In Memoriam: Betty Friedan
Honoring Groundbreaking Author, a NOW Founder and First President

February 4, 2006

Betty Friedan at a NOW action in May, 1995.

Send in your own tribute to Betty Friedan. Read the tributes.

Today the National Organization for Women (NOW) and the nation celebrate the life and legacy of Betty Friedan, one of the founders of NOW and the modern women's rights movement.

"Freidan wrote The Feminine Mystique in 1963, and it opened women's eyes," said NOW President Kim Gandy. "Betty recognized a longing in the women of her generation, a longing for something more — opportunity, recognition, fulfillment, success, a chance to live their own dreams beyond the narrow definition of 'womanhood' that had limited their lives."

In June, 1966, Betty Friedan and 27 other women and men founded NOW, which has grown into the United States' largest feminist organization. Later that year she was elected NOW's first president, and her fame as an author helped attract hundreds of thousands of women to the new organization. Friedan and Dr. Pauli Murray co-authored NOW's original Statement of Purpose, which began, "The purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men."

Friedan was NOW's president from 1966 to 1970. During that time we lobbied the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce laws against sex discrimination in employment, and to ban ads that were segregated by sex. We forced airlines to change their policies that permitted only female flight attendants, and required them to resign once they married or turned 32. And in a key achievement, NOW convinced President Johnson to sign an Executive Order barring sex discrimination by federal contractors. In 1968, NOW became the first national organization to endorse the legalization of abortion.

Gandy remembers that time: "Betty led NOW through those first few turbulent years after our founding in 1966, when we were challenging every orthodoxy about what it meant to be a woman — about what it would mean to have control over your own body and your own life, and not be limited by other peoples' stereotypes."

Latifa Lyles, elected a national Vice President of NOW last year at age 29, says of Friedan,"The movement that was sparked by The Feminine Mystique continues today to inspire women of my generation to take action to achieve full equality."

The organization she led celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Gandy says, "She sparked a movement that is larger and stronger than ever — made up of women who expect equality and equal opportunity for ourselves and our daughters, and the men who stand with us."

Send in your own tribute to Betty Friedan.

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For Immediate Release
Contact: Mai Shiozaki, 202-628-8669, ext. 116; cell 202-641-1906

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