emptiness. Others believed unexplainable fatigue. Sometimes anger and frustration welled up within them. They weren't supposed to have these kinds of feelings--but they did. Such feelings were viewed as problematic, not only by the women themselves but also by the larger society.

From the early 1960's, concern increased over this discontent, which Friedan calls the "Problem that Has No Name." Women's magazines presented readers with the latest information and advice. Often the discontent was credited to a defect within the girl, which may be remedied by psychoanalysis. Some researchers whined less-than-perfect husbands and children. Some recommended having a baby to "fill the emptiness." A couple of experts even implied that since college-educated girls tended to become restless homemakers, women's education should prepare them for domesticity rather than for careers. Superficial lifestyle changes were advocated.

Friedan concludes that the real difficulty is rooted in the feminine mystique, the post-World War II American ideology that defines the ideal feminine woman entirely in terms of traditional marriage and motherhood. According to the female mystique, the ideal female woman is passive, selfless, and completely devoted to her family. She wants and wants nothing more than to marry and have babies and her own home. The unfortunate girl who would like a profession is to be pitied and feared. She's unfeminine, her wants "unnatural." Perhaps, she's even neurotic.

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