This paper explains that, after World War II, Betty Friedan in her renowned book "Feminine Mystique" urges that women should
not have to live up to any sort of image, real or imagined, but should learn to live their lives in a way that provides them with
satisfaction. The author points out that Friedan, in essence, was a pioneer only in the sense that she brought up-to-date what had been going on for nearly a century; she put her finger on the feminine malaise. The paper relates that Friedan's closing chapter, dealing with
self-realization, has been achieved because today women are marrying later, not dropping out of school to marry and bear children, restricting the number of children, often postponing childbirth in favor of a career and the glass ceiling, while not totally shattered, has severe cracks in it.