Betty Friedan Influence On Women

Betty Friedan, author and activist, is known for her substantial role in altering the stereotype perception of society that women are to be average housewives, performing conventional female tasks in the home, such as cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children. Society believed that women should not be employed in the real world workforce, even if they did attain a high level of education. Friedan addressed these misconceptions through her books, including her most famous The Feminine Mystique. In addition to communicating her views through her writing, Betty Friedan played a major role in the establishment of multiple organizations, including the National Organization for Women, and was a well-known spokeswoman as well. There is no doubt that Friedan impacted history by helping expand the rights of women. To this day, Betty Friedan’s accomplishments

continue to inspire women, especially through her writing and organizations.

Betty Friedan was born on February 4, 1921, in Peoria, Illinois to Miriam Horwitz Goldstein and Harry Goldstein, who were Russian Jewish immigrants (2). Friedan and her family lived a middle class lifestyle, with her father as the owner of an elegant jewelry store, while her mother took care of the home (1). In addition to being a housewife, Friedan’s mother worked at a local newspaper, which sparked Betty Friedan’s passion for journalism. Friedan was also influenced by Middletown, a book written by Robert and Helen Lynd. Through this book, Friedan was introduced to aspects of society she was blind to prior to reading the book, such as the separation of social classes in her own hometown of Peoria. In addition to realizing hardships those in her community were facing, Betty Friedan also experienced

obstacles throughout her upbringing because she was Jewish. Friedan was separated from a majority of her friends in high school because they all became members of sororities and fraternities, which she was unable to be a member of because of her Jewish background. Betty Friedan had to learn to become outgoing and make connections outside of the sororities and fraternities (1). Friedan attended public schools in Peoria and in high school her interest for journalism increased immensely when she began helping with the school newspaper. In addition to her involvement with her school newspaper in high school, Friedan went to the next endeavor by generating her own magazine, with a few of her male classmates. Friedan’s journalism career would not stop there. In college, Friedan was an editor for Smith, a newspaper company. Betty Friedan’s dedication and ardor for journalism would eventually lead her to become an inspiring author and spokeswoman (1).
Betty Friedan attended Smith College, and was a summa cum laude graduate in the class of 1942. Friedan graduated with a psychology degree, and utilized that accomplishment by traveling to the University of California, Berkeley to train as a psychologist (2). However, in 1947 Friedan married her husband, Carl Friedan (1). Betty Friedan had moved to New York with her husband, and followed in her mother’s footsteps by becoming a typical housewife. Just as her mother did, Friedan also became involved with journalism by writing articles for local women’s magazines. Friedan’s interest in society’s inaccurate perception that a woman belongs in the home grew, and in 1957 she chose to construct a survey that her classmates from Smith College participated in. The results of this survey portrayed that several of the women who participated were ordinary educated housewives, just as Friedan herself was, and were not pleased with their role in society. With those results in mind, Friedan continued to research subject areas that include psychology, history, sociology, and economics. Friedan spent five years conducting this research (2). When Friedan sent an article in pertaining to the results she received, her article was denied by the women’s magazine editors because her article was somehow disrespectful (1). Baffled that her article was rejected, Friedan decided to use the information she obtained as the subject for one of her most notorious accomplishments, The Feminine Mystique (2).
After five years of writing the book, The Feminine Mystique was published in 1963 (3). In this book, Friedan addresses the issue that concerns women, who are intensely educated, being stationed in their homes for a living. The issue is referred to in the title of the first chapter, which is “The Problem That Had No Name”. In an interview, Friedan explains that the information in her book is what several women were thinking, but not saying (1). Fortunately, Betty Friedan acquired the courage necessary to write into words about such a controversial subject. In the same interview, since Friedan is fighting for women to be working outside of their homes, instead of being with their children, Friedan makes certain to clarify that raising her three children, two boys and one girl, was an experience that brought an immense amount of delight to her life, and being a mother was not a role she disliked or regretted (1). This book acted as an encouragement for several women in the same position as Friedan herself. Friedan ignited a small flame in terms of moving women from holding a career strictly in the home, to venturing out into the real world workforce. After publishing the book, Friedan came to the realization that just a book was not enough. In order for social change to arise, the issue needed to be further addressed (1).
To attract attention, and to eventually attract change, Friedan cofounded the National Organization for Women in 1966 (2). The National Organization for Women is devoted to broadening the rights of women (4). On June 28-30, 1966, Friedan attended the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women. The primary goal and focus of this conference was to convince the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to pass a resolution regarding the issue of gender discrimination in the workforce. When Friedan and the other attendees were denied authority, they gathered to discuss possible approaches. Friedan was the one who wrote “N O W” on a napkin, generating the name for this organization (4). Betty Friedan’s involvement in organizations pertaining to equal rights for women did not conclude there. In addition to being a founding member of the National Organization for Women, Betty Friedan, in 1971, also contributed to establishing the National Women’s Political Caucus (2). The National Women’s Political Caucus is the only organization that is committed to assisting women in becoming involved with public, as well as political employment, nationwide (8). Also, Betty Friedan assisted in the organization of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, also known as NARAL, in 1969 (1). The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights organization is devoted to eliminating the regulations that prevent women from being able to legally abort (3). The roles Betty Friedan played in the foundation of these organizations are major accomplishments that lead Friedan to be the influential woman she certainly was. However, Friedan was not able to please everyone.
Betty Friedan, as all activists do, had to unfortunately experience the critiques of society. For example, much of society disliked that Betty Friedan had a main target audience, which was highly educated, white, middle class women. Many also opposed Betty Friedan’s decision to interact with men about this subject matter (2). However, Betty Friedan responded to this judgment by explaining that if change was going to occur, then this evolution had to be maintained within the current American ideology and standards (2). Of course there were activists at this time that were anti-male; however Betty Friedan was an activist that was fighting for equality between genders, not fighting for women to control men (1). An accusation that not only Betty Friedan was accused of, but the entire movement was accused of, was that the women transitioning to employment outside of the home caused the divorce rates to skyrocket. Betty Friedan replied to this inaccurate allegation by stating that this critique is absolutely ridiculous, and the real cause for the increase in divorce rates was the fact that a man in a marriage was the sole provider, and the woman was situated in the home. Therefore, when the transition into the 1960’s transpired, couples did not know how to maintain their relationship (1). Despite the unfavorable commentary Betty Friedan received regarding her choice of approach to bring change to society, Friedan succeeded in inspiring an immense amount of women, and bringing about monumental change that is still recognized in today’s society.
Betty Friedan passed away on February 4, 2006, her birthday, in Washington D.C, at 85 years old. Friedan unfortunately passed away due to congestive heart failure (5). However, Betty Friedan’s legacy continues to live on today. The National Organization for Women, cofounded by Betty Friedan, still exists to this today. Currently, the organization is extremely supportive of Hillary Clinton’s choice to run in the 2016 presidential election, because the organization realizes that, despite all of Betty Friedan’s contributions and effort, the workforce, even in politics, continues to contain gender inequality obstacles (6). Friedan’s writings continue to inspire the women of today. In an interview, Betty Friedan spoke about how several years following the publishing of her book The Feminine Mystique, she continued to have women approach her and tell her themselves just how much the book encouraged them to navigate their way into society’s workforce (1). Betty Friedan was a woman who constantly strived to achieve more, up until the day she passed away. Eleanor Smeal, former president of the National Organization for Women, in an interview spoke about how at Betty Friedan’s last birthday party, Friedan was disappointed and agitated with the backward steps being taken concerning abortion rights (7). During her lifetime, Friedan was also able to adjust laws that were discriminatory to women in the working class. These regulations pertained to areas such as unequal pay, hiring methods, and management’s unacceptable use of power when firing pregnant employees that have the right to receive maternity leave (2). Betty Friedan managed to incorporate several remarkable achievements into the 85 years that she was alive, which have all had a major impact on how women live, how women function in the real world workplace, and the opportunities available to women today.