Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan was the oldest of three children born to Harry Goldstein, a Russian-Jewish immigrant who worked as a jeweler, and his wife Miriam Goldstein, a Hungarian-Jewish immigrant who worked as a journalist until Friedan was born. Friedan attended Smith College where she studied psychology and graduated summa cum laude in 1942. She spent a year at the University of California – Berkeley on a fellowship to pursue advanced work in psychology before moving to New York City in 1943. While there, she worked in a series of odd jobs until meeting Carl Friedan, an aspiring theater producer and advertising executive. They married in 1947. The couple had three children and settled in Rockland County, New York where Friedan became a homemaker and a freelance writer. Her research on The Feminine Mystique began during the 1950s when she conducted a survey among her fellow Smith alumnae and found that many of them lived discontented lives as housewives. The publication of the book heralded the arrival of the second-wave feminist movement. Friedan used her influence to pursue the political aims she had adopted in her youth. In 1963, she helped found the National Organization of Women (NOW), for which she served as its first president. She also helped found the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, renamed the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) after the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade (1973). In 1971, she co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus with the Congresswomen Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug and the activist, Gloria Steinem. Friedan also pursued the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. She continued to write and engage in women’s issues until her death from heart failure in 2006.