Knowra Betty Friedan Betty Friedan Betty Friedan was an American feminist writer and activist whose 1963 book The Feminine Mystique helped galvanize second-wave feminism in the United States.
National Organization for Women : An American feminist organization founded in 1966 to pursue equality for women through political and legal action. Friedan was a co-founder and its first president.
The Feminine Mystique : Betty Friedan’s 1963 book criticizing the expectation that women find fulfillment solely through domestic roles. This is Friedan’s defining work and the argument most closely associated with her activism.
Second-wave feminism : A feminist movement, prominent from the 1960s through the 1980s, that addressed social and economic inequalities as well as legal rights. Friedan’s book helped bring women’s dissatisfaction into the public debate associated with this movement.
Black feminism : A body of thought and activism addressing the intertwined effects of racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression on Black women. Black feminists challenged accounts of women’s oppression that centered white, middle-class experiences.
Gloria Steinem : An American journalist and feminist who became a prominent leader of second-wave feminism. Steinem and Friedan became leading, sometimes competing, public figures in the movement.
Suburbanization in the United States : The postwar movement of population and housing growth from American cities into surrounding suburbs. The suburban home became a central setting for the domestic ideal Friedan examined.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission : A United States federal agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. NOW, which Friedan helped found, pressed the agency to enforce protections against sex discrimination.
Combahee River Collective : A Black feminist lesbian socialist organization active in Boston from 1974 to 1980. Its members articulated political priorities that Friedan’s largely white, middle-class framework often marginalized.
Pauli Murray : An American lawyer, writer, and civil rights activist whose legal arguments influenced feminist organizing. Murray’s work shaped the legal equality agenda Friedan helped organize through NOW.
United States women's movement : A broad movement seeking legal, political, economic, and social equality for women in the United States. Friedan’s writing and organizing became influential within this larger, diverse movement.
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