Happy Birthday, Feminine Mystique!

The Feminine Mystique — a seminal book exploring (and deploring) the phenomena of women whose circumscribed lives were hidden in plain sight — was first published on February 19, 1963. Author Betty Friedan went on to become a national feminist icon, and she founded the National Organization for Women (NOW) three years later. Friedan, a graduate of the elite Smith College, was not typical of the women she inspired. But even with her education Friedan was as likely as those without a degree to be treated as a housewife — and her book triggered a groundswell to change the status quo. Friedan (1921-2006) and her book have profoundly influenced feminism and its achievements ever since.

Below watch Susan Ware deliver the keynote address at a gathering for The Feminine Mystique‘s 50th birthday: