Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan (1921-2006)

By Sally Ann Drucker

Essay

Betty Friedan’s famous book, The Feminine Mystique, stated that American women had not been allowed to grow to full human capacity. Friedan, first president of the National Organization of Women (NOW), also co-founded the National Association for Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL) and the National Women’s Political Caucus.

Bettye Goldstein was born in Peoria, Illinois. Her mother, wanting to attend Smith College, was not allowed; she was forced to leave her newspaper job when pregnant. Friedan felt that role restrictions created her mother's critical nature.

Peoria’s anti-Semitism also affected Betty. Although a successful businessman, her father was socially ignored; she was not asked to join a high school sorority. Her strong social conscience grew from these experiences.

Following her mother's dream, Betty earned her degree at Smith in 1942. She majored in psychology, then did graduate work at University of California-Berkeley. Betty left to live in New York City, working for labor newspapers and marrying Carl Friedan there. Pregnant with their second child, fired from her newspaper job, she began free-lance writing.

She brought a detailed questionnaire to her fifteenth Smith reunion in 1958 (?), discovering that sixty percent of respondents found no fulfillment as homemakers. Magazines would not publish her material, so it became a book attacking the idea that hyper-femininity led to domestic bliss. In 1964, The Feminine Mystique sold 1.3 million paperback copies.

Invited by Lyndon B. Johnson to support his 1964 campaign, she realized that women were accepted there only as tokens. His proposed Civil Rights Bill prohibited sex, race, color, religion, and national origin discrimination. Although segregationists thought adding sex would scuttle the bill, it passed; however, women’s complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission remained unexamined. Washington women then wanted their own NAACP, led by someone with no government job to lose: Betty Friedan.

In 1966, she created the National Organization for Women (NOW). It soon expanded beyond employment issues, analyzing the politics of sexual relationships and housework. NARAL was formed as a separate organization, focusing on abortion rights.

The growing feminist movement no longer used Friedan’s book as roadmap; some NOW members resented her tactics. These problems coincided with her own escalating domestic violence troubles, resulting in separation from Carl. In addition, Friedan felt ignored as the movement’s major figure; in 1971, McCall's named Gloria Steinem Woman of the Year.

Yet NOW counted numerous achievements. Airline stewardesses could work if married and past their early thirties. Women got credit cards and bank loans without co-signers. To consolidate gains, Friedan co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus and saw abortion legalized in 1973.

Carl did not pay child support, so Friedan began teaching and lecturing. She focused on applying feminism to social needs. In The Second Stage, she wrote that flextime, parental leaves, and guaranteed childcare were priorities. Working at the University of Southern California’s Andrus Gerontology Center, she wrote The Fountain of Age, describing new possibilities for America’s aging population.

In later years, Friedan reconciled with old enemies, even developing a friendship with Carl. By the time she died, Betty Friedan had a permanent place in American history, or “herstory.”

Sally Ann Drucker

Since 1993, Dr. Sally Ann Drucker has presented interesting and infamous women at Chautauquas. She first portrayed Frances Wright, feminist-abolitionist, at a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded Democracy in America Chautauqua, touring eight states over three summers. She has also portrayed Emma Goldman, feminist-anarchist; Rosie the Riveter, WWII Defense Worker; Lucrezia Borgia, 16^th Century Duchess; and Hazel Shaw, Dust Bowl Survivor. Dr. Drucker is pleased to return to Colorado to present Betty Friedan, her most contemporary figure. When not performing, she’s a Professor in the Dept. of English at State University of New York (?)-Nassau, Garden City, NY, also teaching Women’s Studies and other interdisciplinary courses there.

Bullet Points

Published The Feminist Mystique (1963), which defined “the problem that has no name.”
Founded National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966.
Founded National Women’s Political Caucus, 1971.
Spokesperson for women’s movement, gender inequities, and rights of elderly until she died (b. Illinois, 1921-2006.)

Quotes

"Equality and human dignity are not possible for women if they are not able to earn."

"A baked potato is not as big as the world."

"It is a terrible thing we are doing to American women in the name of femininity. We are preventing them from reaching their full growth as human beings."

"The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own. There is no other way."

"When people give up control over their lives and have no purpose to their days, it is a dehumanizing experience."

"Some people think I'm saying, 'Women of the world unite--you have nothing to lose but your men.' It's not true. You have nothing to lose but your vacuum cleaners."

"Betty has offended, at one time or another, virtually everyone she has worked closely with." Paul Wilkes.

"Without her work, most American girls would probably still grow up thinking they could only become housewives." Jennifer Chapin Harris.

Timeline

Feb. 4, 1921
Born Bettye Naomi Goldstein in Peoria, IL

1936- 1938
Wrote for High School paper

1938
Left Peoria to attend Smith College

1942
Graduated from Smith College Summa Cum Laude

1942-3
Attended graduate school in Psychology, UC-Berkeley

1943
Left Berkeley to live in New York City

1943-6
Wrote for The Federated Press, union newspaper

1946-52
Wrote for United Electrical Workers’ UE News

1947
Married Carl Friedan

1948- 1956
Gave birth to 3 children: 2 sons, 1 daughter

1952
Fired from job at UE News because of pregnancy

1963
Published The Feminine Mystique

1966
Co-founder of the National Organization for Women (NOW)

1966- 70
President of the National Organization for Women

1969
Co-founder of NARAL, National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws, later called the National Abortion Rights Action League

1970
Helped organize Women's Strike for Equality; in August led march of 50,000 women down 5th Avenue, NY City

1971
Co-Founder of National Women’s Political Caucus

1973
Called 1st International Feminist Congress

1975
Won Humanist of the Year Award

1976
Published It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women’s Movement

1980
Delegate to the Whitehouse Conference on Families

1981
Published The Second Stage

1986
Started teaching and doing research at University of Southern California Andrus Gerontology Center

1993
Published The Fountain of Age

1994
Received Woodrow Wilson Fellowship

1997
Published Beyond Gender

1998
Received Ford Foundation Grant

2000
Published Life So Far

2006
Died Feb. 4, 2006

High Plains Chautauqua