With the Saturday death of Betty Friedan, a feminist credited with laying the foundation for the modern women’s movement, the topic of women’s rights and issues has become a focal point of reflection for many.

Decades before ABC popularized suburban women’s daily domestic plight with shows such as Desperate Housewives, Friedan challenged the nation to change its view of the stereotypical suburban housewife. In her 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique, she shattered the unspoken idea that women’s ultimate fulfillment came from having children and tending to her husband.

Women’s Studies chair and professor Bonnie T. Dill said Friedan’s book was highly influential.

“It came at a time when there was little attention to these matters,” Dill said. “It focused attention on the discontents of highly educated, middle-class women – the society’s so-called ‘best and brightest.'”

Besides her best-selling book Friedan also helped found the National Organization for Women, which organizes women activists. In addition, she advocated the Equal Rights Amendment and the rights of the elderly in the later days of her career.

However it’s Mystique, which is widely taught in women’s literature and history courses in high school and college campuses nationwide, that dominates Friedan’s legacy.

“My mom owns a copy of the book, and I always saw it on her bookshelf,” said Tali Ruskin, a senior women’s studies major. “I think the first time I really had any sort of deeper relationship with the book was in ‘Women in the U.S. since 1865,’ a women’s studies course.”

Although her works are considered some of the most important in feminism, several women’s studies students did not recognize Friedan’s name when asked for their opinion.

Senior Kevin Thomas, an electrical and computer engineering major who is currently taking an introductory women’s studies course, blamed the lack of familiarity with Friedan on the public’s dismissal of powerful and influential women.

“The media and history focuses its attention on powerful males more often than females, and that is why Betty Friedan did not become a household name for my generation,” he said.

Lisa Corrigan, a gender communication course instructor, said she uses Friedan’s works in her curriculum and teaches the controversy the book generated among both sexes.

“White men were obviously up in arms because they certainly didn’t want their wives to boycott cooking and cleaning for a more fulfilling life,” she said. “Many white women saw the book as a threat to the little bit of control they had been able to exact from men in the home.”

However, the controversy it stirred added to the book’s popularity.

“It motivated many women to give up housework for social activism and cultivated a large audience of women eager to participate in grassroots politics,” said Corrigan.

Contact reporter Salome Eguizabal at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.