Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan 4 Feb 1921 - 4 Feb 2006

Born Peoria, Illinois

Betty Friedan's analysis of women's limited roles in American society, entitled The Feminine Mystique, was published in 1963. This controversial book galvanized the modern-day feminist movement and led to Friedan's co-founding the National Organization for Women. Her focus on family values and the role of partnership in marriage continued into the late 1990s as she encouraged the creation of a "new paradigm... one based on today's economic and demographic realities."

Artist Alice Matzkin arrived at Friedan's home in Washington, D.C., hoping to have one question answered: "What makes life worthwhile?" Seventy-two photographs and fifteen minutes later, Friedan had entered a reflective state that inspired Matzkin's rendering of the feminist matriarch.

The artist; purchase 1996 NPG

Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution