Aging Is Not "lost Youth"

When I Was In High School, Even In College, I Didn't Have Any Real Image Of A Career Woman Or A Professional Woman.

Some People Think I'm Saying, 'women Of The World Unite -- You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Men. It's Not True. You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Vacuum Cleaners.

I Loved My Kids. And I Loved My House, And I Loved A Lot Of Things About My Life In The 1950s. But There Were A Lot Like Me In That Era, Very Overeducated Housewives.

The Key To The Trap Is, Of Course, Education. The Feminine Mystique Has Made Higher Education For Women Seem Suspect, Unnecessary And Even Dangerous. But I Think That Education, And Only Education, Has Saved, And Can Continue To Save, American Women From The Greater Dangers Of The Feminine Mystique.

I Won A Really Big Fellowship To Go Straight On To Get My Ph.d. And I Went Through Agonies Of Indecision, And Then I Decided Not To Accept It. I Just Decided I Didn't Want To Be An Academic.