Feminist, Author, Alumna Betty Friedan Passes Away
Anna Kastrilevich
Issue date: 2/9/06 Section: News
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Friedan's work described the life of suburban women in the 1950s, which was centered on housework and child-rearing. "'The Feminine Mystique' had an enormous impact on changing the lives of women of that time, a lot of whom were unhappy in the suburbs and didn't even know why," said Daniel Horowitz, professor of American Studies and chair of the department. "It was described as 'the problem that had no name,' and she demystified it for them."
Horowitz is the author of "Betty Friedan and the Making of The Feminine Mystique." "The Feminine Mystique" analyzed pertinent issues of the time such as the limited career prospects of women, as well as the enforced domestic role of women. "The Feminine Mystique" has sold more than three million copies worldwide.
"Her most creative and important period was between 1963, when she published 'The Feminine Mystique' and 1966, when she founded the National Organization for Women," he said.
Friedan's Smith education influenced her greatly. She first learned about feminism at Smith in Professor Dorothy Douglas' classroom. There, in a lecture on her 20th birthday, Friedan heard her favorite professor lecture about the suppression of women in Germany, which would eventually become the origins of "The Feminine Mystique," Horowitz said.
"When Friedan came to Smith in the fall of 1938 from a provincial town in Illinois, she was not very political, and her Smith education gave her the language of politics and feminism," Horowitz said. "She was definitely a feminist when she left."
At that time, Smith did not offer courses in women's studies or women's history. "However, Friedan acquired the leadership experience, confidence, toughness and passion that would carry her through the rest of her life," Horowitz added.
Friedan wanted women to be integrated into the American mainstream. According to Horowitz, Friedan broke with a more radical branch of feminism in the 1970s that wanted a restructuring of society for a more feminist-centric country.
"As feminism broadens and becomes more radical, she becomes more of a centrist," Horowitz said. "Much loved by some, much hated by others."