The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan (Co-fundadora y primer presidente de

NOW National Organization for Woman)

Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921 February 4, 2006) was an American writer,
activist, and feminist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United
States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the
second wave of American feminism in the 20th century. In 1966, Friedan co-
founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for
Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American
society now [in] fully equal partnership with men".

In 1970, after stepping down as NOW's first president, Friedan organized the
nationwide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution granting women the
right to vote. The national strike was successful beyond expectations in
broadening the feminist movement; the march led by Friedan in New York City
alone attracted over 50,000 women and men. In 1971, Friedan joined other
leading feminists to establish the National Women's Political Caucus. Friedan was
also a strong supporter of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United
States Constitution that passed the United States House of Representatives (by a
vote of 35424) and Senate (848) following intense pressure by women's groups
led by NOW in the early 1970s. Following Congressional passage of the
amendment, Friedan advocated for ratification of the amendment in the states
and supported other women's rights reforms: she founded the National
Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws but was later critical of the abortion-
centered positions of many liberal feminists.
Regarded as an influential author and intellectual in the United States, Friedan
remained active in politics and advocacy for the rest of her life, authoring six
books. As early as the 1960s Friedan was critical of polarized and extreme
factions of feminism that attacked groups such as men and homemakers. One of
her later books, The Second Stage (1981), critiqued what Friedan saw as the
extremist excesses of some feminists.

The Feminine Mystique is a 1963 book by Betty Friedan which is widely credited
with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States.
In 1957, Friedan was asked to conduct a survey of her former Smith College
classmates for their 15th anniversary reunion; the results, in which she found
that many of them were unhappy with their lives as housewives, prompted her to
begin research for The Feminine Mystique, conducting interviews with other
suburban housewives, as well as researching psychology, media, and advertising.
She originally intended to publish an article on the topic, not a book, but no
magazine would publish her article.