After reading The Second Sex, by Simone de Beauvoir, I have to say that I admire the harsh, yet truthful statements that she imposes about women. These points deeply analyze the way women struggle with being the second sex, which sparked my interest. Hence, I will go through four of de Beauvoir's mostly pivotal views.
First, de Beauvoir highlights the truth; that women have always been conceived as a man’s dependent, the “second sex”, and that the two sexes have never shared the same equality.
Second, she offers an alternative view, stating that women are able to lead just as sufficient a life as men, to an extent. de Beauvoir projects this argument in The Second Sex, by introducing the term 'transcendence'. Ultimately, this view means that a woman has the ability to shift herself into a position where she takes responsibility for herself, where she creates her own goals and standards of living. In addition to proving her notion of transcendence, de Beauvoir introduces the following terms to help shape the content of her view: Stagnation, Bad Faith, and Subjective Existence. Stagnation describes a person who is not making progress, or staying the same in his/her life.The term Bad Faith simply describes a person who cannot decide for his/her own self. And finally, the term Subjective Existence means setting goals for oneself in which one ought to follow and commit to.
Third, de Beauvoir projects a firm stance that being "happy" is no reason to settle for less in one's life. “Are not women of the harem happier than women voters?” (The Second Sex, 9) Through this quote, de Beauvoir aims to criticize women of this kind on both a macro and micro level. On a macro level, women who use the excuse that they are "happy", end up preventing themselves from moving forward in life. On a micro level, a woman who remains "happy" or comfortable in her life will evade transcendence, lead a stagnant life, and exceed in bad faith; merely because she will lack Subjective Existence in her life. If we take this idea and apply it to the second-half of the quote, we see that female voters are the ones who choose to fight for their rights, strive for better, and refrain from settlement. Essentially, de Beauvoir encourages women to be more independent by breaking away from habits that make them settle for mediocrity.
Finally, de Beauvoir's most critical point is when she references the Glass Ceiling and the effect it has on women today; especially in the workplace. Unfortunately, many fields such as government, law, politics, and economics are run under the confines of patriarchy. The components of a patriarchal world are driven by gender inequity, discrimination, misogyny, and sexism; thus, creating an exclusive system in which leadership and power is given to men. This results in The Glass Ceiling, or the unofficial barrier which prevents women from receiving the same privileges as men at work. This means that they are paid less, given less hours, and treated unfairly. In my view, the idea behind the Glass Ceiling revolves around the theory that women are weak, emotional, dependent, unambitious, and therefore incapable of carrying themselves high in the professional world. This arbitrary conception of women has carried on for centuries, and still continues to dominate the social, political and economic world today.
Although The Second Sex, was painful to read, I respect de Beauvoir's work for its boldness and honesty. de Beauvoir has highlighted some of the harshest truths about women, and is able to remain unbiased when disclosing them. I will conclude this article by saying that whether you are a supporter of women's progression or not, it is strongly recommended that you read The Second Sex. Trust me, it will be worth your while