Which author wrote The Feminine Mystique?

• A. Gloria Steinem
• B. Betty Friedan
• C. Susan Sontag
• D. Alice Walker

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is recognizing a foundational text of the second-wave feminist movement and the idea it popularized: that many women felt unfulfilled not because of personal failings but because societal expectations and the stigma around female roles created a “problem that has no name.” Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963. As a journalist and a founder of the National Organization for Women, she analyzed how postwar American life pressured women into domestic roles and argued that women could seek fulfillment beyond homemaking and motherhood. This book helped spark widespread discussion and activism around women’s rights, influencing the direction of the feminist movement.

Gloria Steinem, Susan Sontag, and Alice Walker are all influential writers and feminist thinkers, but they did not author this work. Steinem became a leading feminist voice and organizer, Sontag wrote acclaimed essays and novels, and Walker authored The Color Purple; their contributions matter in feminist literature, but The Feminine Mystique is Friedan’s landmark.