Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan, the feminist activist and author whose first book, The Feminine Mystique, ignited the contemporary women's movement in, died Feb. 4, her 85th birthday, at her home in Washington, D.C., according to The New York Times. The cause was congestive heart failure, a family spokeswoman said.
With its passionate analysis of post-World War II women's issues—including enforced domesticity and limited career prospects—The Feminine Mystique is regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century. The work had sold more than 3 million copies by 2000. Among the then-radical issues she pushed for in the '60s and '70s were equal pay, maternity leave, child care centers for working parents and legal abortion, The Houston Chronicle reported.
But as a founder and first president of the National Organization for Women in 1966, she also angered some radical lesbians, who felt she was trying to quiet the lesbians.
Friedan, who was opposed to 'equating feminism with lesbianism,' later said she had been 'very square' and uncomfortable about homosexuality, AP reported. 'I wrote a whole book objecting to the definition of women only in sexual relation to men. I would not exchange that for a definition of women only in sexual relation to women,'' she said.
Friedan supported a resolution on protecting lesbian rights at the 1977 National Women's Conference in Houston.
Friedan was born Bettye Naomi Goldstein in 1921, in Peoria, Ill. Her father, Harry, was a Russian immigrant who became a prominent jeweler. Her mother, Miriam, had been the editor of the local newspaper before giving up her job for marriage and children. In 1947, Betty ( now without the 'e' ) married Carl Friedan, a theater director who later became an advertising executive; they divorced in 1969. Friedan leaves behind three children: Daniel, Jonathan and Emily.
Playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who was often regarded as a spokeswoman for her generation, died Jan. 30 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City of complications due to lymphoma, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. She was 55.
Wasserstein's biggest hit was The Heidi Chronicles, a 1989 portrait of a college professor whom men have failed and whose career advances have come at considerable cost. The play's success made Wasserstein the first woman to win the Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize for the same play.
Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member and Oscar-nominated actress Joan Allen starred in its Broadway production.
Wasserstein's other plays include Uncommon Women and Others ( 1977 ) , The Sisters Rosensweig ( 1993 ) and An American Daughter ( 1997 ) , according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
In 1999, at age 48, Wasserstein gave birth as a single mother to a daughter, Lucy Jane. She is also survived by her mother, Lola Wasserstein; a sister, Georgette Levis; and two brothers, Abner and Bruce Wasserstein.
