Fifty years ago, on February 13, 1963, the publication of Betty Friedan's book The Feminine Mystique sparked a new awakening in the thinking of women across North America.Betty Friedan denounced the repression women suffered in the aftermath of World War II when they were forced out of wartime jobs and convinced to accept the role of keepers of the home. Profiteers of the market launched an unrelenting but subtle propaganda campaign to venerate women as wife and mother. This role, Friedan said, was the "feminine mystique."
This domestic existence became, Friedan wrote, "a religion, a pattern by which all women must now live or deny their femininity." In submitting to this concept of womanhood, women gave up their self-respect, recognition of their talents and abilities, and -- most importantly -- their identities. Fundamentally, Friedan said, this was a scam to sell more consumers' goods to women, who were to be the major purchasers for home and family.