The Second Sex

In the conclusion to The Second Sex, Beauvoir continues to describe this free woman who is emerging in her own time. Women seek “transcendence” through free and authentic lives, refusing “the passivity man attempts to impose on her” (754). However, this change causes greater questioning and conflict between women and men. Beauvoir believes this conflict will last until both sexes recognize each other as “peers” (755).

To accomplish this, Beauvoir argues that women should be raised with no more privileges than boys. Also, women need to become involved in the economy through careers. Finally, women need to be able to control their reproductive systems through birth control and abortion. Beauvoir also addresses possible criticisms, arguing that it will not radically change erotic relations between women and men. The changes Beauvoir desires would be to “refuse to enclose her in the relations she sustains with man, but not to deny them…” (766).

Beauvoir describes one nation that took steps toward the solution she identifies. The Soviet Union legalized abortion and urged women to take jobs outside the home. Still, Beauvoir adds that “modifying” women’s “economic situation” is not enough. The “moral, social, and cultural consequences it heralds and requires” (761) have yet to be realized in either the Soviet Union or the United States or elsewhere.