Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921)

Betty Friedan followed an essentially conventional secular Jewish path typical of her generation. First, Jewish leftism. Next, academic leftism -- graduate work in psychology with Erik Erikson. As a young woman, an interval of domesticity. Authorship of the very successful and popular book The Feminine Mystique. Finally: lifelong leadership of the emerging second wave of Feminism. A lot has been written about her exact impact on feminism, which is interesting but not really part of my story.