The Second Sex

Beauvoir begins the second volume by noting, “Women of today are overthrowing the myth of femininity; they are beginning to affirm their independence concretely; but their success in living their human condition completely does not come easily” (279). Although the subordination of women has existed alongside the history of human civilization, Beauvoir sees the potential in the current era for the true emancipation of women. As discussed in Volume I, Part 2, Chapter 5, this emancipation is made possible by growing opportunities for the employment of women and access to abortion and birth control. To demonstrate how femininity still shapes women’s lives, however, Beauvoir describes the life of an archetypal woman from early childhood to old age.