orig. Betty Naomi Goldstein
born Feb. 4, 1921, Peoria, Ill., U.S.
U.S. feminist.
She attended Smith College and worked in New York before marrying and having children. Her dissatisfaction with her role as housewife prompted her to write The Feminine Mystique (1963), the work that sparked the modern American feminist movement. In 1966 she cofounded the National Organization for Women . Her later books include The Second Stage (1981) and The Fountain of Age (1993).