Title: Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique": 50 Years Later
Headings: Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique”: 50 Years Later
News Analysis
Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique”: 50 Years Later
Peter Dreier

Content: Although a rise in women’s turnout has spurred these gains, men are now more willing to vote for women candidates than ever before. Ironically, because many “feminist” ideas are now taken for granted, few women today think of themselves as “feminists.” According to a 2009 poll conducted by CBS News, only 24 percent of American women identify themselves as feminists. But once the word was defined as someone who believes in social, political and economic equality of the sexes, the figure jumped to 65 percent. Friedan – who died in 2006 at age 85 – would no doubt be proud of the progressive changes that her book and activism inspired, but she’d be the first to note that full women’s equality has still not been achieved. For example, women represent only 3.6 percent of the CEOs of Fortune 500 corporations. Like 50 years ago, women today are more likely than men to be poor. The US is one of the few affluent countries that does not require paid maternity leave or provide universal child care. The Feminine Mystique began as a simple questionnaire. In 1957 Friedan and two friends prepared a survey of their Smith College classmates prior to their 15th reunion.