Betty Friedan:A Woman on a Mission for Equal Rights

“Men, there’s a revolution brewing in the American kitchen.” -- Betty Friedan, 1943.

By Nicole Parker

NOW March in Manhattan, 1970

There have been two major women’s

movements• The first wave in the early 1920s involved the

suffragettes working on women’s right to vote. It stemmed from dissatisfaction with the external world.

• The second wave was in the 1960s and 1970s. A major leader was Betty Friedan, and more famously, Gloria Steinem. It stemmed from dissatisfaction with the internal, personal world.

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“Betty Friedan speaks regarding a national women’s strike on Aug. 26, 1966.” Source: Washington Post

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Betty Friedan FAQsWho was she?

A: An outspoken woman popular in the 1960s and 1970s who was involved not only in women’s rights, but anti-fascism and anti-war movements in college, the labor union movement, and ageism.

Where was she educated?

A: She went to Smith College, as well as Highlander Folk School in the Appalachians to learn about activism.

What was her most influential work?

A: In 1963 she completed her book, The Feminine Mystique in which she coinedthe term “the problem that has no name” to describe women everywhere doingwhat society said was right: having kids, staying home, cooking, being a good

wife,and wondering if this was all there was. Many wanted jobs, or felt guilty havingjobs and were not feeling fulfilled.

Was Betty Friedan strictly a feminist?

A: She did not consider herself so much a feminist as someone who was interested in human rights. This alienated her from later feminists who thought that she was not working hard enough for lesbians and that she was reactionary. She never subscribed to man-hating that became popular either.

Friedan’s Work

http://www.Concoll.edu

http://www.feministezine.com

•Highly influenced by French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir

•Her work is still mentioned today in places such as the Washington Post and Slate.com.

•From The Feminine Mystique, Friedan describes part of the problem regarding women: “They were taught to pity the neurotic, unfeminine, unhappy women who wanted to be poets or physicists or presidents. They learned that truly feminine women do not want careers, higher education, political rights--the independence and the opportunities that the old-fashioned feminists fought for.”1

•“The addition of two, only two women to the state legislature begins to change the agenda.”2

•“I think, at least, that women in America now have more power than they’re using.”2

Are We Done With the Fight for Women’s

Rights?NO!Sadly, a lot of what Friedan said then still holds true today.

Just last year, Slate magazine ran a story in which Meghan Cox Gurdon of the Washington Examiner said, “wherever egalitarian feminism has sprinkled its fairy dust, women report that they are considerably less happy and satisfied with life than were their benighted, patriarchy-oppressed apron-wearing sisters of yore.”3

Betty Friedan’s Legacy

• Betty Friedan worked tirelessly for women’s rights, as

well as other causes, and she did what she thought wasRight--not just what others did for causes.

• Betty (formerly Bettye) Friedan, originally from Peoria, Illinois, died on her 85th birthday in 2006, but her work is still relevant, and she has inspired many women, union workers, and older people to continue her struggle for equal rights.

• “Her feminism was an aspect of her humanism, and she really cared about the economic well-being of families and of all people.”--Emily Bazelon, Betty’s cousin in Friedan’s obituary in the Washington Post.

Bibliography

1. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton, 2001. 58. Print.

2. "A Conversation with Betty Friedan." 1963. Speech. A Conversation with Betty Friedan Webcast. Library of Congress. Web. <http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3675>.

3. Coontz, Stephanie. "Betty Friedan Is Not Responsible for All of Our Unhappiness." Slate Magazine. 5 May 2010. Web. 14 May 2010. <http://www.slate.com/id/2252917>.