Gender Differences in Leadership 7
on the idea of the women as the other in the context of their role in the house, at work,
and even their sexuality. Simone concluded in her view of the woman as “the other” in a
patriarchal society that women’s ability to get pregnant, lactate, and menstruate were not
viable reasons for deeming women the “second sex” (McCann, 2008). Betty Friedan, also
known as the “Mother of the Movement,” supported Beauvoir’s idea that the women
identified themselves as the other in relation to man subconsciously because they were
influenced by socially constructed societal norms (Norton, 2005). Betty Friedan’s book,
The Feminine Mystique, was widely popular during the second wave of the feminist
movement.
The key event that marked the reemergence of this movement in the postwar era
was the surprise popularity of Betty Friedan's 1963 book The Feminine Mystique.
Writing as a housewife and mother (though she had had a long story of political
activism, as well), Friedan described the problem with no name the dissatisfaction
of educated, middle class wives and mothers like herself who, looking at their
nice homes and families, wondered guiltily if that was all there was to life was not
new; the vague sense of dissatisfaction plaguing housewives was a staple topic for
women's magazines in the 1950s. But Friedan, instead of blaming individual
women for failing to adapt to women's proper role, blamed the role itself and the
society that created it (Norton, 2005).
Friedan argued that restricting a woman to the confines of her household limited her
opportunities and was a waste of potential talent. Friedan also argued that the image of
the nuclear family was degrading and dissatisfying for women and that keeping the
woman in the house not only was demeaning to women, but a waste of human capital for
society (Norton, 2005). Along with Beauvoir and Freidan, Gloria Steinem, co-founder of
Ms. Magazine, was another feminist leader and icon of the second wave of the feminist
movement. In 1969, Steinem published “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation.”
Steinem was also known for her avid support of abortion rights and her role in co-