25 Betty Friedan Quotes on Empowering Women

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published July 23, 2023

Betty Friedan’s quotes prove to be highly motivational, especially when it comes to women’s empowerment.

If you are interested in reading and sharing the best Betty Friedan quotes, this is the article for you.

Here, you can find some impressive and inspirational Betty Friedan quotes.

In addition to our quotes section, we have also shared some information about Betty Friedan.

So let’s dive in without any delay!

A Brief Introduction to Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan was a renowned American writer and feminist.

She was born on February 4, 1921, in Peoria, Illinois.

Since she spent her childhood in a suburban environment, Friedan was well aware of the limited role of women in society.

After getting her degree in psychology from Smith College, Friedan started her career as a journalist.

This allowed her to know more about the constraints placed on women in domestic and professional areas.

Besides, she played a key role during the liberation movement for women in the 20th century.

“The Feminine Mystique” was one of her groundbreaking books.

This book advocated gender equality, which sparked a cultural revolution.

With literature like this, Friedan challenged societal norms.

Early Breakthrough

Betty Friedan gained popularity due to her book “The Feminine Mystique”, which was published in 1963.

This book shattered the misconception that women were only perfect for their typical role in life, such as a married woman or a mother.

Friedan also unleashed the frustration and discontent felt by domestic women.

Such women weren’t allowed to grow personally and intellectually.

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Friedan is also remembered as the co-founder of “The National Organization for Women (NOW).

This organization was founded in 1966 and was dedicated to achieving gender equality.

Friedan was the first president of NOW, which allowed her to fight for women’s rights like:

Reproductive rights
Employment rights
Education rights

Due to her strong stance against gender discrimination, NOW turned out to be the force for change.

This organization served as a tool to mobilize women throughout the U.S.

Legacy

Betty Friedan contributed to the feminist movement and fought for women’s rights.

Through her writings and activism, she inspired and influenced generations of women.

One of the positive outcomes of her struggle was the introduction of the “Equal Pay Act” in 1963.

In addition, the passage of the Title IX amendment in 1972 is another achievement that prohibits sex discrimination in the field of education.

Friedan’s legacy strengthens women to fight for gender equality.

She showed a path for every woman to dismantle oppressive systems and challenge stereotypical thinking.

Top 5 Betty Friedan Quotes

Here are the top 5 quotes from Betty Friedan, an influential American writer, activist, and feminist.

1. “Chosen motherhood is the real liberation.” — Betty Friedan

2. “The key to the trap is, of course, education.” — Betty Friedan

3. “Aging will create the music of the coming century.” — Betty Friedan

4. “It is society’s job, and finally that of each woman alone.” — Betty Friedan

5. “It is easier to live life through someone else than to become complete yourself.” — Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan Quotes On Equality and Liberation

She is a pioneering figure in the women’s rights movement. In this section, we explore a selection of her powerful quotes on equality and liberation.

6. “Who knows what women can be when they are finally free to become themselves?” — Betty Friedan

7. “It is wrong to keep spelling out unnecessary choices that make women unconsciously resist either commitment or motherhood…” — Betty Friedan

8. “A girl should not expect special privileges because of her sex, but neither should she adjust to prejudice and discrimination.” — Betty Friedan

9. “In almost every professional field, in business and in the arts and sciences, women are still treated as second-class citizens.” — Betty Friedan

10. “It is ridiculous to tell girls to be quiet when they enter a new field, or an old one, so the men will not notice they are there.” — Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan Quotes On the Feminine Mystique

Here, Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique” quotes beautifully captures the book’s fundamental argument.

11. “In the feminine mystique, there is no other way for a woman to dream of creation or of the future.” — Betty Friedan

12. “The feminine mystique has made higher education for women seem suspect, unnecessary, and even dangerous.” — Betty Friedan

13. “The only kind of work which permits an able woman to realize her abilities fully…is the kind that was forbidden by the feminine mystique…” — Betty Friedan

14. “Twisting the memory of the feminists into the man-eating phantom of the feminine mystique, shriveling the very wish to be more than just a wife and mother.” — Betty Friedan

15. “Why aren’t girls forced to grow up – to achieve somehow the core of self that will end the unnecessary dilemma, the mistaken choice between femaleness and humanness that is implied in the feminine mystique?” — Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan Quotes On Feminism

The complexity of gender discrimination and the need for societal change are powered by Friedan’s feminist quotes below.

16. “We need a new political movement of women and men toward a new society.” — Betty Friedan

17. “We need to see men and women as equal partners, but it’s hard to think of movies that do that.” — Betty Friedan

18. “Men are not the enemy, but a fellow victim. The real enemy is women’s denigration of themselves.” — Betty Friedan

19. “The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own.” — Betty Friedan

20. “Young women today seem to find it impossible to believe that women were once not seen as equal to men, as persons in their own right.” — Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan Quotes On Women’s Distress

Friedan’s quotes here show that she was not afraid to talk about the deep problems women face in a male-dominated society.

21. “Protectiveness has often muffled the sound of doors closing against women.” — Betty Friedan

22. “Can the problem that has no name be somehow related to the domestic routine of the housewife?” — Betty Friedan

23. “Some said it was the old problem -education: more and more women had an education which naturally made them unhappy in their role as housewives.” — Betty Friedan

24. “A woman is handicapped by her sex, and handicaps society, either by slavishly copying the pattern of man’s advance in the professions or by refusing to compete with man at all.” — Betty Friedan

25. “We have gone on too long blaming or pitying the mothers who devour their children, who sow the seeds of progressive dehumanization because they have never grown to full humanity themselves.” — Betty Friedan