Kara's+Civil+Rights+Project

=Betty Friedan= toc

Profile Information
Name: Betty Friedan Hometown: Peoria, Illinois Date of Birth: February 4, 1921 Job Name/Title/Employer: American writer, activist, and feminist. Education: Smith College (1942 Bachelor's Degree) and University of California Psychology Research Fellow.

Friends
Bella Abzug

Gloria Steinem

Dolores Alexander

Carl Friedan

Pauli Murray

About Me
Hello! My name is Betty Friedan. I was a bright student while I attended Smith College. I worked with the campus newspaper. I graduated in 1942 with a Bachelor's Degree. After that I became a psychology research fellow at the University of California. I was there for about a year. I was then offered a job as a reporter in New York City. I then got married to Carl Friedan in 1947. Later, I was pregnant with my first child so I took a maternity leave. I returned back to my job and continued reporting and writing. In 1949, I was pregnant with my second child. I again asked for a maternity leave and they fired me. I then became a housewife because the Union would not help defend me.

As a house wife, I wrote magazine articles for typical middle-class housewives. In 1957, I had a 15th year class reunion for my graduating class at Smith College. I was asked to survey my classmates on how they used their education at that time. After the reunion I found that my results showed 89% of my classmates weren't using their education or weren't happy with their job. I wrote an article about how the men and women have limited roles. But, no one would put my article in their magazine or newspaper. I then started to write a book I called //The Feminine Mystique//. It was published on February 19, 1963; it was later translated into 13 different languages! Many people, mostly women, started to adore and look up to me. They thought that I was right about what I said in my book. In 1966, I joined some women and together we founded the National Organization for Women. (NOW) I was the president for the first three years. In 1969, I divorced my husband, Carl, because it was not working out. I helped found another group to focus on the issue of abortion. It was named the National Abortion Rights Action League. (NARAL) That same year, I decided to step down as the NOW president.

I led in organizing the Women's Strike for Equality for the 50th anniversary of the winning vote for women. So many people attended that it was more than we could ever imagine. I started founding more groups and organizations. While doing this I also became less active in NOW. I became involved in lesbian rights. I was afraid though that if we started supporting lesbian protests that women's rights supporters would diminish. I started to write another book called //It Changed My Life.// That was about my thoughts on the women's movement. I also became more focused on sexual politics in the 1980s. In 1981, my book //The Second Stage// was published.

I continued to write articles about women's rights and politics. I wrote about how women are made up to be like Superwoman ,when we should be able to do what we want with our lives, and not what others say or think we should. I was criticized by many feminists. I wrote a few more small books later on. My writings from //The Feminine Mystique// were also criticized for representing the viewpoint of white, middle-class, educated women, and for ignoring other women's voices. I started lecturing and teaching at different colleges. I wrote later for many magazines. I also was an organizer and director of the First Women's Bank and Trust. In 2000, I wrote a book called //Life So Far.// It was about exactly what the title said. It was about my life as a child from my life to present time. My name is Betty and I am a strong and independent women.

Wall Posts

 * June 12, 1947: Today I married the man of my dreams, Carl Friedan. It is hard to believe that our first date was only seven months ago! Carl and I will have three kids: Daniel, Emily, and Johnathan. We will only be married for about twenty-two years. We will talk after the divorce, but it will always be hard.


 * February 19, 1963: My book that I have been writing has been finally published! It is titled //The Feminine Mystique.// It is about the life of white, middle-class, educated women. My book will become a best seller and be later translated in thirteen different languages. Many women will look up to me for standing up for myself.


 * 1971: I helped fund the National Women's Political Caucus with Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug, and other women. We will establish three main issues. These issues will be reproductive freedom, affordable childcare, and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. We will create campaigns and organizations to get us recognized.


 * February 4, 2006: This is the day and the year that I will die. I died on my birthday from heart failure. People will remember me as a leading feminist and feminist writer. Women will talk about how I stood up for women's rights and how women should always be treated equally.

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