Home / Quotes / Quote by Betty Friedan

Quote by Betty Friedan

“I just decided that I didn't want to be in the academic world, because it was [really] too easy for me at the top. But also it wasn't active enough for me.”

Quote by Betty Friedan

Author

Betty Friedan was an American writer renowned for her groundbreaking work, 'The Feminine Mystique,' which had a profound impact on the women's liberation movement of the 20th century. Her writing exposed the dilemmas faced by women in society, the family, and the workplace, sparking a reevaluation of their status and rights. more

You May Also Like

“While I had been, I guess, quite brilliant, academically, in my college years, I also had been editor of the paper, and I loved that. And, that was a much more active thing. And I missed it when I was doing graduate work.”

Years College Paper Active Brilliant Editors Graduates College Years

Author:Betty Friedan

“It was the era that I later analyzed, the "feminine mystique" era, [when] "career woman" was a dirty word. And so I didn't want a career anymore. [But] I had to do something. So I started freelancing for women's magazines.”

Want Careers Magazines Eras Dirty Feminine Mystique Dirty Words Career Women Feminine Mystique

Author:Betty Friedan

“American women were frustrated in just the role of housewife - but they also managed to enlarge it. And they weren't just housewives, they were community leaders.”

Community Leader Roles Frustrated Housewife American Woman

Author:Betty Friedan

“Whatever I wrote was heretical. It offended the editors of the women's magazines.”

Magazines Editors Offended

Author:Betty Friedan

“I realized that what I was saying was threatening, somehow, to the editors of women's magazines. That it threatened the very world they were trying to paint, what I then called the "feminine mystique."”

World Trying Paint I Realized Magazines Feminine Editors Threatened Threatening Mystique Feminine Mystique

Author:Betty Friedan

“I loved my kids. And I loved my house, and I loved a lot of things about my life in the 1950s. But there were a lot like me in that era, very overeducated housewives.”

Kids House Like Me Eras Housewife

Author:Betty Friedan

“When [the] life span of America women is approaching eighty years having kids is not going to take it up.”

Years Kids America Eighty Having Kids Life Span

Author:Betty Friedan

“The situation of women and men is not comparable to worker-boss or black and white.”

Men Black White Situation Men And Women Workers Boss Black And White

Author:Betty Friedan

“There is absolutely no evidence that it is harmful to children if their mother's health, well-being and autonomy and control of her own destiny is maximized by work outside the home.”

Ifs Wells Children Home Mother Destiny Evidence Work Out Well Being Autonomy

Author:Betty Friedan

“This idea that the employment of women, the movement of women outside the home into the work world, and their demand for equality is somehow responsible for increasing juvenile delinquency or the increase in divorce rate, is just so much bullshit.”

World Ideas Home Movement Demand Increase Responsible Rate Divorce Employment Bullshit Juvenile Delinquency Juvenile Delinquency Divorce Rates

Author:Betty Friedan