Beyond Gender - Betty Friedan - Part 2

Beyond Gender - Betty Friedan

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 85

  March 26, 2017 

Book 27 - Beyond Gender - The New Politics of Work & Family
by Betty Friedan (1997)
 Part 2 - pages 49-116
Reading Time - 1 hour

Friedan tackles a bunch of different issues in this section: affirmative action, community, family values, children. The big message is this... without jobs, people can't take care of their children or support family values. Women in the workforce is not the issue. Income inequality and job down-sizing is the issue. "They create a climate of rage, frustration and fear that fuel politics of hate." Given how the current president of the US ran his campaign, I think we can safely say that Friedan hit the nail on the head before most of us even knew it was there.

Friedan argues that politics in the US is essentially a choice between big anonymous government (think Democrats) or corporate commercial sector (think Republicans).  She says we need something else, we need a community space where citizens can meet, discuss our common problems and rediscover the language of citizenship. But if the only spaces in which we can meet our government offices, or the mall, we're kind of stuck. Where are the town halls and public squares? Good question.

If the 1960s and 1970s gave us the sexual revolution... I'm kind of wondering what the 2020's are going to give us? What sort of a revolution that puts the US on track for a society driven by citizens not by corporate lobbyists?