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Zane Morgan
Mr. Cjecka
English 1020
February 21, 2019
“The Importance of Work” Betty Friedman
To Betty Friedman, satisfying the creativity of men and women is how they contribute to human society. Mrs. Olive Schreiner said, “…women did not win back their right to a full share of honored and useful work, women’s mind and muscle would weaken in a parasitic sate; her offspring, male and female would weaken progressively, and civilization would deteriorate.” (Friedman 8). I think she is saying that younger generations look at the work ethic of early generations which has a big impact on how we do things now. That is an agreeable statement because when you look at your grandparents or your parents, you see how they had to work for what they wanted and work hard for everything. You see now that most people are lazy and are not willing to do the work that takes to succeed, and everyone wants to take the easy way out. It all has to do with the work ethic of the parent. If the mom or dad just sits around all day or doesn’t work, that could potentially affect the kid. Thus, explains why she said society would deteriorate.
There are many ways to have a meaningful life and work doesn’t always have to be the answer or be the most important thing in your life. With that being said I do not agree that Betty Friedman’s insinuation that work is the only way to have a meaningful or good life. Money as well as work are all good ways to be happy and have a good life but not most important. For some people work is not their main priority and they are equally if not happier with their life, so that is evidence that work does not determine whether your life will be fulfilled. You can make a priority, but I do not think it should the top priority. However, in this day and age, we have no choice to make work a priority because everything cost money, the cost of living has gone up majorly. If you think about it, people are involuntarily making work a priority. In life we work to provide for our families in order to ensure their security. We work to do the things we want.
According to Friedman, she believes that, “woman as well as men, can only find their identity in work that uses their full capacities. She cannot find it in the dull routine of housework…The feminine mystique prescribes just a living death for women. Faced with the slow death of self, the American woman must begin to take her life seriously.” (Friedman). This statement is tricky because you don’t want to subject women to just being housewives and that they aren’t capable of finding themselves if they do otherwise. However, a woman can find herself by caring for her family if she so chooses. For someone to say that they can only find themselves by being at home is an insult to all the women who have accomplished many things in life to fulfill their happiness and it discredits women.
A woman can find fulfillment by caring for a family because that’s a job in itself. No one talk about how much the wo...
