– Also referred to as “the New Woman,” the career woman was an independent, ambitious type who found fulfillment both in her work and in her romances.
Friedan uses examples from short fiction in women’s magazines to illustrate the contrast between the career woman, a character in popular fiction in the 1920s and 1930s, and the
housewife, the exemplar of womanhood after 1942, who had been convinced by
the feminine mystique that she had to choose between marriage and a career. If she did work, it should only be in the service of her family. For advertisers in the 1940s and 1950s, the career woman was a consumer who disliked housework and was interested in getting a job outside the home. Her presence in the market presented a threat, due to her being less likely to buy appliances.