The Study Of Betty Friedan’s Feminism Ethics Thought

Betty Friedan (1921-2006) was a famous contemporary American social reformer and feminist activist, one of the representatives of the liberal feminists.In1966she established the "National Organization for Women (NOW)" in the United States,and became the main leader of the organization,and in1970she helped organize "National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC)".As one of the representatives of American feminists in20th century, Betty Friedan promoted the development of the second wave of American feminist movement,and her thoughts provided a theoretical basis for the majority of American women to enter the public areas and made tremendous contributions to achieving equal rights of gender.Betty Friedan carried forward Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill’s liberal feminist ideology in her early days,and emphasized on women’s education. From the perspective of liberal feminism, she analyzed the American women’s realistic living conditions in1950s and1960s,found the nameless problem that troubled women,and questioned the feminine mystique.Friedan affirmed that there is no difference between men and women in the rationality and morality, promoted women to break the old image of themselves,advocated the enjoyment of full equality and justice for American women,committed herself to the elimination of gender discrimination by law, and promoted gender equality. At the late stage of American feminist movement, Friedan found the drawback of feminist movement in the preceding years that some feminists ignored differences between genders and strived for the equal rights for women with male set as the standard,which had brought great burden to women.Through reflection on feminist movement,Friedan recognized the importance of family for women in the process of the pursuit of equal rights and full personality. It is crucial to attach importance to family in feminist movement,to break the opposition of gender roles between sexes and to build a harmonious relationship between the sexes.Friedan’s ideas broke through the previous feminist thought pattern,and provided a theoretical basis solve American women problems. Friedan’s ethical thought of feminism is of greatly implicational significance for women ethic construction in contemporary society in China.