![]() ![]() The exhibit also touches on the National Organization for Women (NOW), which she helped found in 1966, and her connection to the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, whose report, also released in 1963, candidly assessed women’s status in American society. ![]() ![]() “It Changed My Life: The Feminine Mystique at 50” was gleaned from the 150 boxes of Friedan material housed at the library.Īrranged in seven glass cases, the exhibit offers viewers a look at the book’s genesis and at the passionate reactions that Friedan’s work inspired. “We felt like the exhibit should be about the writing of the book,” said Jenny Gotwals, lead manuscript cataloger, who helped assemble the show. What began as a college reunion survey (a copy is on display) morphed into a treatise of 300-plus pages that looked deeply into gender, power, and sexuality. 6 charts the evolution of Friedan’s seminal work. Her revolutionary book touched a deep nerve in American society, and was credited with starting what came to be known as the women’s liberation movement.Ī revealing exhibit at the Schlesinger Library on view through Feb. They longed, she said, to be more than just perfect housewives and doting mothers. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” a culture-shaking manifesto that detailed what the 1942 graduate of Smith College called the “problem that had no name.”įriedan’s “problem” was a simmering lack of fulfillment among women at midcentury. ![]()
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