Remember When: The Feminine Mystique

On this day in 1963, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan was published — igniting what would become the second wave of the modern women’s movement.

Friedan gave language to what many women were experiencing but rarely discussing publicly: the pressure to find total fulfillment solely through marriage, motherhood, and domestic life. She called it “the problem that has no name.”

The book challenged cultural norms and helped spark organizing around workplace equality, reproductive rights, education access, and economic independence. It laid groundwork for policies and protections many women rely on today.

The movement it fueled was not without flaws — it often centered white, middle-class women and left many voices out. But it shifted the national conversation in ways that reshaped American law, labor, and leadership.

More than sixty years later, debates over caregiving, pay equity, autonomy, and representation remain deeply relevant.

History reminds us: change often begins when someone names what others are quietly living.