Sisters doing it for themselves
1960s
A WAKE-UP CALL
Mad Men’s Betty Draper exemplifies the problems facing women as the 60s began. Bored and lonely in her Formica prison, Betty is so unhappy her hands shake. Another Betty – Betty Friedan – explained the issue in her 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, that, amazingly, housework, wifedom and motherhood did not make all women happy.
Friedan’s book acted as a wake-up call to the million-plus women who bought it, sparking a seismic shift that started the second wave of feminism. Feminist leaders such as Gloria Steinem, Germaine Greer and Florynce ‘Flo’ Kennedy came forward, at the vanguard of the bright new women’s
