Friedan, Betty

(b. 1921) American feminist. Friedan was born in Peoria, Illinois and educated at Smith College. Her book The feminine Mystique (1963), which famously identified ‘the problem that has no name’ is widely considered to have triggered the second wave of 20th-century feminism. Friedan memorably likened being a full-time housewife to being an inhabitant of a ‘comfortable concentration camp’ and she suggested that the solution to women’s dissatisfaction lay in the world of paid employment and recognition outside the home. The book had enormous impact and Friedan became a founder member and the first president of the National Organization of Women in 1966. Since then she has worked tirelessly for women’s causes such as free access to abortion, equal pay for equal work and the Equal Rights Amendment. Her later book, The Second Stage (1982), caused much consternation within the movement since she seemed to be recommending a more compromising stance towards the male establishment. Subsequently she has written The fountain of Age (1994) which discusses women and aging. Despite the controversy she has provoked even among committed feminists, Friedan remains one of the most highly respected women in the United States today.