Alice Paul’s copy of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, 1963

Photo by Kevin Grady/Radcliffe Institute

Sometimes the importance of a book goes beyond the text itself. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, which connects the first- and second-wave feminist movements, was published in 1963 and widely credited with sparking the post–World War II women’s movement. This copy, which connects the first- and second-wave feminist movements, was owned and annotated throughout by the suffragist Alice Paul (1885–1977), founder of the National Woman’s Party and author of the original Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

Friedan, Betty, The Feminine Mystique, New York: Norton, 1963

Catalog record:

http://id.lib.harvard.edu/aleph/000980689/catalog

Learn more:

Learn more about Alice Paul.

Learn more about Betty Friedan.

Discover more about the Schlesinger Library's exhibit It Changed My Life: The Feminine Mystique at 50.

Watch a 2013 panel discussion held at the Radcliffe Institute: "Fifty Years after The Feminine Mystique":

Two notable scholars, Stephanie Coontz and Ariela Dubler, look back at Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique and consider whether movement toward equality has persisted or stalled since the book was published in 1963.

The following three videos feature highlights from the Schlesinger Library's holdings about Betty Friedan:

Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women: 

Frustrated with the slow rate of change in laws and cultural expectations for women, a group of men and women founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1966. Betty Friedan was president of NOW from 1966 to 1970. Accomplishments during her tenure include achieving an end to sex-segregated job advertisements and advocating for affordable child care.

Gerda Lerner's letter to Betty Friedan about her book, The Feminine Mystique:

Betty Friedan received thousands of letters in response to her book, The Feminine Mystique. Gerda Lerner was at the beginning of her career as a historian when she wrote a letter to Betty Friedan critiquing the her assumption of universality of experience based on gender.

Betty Friedan and the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women: 

In 1961 John F. Kennedy established a presidential commission to examine and report on the status of American women. The President's Commission on the Status of Women invited Betty Friedan to be part of their Mass Media Consultation in 1963.