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The glorification of the "'woman's role," then, seems to be in proportion to society's reluctance to treat women as complete human beings; for the less real function that role has, the more it is decorated with meaningless details to conceal its empt.

— Betty Friedan

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More quotes by Betty Friedan

The problem lay buried, unspoken for many years in the minds of American women.

The Feminine Mystique (1963)

The feminine mystique has succeeded in burying millions of American women alive.

The Feminine Mystique (1963)

It is easier to live through someone else than to become complete yourself.

The Feminine Mystique (1963)

A girl should not expect special privileges because of her sex but neither should she 'adjust' to prejudice and discrimination.

The Feminine Mystique (1963)

Men weren’t really the enemy — they were fellow victims suffering from an outmoded masculine mystique that made them feel unnecessarily inadequate when there were no bears to kill.

All Betty Friedan quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Betty Friedan (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.