Go to our Events page to view the recording of the Feb. 4 webinar.
Betty Friedan, creator of the modern women’s movement, was honored in a “star-studded” webinar titled “Betty Friedan’s 100 Birthday: Moving the Legacy Forward” produced by Veteran Feminists of America. The zoom program was presented on Thursday, February 4, 2021, which is the 100th anniversary of Friedan’s birth and coincidentally the 15th anniversary of her death.
Speakers include Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Charles Schumer, feminist leader Gloria Steinem, columnist Gail Collins, National Organization for Women president Christian Nunes, and others. Schumer will proclaim February 4th “Betty Friedan Day.”
Her son and daughter, Jonathan and Emily Friedan, will offer anecdotes about their famously volatile mother. (At Friedan’s funeral Jonathan said with a smile, “Our family probably had more psychotherapy than any other family in America.”)
VFA chair Muriel Fox, producer of the program, announced that it will be available through the VFA website and also Facebook and YouTube. She declared, “Betty Friedan changed the world not only as the author of The Feminine Mystique in 1963 but also as founder and president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in its first four years.”
VFA, comprising pioneers of the modern women’s movement, is “the foremost organization that educates and motivates today’s young people through the example of feminist victories and sacrifices.” Its president, Eleanor Pam, will speak in the webinar. She offered a special salute to Steinem: “Gloria’s participation is especially gracious because we know that Betty Friedan sometimes opposed her in the media. Yet the two leaders worked and marched together frequently for feminist causes.”