Betty Friedan--Gone But Not Forgotten

One of the most influential American feminists of the twentieth century passed away earlier this year.

Betty Friedan, pioneer of the women's movement, died of heart failure in Washington on February 4. It was her 85th birthday. Friedan was a writer, social activist and mother of three. She was best known as author of The Feminine Mystique, a book discussing the dissatisfaction of women in their limited roles as housewives and mothers.

In a recent issue of The Guardian, controversial feminist writer Germaine Greer commented on Friedan's accomplishments and influence on women's roles in society, writing, "Women don't get the respect they deserve unless they are wielding male-shaped power. If they represent women they will be called 'love' and expected to clear up after themselves. Betty wanted to change that forever." Going on, Greer maintains that Friedan "changed the course of human history almost single-handedly."

Friedan was born in Illinois, USA, in 1921. As a young adult, she completed graduate work at the University of California in Berkeley, but declined a scholarship for further study in favor of going to work as a journalist for leftist and union publications. In 1947, she married theatre producer Carl Friedman.

In 1952, Friedan requested maternity leave from the union newspaper UE News, but the paper fired her instead of granting her request. She then worked as freelance writer while raising three kids, but felt bored and largely unfulfilled as a housewife.

When she attended her fifteen-year university reunion in 1957, the university asked Friedan to design and administer a questionnaire to assess her classmates' satisfaction since graduating. The responses she gathered clearly showed that the women were not contented in their roles as housewives and mothers. Sixty percent could not say that their main occupation as homemaker was truly fulfilling and eighty-nine percent had problems working out their role as women.

Friedan wrote an article entitled "Are Women Wasting Their Time in College?" that detailed her findings and submitted the piece to various magazines, including McCall's, Ladies' Home Journal and Redbook. Most magazines refused outright to print the article, while others wanted to rewrite. Friedan, however, refused to allow anyone to run a revised version as she thought that revisions radically changed the message.

"That's when I knew I had to write a book," Friedan said.

That book was The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963.

In 1966 Friedan helped found and became the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), an organization dedicated to achieving women's legal equality. Two years later, she helped found the National Abortion Rights Action League. She and her husband and divorced in 1969, and in 1971 she became one of the feminist leaders of the National Women's Political Caucus. Between political responsibilities, Friedan continued to publish books and articles.

It is to honour Friedan's work and courage as a champion for equal rights for women that I have dedicated this month's Chick Pick column to her. I urge any of you who haven't read her work to take some time to explore these writings that helped change society for the better.