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I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Steve Ember with PEOPLE IN AMERICA in
VOA Special English.
Today we talk about Betty Friedan. She was a powerful activist for the
rights of women. Betty Friedan is often called the mother of the modern
women's liberation movement. Her famous book, "The Feminine
Mystique," changed America. Some people say it changed the world. It
has been called one of the most influential nonfiction books of the
twentieth century. Friedan re-awakened the feminist movement in the
United States. That movement had helped women gain the right to vote
in the nineteen twenties. Modern feminists disagree about how to
describe themselves and their movement. But activists say men and
women should have equal chances for economic, social and intellectual
satisfaction in life. Fifty years ago, life for women in the United States
was very different from today. Very few parents urged their daughters to
become lawyers or doctors or professors. Female workers doing the
same jobs as men earned much less money. Women often lost their
jobs when they had a baby. There were few child care centers for
working parents. Betty Friedan once spoke to ABC television about her
support for sharing responsibility for the care of children: "If child-rearing
was considered the responsibility of women and men or women and
men and society, then we really could pull up our skirts and declare
victory and move on." Betty Friedan was born Betty Goldstein in
nineteen twenty-one in Peoria, Illinois. Her immigrant father worked as a
jeweler. Her mother left her job with a local newspaper to stay home
with her family. Betty attended Smith College in Northampton,
Massachusetts. It was one of the country's best colleges for women. She
finished her studies in psychology in nineteen forty-two. After college
she attended the University of California at Berkeley to continue her
studies. But her boyfriend at the time did not want her to get an
advanced degree in psychology. He apparently felt threatened by her
success. So Betty left California and her boyfriend. She moved to New
York City and worked as a reporter and editor for labor union
newspapers. In nineteen forty-seven, Betty Goldstein married Carl
Friedan, a theater director who later became an advertising
executive. They had a child, the first of three. The Friedan’s were to
remain married until nineteen sixty-nine. When Betty Friedan became
pregnant for the second time, she was dismissed from her job at the
newspaper. After that she worked as an independent reporter for
magazines. But her editors often rejected her attempts to write about
subjects outside the traditional interests of women. In nineteen fifty-
seven, Friedan started research that was to have far-reaching
results. Her class at Smith College was to gather for the fifteenth

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anniversary of their graduation. Friedan prepared an opinion study for

the women. She sent questions to the women about their lives. Most
who took part in the study did not work outside their homes. Friedan was
not completely satisfied with her life. She thought that her former college
classmates might also be dissatisfied. She was right. Friedan thought
these intelligent women could give a lot to society if they had another
identity besides being homemakers. Friedan completed more studies.
She talked to other women across the country. She met with experts
about the questions and answers. She combined this research with
observations and examples from her own life. The result was her book,
"The Feminine Mystique," published in nineteen sixty-three. The book
attacked the popular idea of the time that women could only find
satisfaction through being married, having children and taking care of
their home. Friedan believed that women wanted more from life than just
to please their husbands and children. The book said women suffered
from feelings of lack of worth. Friedan said this was because the women
depended on their husbands for economic, emotional and intellectual
support. "The Feminine Mystique" was a huge success. It has sold more
than three million copies. It was reprinted in a number of other
languages. The book helped change the lives of women in America.
More women began working outside the home. More women also began
studying traditionally male subjects like law, medicine and engineering.
Betty Friedan expressed the dissatisfaction of some American women
during the middle of the twentieth century. But she also made many men
feel threatened. Later, critics said her book only dealt with the problems
of white, educated, wealthy, married women. It did not study the
problems of poor white women, single women or minorities. In nineteen
sixty-six, Betty Friedan helped establish NOW, the National Organization
for Women. She served as its first president. She led campaigns to end
unfair treatment of women seeking jobs. Friedan also worked on other
issues. She wanted women to have the choice to end their
pregnancies. She wanted to create child-care centers for working
parents. She wanted women to take part in social and political
change. Betty Friedan once spoke about her great hopes for women in
the nineteen seventies: "Liberating ourselves, we will then become a
major political force, perhaps the biggest political force for basic social
and political change in America in the seventies." Betty Friedan led a
huge demonstration in New York City for women's rights.
Demonstrations were also held in other cities. A half-million women
took part in the Women's Strike for Equality on August twenty-sixth,
nineteen seventy. The day marked the fiftieth anniversary of American
women gaining the right to vote.

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A year after the march, Friedan helped establish the National Women's
Political Caucus. She said the group got started "to make policy, not
coffee." She said America needed more women in public office if
women were to gain equal treatment. Friedan wanted a national
guarantee of that equal treatment. She worked tirelessly to get Congress
and the states to approve an amendment to the United States
Constitution that would provide equal rights for women. The House of
Representatives approved this Equal Rights Amendment in nineteen
seventy-one. The Senate approved it the following year. Thirty-eight of
the fifty state legislatures were required to approve the
amendment. Congress set a time limit of seven years for the states to
approve it. This was extended to June thirtieth, nineteen eighty-
two. However, only thirty-five states approved the amendment by the
deadline so it never went into effect. The defeat of the E.R.A. was a sad
event for Betty Friedan, NOW and other activists. In nineteen eighty-one,
Betty Friedan wrote about the condition of the women's movement. Her
book was called "The Second Stage." Friedan wrote that the time for
huge demonstrations and other such events had passed. She urged the
movement to try to increase its influence on American political life. Some
younger members of the movement denounced her as too conservative.
As she grew older, Friedan studied conditions for older Americans. She
wrote a book called "The Fountain of Age" in nineteen ninety-three. She
wrote that society often dismisses old people as no longer important or
useful. Friedan's last book was published in two thousand. She was
almost eighty years old at the time. Its title was "Life So Far." Betty
Friedan died on February fourth, two thousand six. It was her eighty-fifth
birthday. Betty Friedan once told a television reporter how she wanted to
be remembered: "She helps make it better for women to feel good about
being women, and therefore she helped make it possible for women to
more freely love men."
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson. It was produced by Lawan
Davis. I'm Faith Lapidus. And I'm Steve Ember. You can download a
transcript and audio of this show at [Link]. Join us
again next week for PEOPLE IN AMERICA in VOA Special English.

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