Research topic: Betty Naomi Friedan

Betty Naomi Friedan 1921-2006, American social reformer and feminist, b. Peoria, Ill. as Bettye Goldstein, educated at Smith College (B.A., 1942) and the Univ. of California at Berkeley. A suburban housewife and sometime writer, in 1963 she published The Feminine Mystique, attacking the then-popular notion that women could find fulfillment only through childbearing and homemaking. Widely read and extremely influential, the book played an important role in the creation of the modern feminist movement. In 1966 Friedan helped found the National Organization for Women (NOW) and served as... Read more