US feminist Betty Friedan dies

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!

One of America's most famous feminist thinkers and writers, Betty Friedan, has died at the age of 85. She was best known for her book The Feminine Mystique, which helped start the modern women's movement in the United States. This report by Lucy Williamson:

Listen to the story

That the things Betty Friedan said in the 1960s seem now is, partly at least, down to her . Back then the things she campaigned for - the right to , equal pay, maternity leave and job that didn't specify the sex of the person being sought - were seen by many in as radical ideas. Something Betty Friedan herself was keenly aware of, when in 1963 she her book The Feminine Mystique.

In the , Betty Friedan described what she called 'the with no name' - the felt by educated, full-time mothers. In the 1950s, America its women to be fulfilled by marriage and motherhood. The idea that women might want to something of this startled polite society.

The became a best-seller; and Betty Friedan a household name. Three years later, she co-founded the National Organisation for Women and as its first president. But in the 1970s, she from the organisation, accusing many of her of focusing too much on lesbian issues and of equating feminism with hating men.