Welcome to Breaking Down Patriarchy.

I'm Amy McPhee Allabest.

Today we will be talking about one of the most groundbreaking books of the 20th century,

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, written in 1963.

This book sent shockwaves through the world that still reverberate today.

And I can't wait to discuss it with my reading partner today.

Marta Wilde.

Hi, Martha.

Hi, Amy.

So we're going to take turns telling a little bit of Fridane's story.

And if it's okay with you, Marta, I'll start off and then you can take the second half.

Sounds good.

Okay.

So Betty Naomi Goldstein was born on February 4th, 1921 in Peoria, Illinois. She was the oldest of three children. Her dad was Harry Goldstein, a Russian immigrant and jeweler. And her mom was Miriam Horowitz Goldstein, a Hungarian immigrant who worked as a journalist

until Betty was born. The Goldstein family was Jewish, and Friedan later said that her, quote,

passion against injustice originated from my feelings of the injustice of anti-Semitism." End quote.

She graduated summa cum laude from Smith College, which was and still is in all

women's college.

She graduated in 1942 with a degree in psychology and then spend a year on a graduate

fellowship to train as a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

As World War II raged, Friedan became involved in a number of political causes.

She left the graduate program after a year to move to New York, where she spent three years as

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