Original version

BBC World Service Online

Witness History

Podcasts

Factual: History

History as told by the people who were there

History as told by the people who were there.

Witness

Witness History: The Feminine Mystique

Magazines & Reviews

News

The Feminine Mystique

19/02/2013 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, The Feminine Mystique

Betty Friedan's book kickstarted the modern women's movement.

Betty Friedan's book - calling for women to leave the home and enter the workplace - paved the way for the women's liberation movement.

In 1963, a frustrated American housewife, Betty Friedan, published one of the key texts in feminist thought. With its call for women to leave the home and enter the workplace, The Feminine Mystique paved the way for the women's liberation movement and became a bestseller. It called for a shakeup of the job market with maternity pay and subsidised childcare. Jo Fidgen speaks to two of Betty Friedan's children, Johnathan and Emily. The programme also contains archive recordings of Friedan herself.

Photo: The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Witness History

The Feminine Mystique

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service