Betty Friedan

Betty Naomi Goldstein Friedan (February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer, activist, and intellectual born in Peoria, Illinois, who fundamentally shaped the modern women's rights movement. After graduating from Smith College and working as a journalist, Friedan conducted a survey of her college classmates that revealed widespread dissatisfaction among educated women confined to domestic roles. This research led to the writing of her most famous work, 'The Feminine Mystique' (1963), which argued that the post-World War II ideology promoting women's exclusive fulfillment through homemaking and motherhood was psychologically damaging and limited women's potential. The book became a bestseller and is credited with igniting the second-wave feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Friedan's analysis of 'the feminine mystique'—the cultural belief that women could find complete satisfaction only through marriage, motherhood, and homemaking—resonated with millions of women and challenged deeply ingrained assumptions about gender roles. In 1966, she founded the National Organization for Women (NOW), serving as its president and helping to establish it as a major force for women's equality. Throughout her life, Friedan continued to write, teach, and advocate for women's rights, gender equality in the workplace, and reproductive freedom. Though her work has been critiqued for its focus on middle-class white women and its sometimes problematic assumptions, her contributions to feminism and women's liberation remain foundational to modern gender equality movements. She is remembered as one of the most influential activists and thinkers of the 20th century.