Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan
Name	Betty Friedan
Caption	Friedan in 1960
Birth name	Bettye Naomi Goldstein
Birth date	4 February 1921
Birth place	Peoria, Illinois, U.S.
Death date	4 February 2006
Death place	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education	Smith College (BA), University of California, Berkeley
Occupation	Writer, activist
Known for	Co-founding the National Organization for Women, Authoring The Feminine Mystique
Spouse	Carl Friedan, 1947, 1969

Betty Friedan was an American feminist writer and activist whose 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, is widely credited with sparking the second wave of the feminist movement in the United States. A co-founder and first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), she helped advance major legislative and social changes for women's rights. Her work challenged the pervasive post-World War II ideal of domesticity and advocated for women's full participation in public life, influencing debates on gender equality, the Equal Rights Amendment, and reproductive rights.

Early life and education

Born Bettye Naomi Goldstein in Peoria, Illinois, she was the daughter of Harry Goldstein, a jeweler, and Miriam Horwitz Goldstein, who had given up a career in journalism. Excelling academically, she became involved in Marxist and Jewish circles at Smith College, where she edited the campus newspaper and graduated summa cum laude in 1942 with a degree in psychology. She then pursued graduate studies in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley under renowned scholars like Erik Erikson, but left before completing her doctorate, moving to New York City to work as a journalist for left-wing publications like The Federated Press and UE News.

The Feminine Mystique and rise to prominence

Her landmark book, The Feminine Mystique, emerged from a 1957 questionnaire she sent to her Smith College classmates, revealing widespread dissatisfaction among educated American women confined to the roles of housewife and mother. Published in 1963 by W. W. Norton & Company, the book identified "the problem that has no name," critiquing the cultural myth that women could find fulfillment solely through domesticity in suburbia. The work became an instant bestseller, galvanizing a generation of women and establishing her as a leading voice against the restrictive social norms propagated by advertising, Freudian psychology, and McCarthyism.

Activism and feminist leadership

In 1966, she co-founded and became the first president of the National Organization for Women, an organization dedicated to taking "action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society." Under her leadership, NOW championed the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, fought sex discrimination in employment through cases like Weeks v. Southern Bell, and organized the Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, 1970. She also helped found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, a precursor to NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the National Women's Political Caucus with figures like Gloria Steinem and Bella Abzug.

Later works and intellectual evolution

Her subsequent books reflected a broadening of her feminist analysis. In The Second Stage (1981), she argued that the movement needed to address issues of family, work-life balance, and men's roles, a view that sometimes put her at odds with more radical factions. The Fountain of Age (1993) challenged stereotypes about aging and advocated for new possibilities in later life, while her memoir, Life So Far (2000), candidly discussed her personal and political struggles. These works demonstrated her ongoing engagement with social criticism beyond her initial focus on white middle-class women.

Personal life and death

She married theatrical producer Carl Friedan in 1947, and they had three children: Daniel, Emily, and Jonathan. The marriage was marked by domestic strife and ended in divorce in 1969. In her later years, she taught at several institutions including New York University and the University of Southern California. She died of congestive heart failure in Washington, D.C., on her 85th birthday in 2006.

Legacy and impact

Her legacy is profound, having fundamentally reshaped American society by catalyzing the modern women's rights movement. The organizations she helped create, particularly the National Organization for Women, remain powerful forces in advocacy for gender equality and civil rights. Her ideas paved the way for landmark legislation such as Title IX, influenced the rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States on issues like abortion rights, and inspired subsequent generations of activists worldwide. While critiqued for an initial focus that overlooked the intersections of race, class, and sexuality, her work remains a cornerstone of 20th-century feminist thought.

Category:American feminists Category:American women writers Category:Activists from Illinois Category:2006 deaths