What Betty Said

Betty Friedan wasn’t a man

But thought she should warrant attention

For working as hard and being as smart

As all of the men in Northampton.

At college she wrote in a radical vein

About unions and war and things that caused pain.

She queried her colleagues and alumni alike

To find out what caused pain in their lives.

This led to a book called the Feminine Mystique

About which the world would soon enough speak.

In it she wrote that women are able

To do more than clean and put food on the table.

Women have rights to jobs and careers.

She was their champion when no one would hear.

She was a rock

She held firm to her notions

That women are worthy of getting promotions.

She founded the N.O.W.* and started a trend

She worked like a dog for women and men.

She led a big strike and marched in the City

And expanded the movement for equatability.

Equal pay for equal work was a tenet of hers she would not shirk.

Abortion rights were important as well.

And the Equal Rights Amendment was hard to dispel.

She worked her whole life for ideals like these.

So women today would not have to appease.

My mother was influenced way back in the day.

By things that Betty Friedan had to say.

She went to college and worked and had us.

All because Betty made such a fuss.

* National Organization for Women