In 1957, Betty Friedan (1921-2006) put together a post-graduation questionnaire for her Smith College classmates. After receiving a flood of responses indicating that many women felt stifled in their roles as homemakers, Friedan wrote an article based on her findings — but editors at women’s magazines refused to publish it. Undeterred, Friedan turned her article into the groundbreaking 1963 book THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE.