Betty Friedan

This 1995 portrait of Betty Friedan by Alice Matzkin hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

"Betty Friedan's analysis of women's limited roles in American society, entitled The Feminine Mystique, was published in 1963. This controversial book gal­vanized the modern-day feminist movement and led to Friedan's co-founding the National Organization for Women. Her focus on family values and the role of partnership in marriage continued into the late 1990s as she encouraged the creation of a 'new paradigm ... one based on today's economic and demographic realities.'

Artist Alice Matzkin arrived at Friedan's home in Washington, D.C., hoping to have one question answered: 'What makes life worthwhile?' Seventy­two photographs and fifteen minutes later, Friedan had entered a reflective state that inspired Matzkin's rendering of the feminist matriarch." -- National Portrait Gallery