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Origins of the Feminine Mystique
In 1943, Betty Friedan was attending University of Berkley when her former boyfriend convinced her not to pursue a Ph.D., which had caused her to abandon her academic career. After this she decided to survey college graduates, to measure the satisfaction of life and got many responses from housewives who were happy to know they were not the only ones who were not satisfied. -
Feminine Mystique
The Feminine Mystique, created public awareness of the problem that women faced of not being happy in their lives as they are pressured to give up their dreams and to be housewives. Friedan had helped give women a voice, and had helped jump-start the second wave feminist movement. -
Founding of National Organization for Women (NOW)
Friedan became a co-founder and first president of the leading feminist organization. The goal was to make it so that women were truly equal to men in American society, and the first big goal of the group was to have the Equal Employment Opportunity enforce the provisions on Title VII. -
Women's Strike for Equality
Friedan had been advocating for women's rights to an abortion and women's rights in general, and organized a women's strike due to it being the 50th anniversary for women's suffrage, and wanted to raise awareness to the fact that women were still being discriminated against. -
Death of Betty Friedan
After the 70s Friedan lost her leadership roles, due to her advocacy mainly surrounding white, middle-class, heterosexual women, and as time went on feminism became more diverse. However, she is still considered the founder of modern feminism.
Betty Friedan passed away in 2006 from heart failure. -