Betty Friedan: Magnificent Disrupter (Jewish Lives)

A new portrait of Betty Friedan, the author and activist acclaimed as the mother of second-wave feminism

âA lucid portrait of Friedan as a bold yet flawed advocate for womenâs equality.ââPublishers Weekly

The feminist writer and activist Betty Friedan (1921â2006), pathbreaking author of The Feminine Mystique, was powerful and polarizing. In this biography, the first in more than twenty years, Rachel Shteir draws on Friedanâs papers and on interviews with family, colleagues, and friends to create a nuanced portrait.

Friedan, born Bettye Naomi Goldstein, chafed at societyâs restrictions from a young age. As a journalist she covered racism, sexism, labor, class inequality, and anti-Semitism. As a wife and mother, she struggled to balance her work and homemaking. Her malaise as a housewife and her research into the feelings of other women resulted in The Feminine Mystique (1963), which made her a celebrity.

Using her influence, Friedan cofounded the National Organization for Women, the National Womenâs Political Caucus, and the National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws. She fought for the Equal Rights Amendment, universal childcare, and workplace protections for mothers, but she disagreed with the womenâs liberation movement over âsexual politics.â Her volatility and public conflicts fractured key relationships.

Shteir considers how Friedanâs Judaism was essential to her feminism, presenting a new Friedan for a new era.