Betty Friedan is either a liberator and creator of the vast second wave of feminism or she is an oppressive, opportunistic individual who simply represents a narrow demographic in the loudest way possible. Her book, The Feminine Mystique, has been used to both support and deny these claims. Supporters of her book say it was a major advertisement for the idea that women need something beyond children and a husband to be happy and fulfilled in life.1 However, opponents, such as historian Joanne Meyerowitz , author of the book Beyond the Feminine Mystique: A Reassessment of Postwar Mass Culture, 1946-1958, claims that not only did her book display blatantly false information, but that its excessive focus on suburban middle-class white women had failed to make an impact about women as a whole, as the suffering of working-class women and racially marginalized women have gone untouched.2 Ultimately, like most arguments, the real answer seems to fall somewhere in the middle. In fact, The Feminine Mystique may not apply to everyone. Daniel Horowitz, author of the article Rethinking Betty Friedan and the Feminine Mystique: Labor Union Radicalism and Feminism in America, and David Reynolds, author of the book One World Divisible: A Global History Since 1945, point out that her movement did not influence women poor, especially those who are not white, which was Betty Friedan's sole focus.3 However, Friedan's work ultimately had an impact on people as a whole, especially because she chose the most opportune time to publish it. The Cold War that led to America's fervent belief in and promotion of freedom made it impossible to ignore the call to the oppression of middle-class women, similar to the Civil Rights Movement. Consequently, using the Cold War call for freedom and learning from... half of the document... l articles that questioned the treatment of working women, mostly focused on protecting their jobs and improving their jobs 15 He then moved to UE News, which had a left-wing slant and quickly transformed his world into one characterized by radicalism and a passion for justice for the working class and for women, particularly African-American women.15 In 1949, The Electrical Workers The union used the advice of the communist parties and began to provide equal seniority to women and African Americans. Works Cited1. Friedan, Betty. The feminist mystique. New York. W. W. Norton. 1963.2. Horowitz, Daniel “Rethinking Betty Friedan and the Feminine Mystique: Labor Radicalism and Feminism in America.” American Quarterly, 48, no. 1. (1996) http://www.jstor.org/stable/300415203. Reynolds, David. A Divisible World: A Global History Since 1945. New York. W. W. Norton.