Biography of: Betty Friedan
Author: Allison Satterthwait
Timeline
Leadership Style
Political Philosophy
Timeline
- Feb. 4, 1921 Bettye Naomi Goldstein was born in Peoria, IL
- 1936- 1938 wrote for the High School paper the Peoria Opinion
- 1938 went to Smith College
- 1940's "worked in the usual kinds of boring jobs that lead nowhere" says Betty
- 1941 participated in a writers workshop at Highlander Folk School, TN
- 1943 graduated from Smith College Summa Cum Laude
- 1943 went to graduate school at Berkley; Berkley offered Betty a prestigious fellowship. She said that this was a pivotal point of her life, her boyfriend at the time did not receive an offer and told her that the relationship was over if she accepted.
- 1947 married Carl Friedan
- 1948 campaigned for Henry Wallace
- 1948- 1956 gave birth to 3 children; 2 sons and a daughter, said she felt trapped and limited as a women
- 1952 fired from a union publication because of her pregnancy
- 1952 wrote pamphlet "UE Fight For Women Workers"
- 1952 edited "The Parkway Villager"
- 1955 published "I Went Back to Work" and wrote for a women's magazine
- 1963 wrote probably her most known work "The Feminine Mystique"
- 1966 helped found the National Organization for Women
- 1966- 1970 President for the National Organization for Women
- 1970 helped organize Women's Strike for Equality
- Aug. 1970 led 50,000 women down 5th Avenue in a strike for equality
- 1973 wrote "Up From the Kitchen Floor"
- 1973 called 1st International Feminist Congress
- 1975 won Humanist of the year 1980 Delegate to the Whitehouse Conference on Families
- 1981 wrote "The Second Stage"
- 1993 wrote "The Foundation of Age"
- 1994 Interview with The Region
- 1995 wrote "Beyond Gender"
- 1995 75th Anniversary for Women's Right To Vote, Betty is then heading for Beijing
- 1995-on Betty Friedan is now very interested in sex roles and aging and gives many lectures and seminars on this subject
Leadership Style
Betty Friedan in my opinion was a great leader. She gave women someone to look up to. One of the reason Betty was such a good leader is because she gained trust from her followers. She wasn't a single women with an agenda but a married women who had three children. I think this fact made it easier for other working moms to relate to her, to understand her and look up to her.
Betty Friedan was a symbolic leader. She was the model of what other women wanted to be like. Her speeches and lectures were very important in her leadership but her writings really fueled the fires. Editing women's magazines, writing her story and about her hardships in the workforce as a women, writing other women stories were the most important part of her leadership. Her writing skills enabled her to reach out to every housewife, and every women.
Betty Friedan was a good leader because she had the necessary skills that it took to be a leader. Betty was very inspiring in her writings, she really reached out to her followers. She has proven that she has the drive and the endurance to be a powerful leader. She took her hardships and defeats and turned them into teaching tools for other women.
Betty Friedan has also proved that she can change as time and the movement changes. She has expressed that some of her views of the 1940's have changed into the 1990's as times change. She still has the same intensity that she did in the 1940's but the intensity is focused on other issues such as sex roles and aging (Region, Interview).
Political Philosophy
I believe that Betty Friedan was a Radical leader, she wanted changes, big changes in the women's movement. She was not satisfied at all with the existing order but wouldn't use violence, she used writings, speeches, non-violent marches and protests. On the wheels of the spokes I would classify Betty Friedan as an innovational leader. As I have expressed previously, Betty Freidan changes with the movement. In an interview with The Region Betty Freidan says, "I've spent the last 25 to 30 years focusing on women's issues and the last 10 years on women and men and age. As I said before, I see no solutions in terms of power blocks. What is needed is a new vision of community, a higher vision of the good of a whole community that transcends polarization of groups. Groups have been effective in the past in achieving equality. Now we're in a position where the only way progress can continue is through a new definition of community."
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