Woman Power Need is Cited

David Dismore sent this article from a 1972 New Orleans Times Picayune around today --- reminding us how great an advocate for women's rights was Betty Friedan ! ----and also reminding us how many women supported male supremacy. Read the article and rejoice that this brilliant, courageous, sometimes crazy but wonderful woman not only awakened us to the injustices of sexism, but took the helm and led us in our fight for freedom, justice and equality!..

WOMAN POWER NEED IS CITED
Feminist Friedan Speaks to Group Here
By MILLIE BALL

Looking and talking rather like a militant mother, feminist Betty Friedan alternately shouted with waving hands, and spoke softly with punching motions of the need for political power for women. She smilingly admitted : "Some of my best friends are men."
Speaking Tuesday to the New Orleans chapter of the National Organization for Women (which she founded in 1966) at the
Andrew Jackson Restaurant, the author of the "Feminine Mystique" shook her shag-cut gray hair and dangling earrings, folded her
arms and began slowly. She was soon up to fever pitch.
"It is impossible to overestimate the power of what's happening to American women," she said vehemently. "But," she added, "I can't stand the term 'women's lib.' It's a bra-burning image, and we're not burning bras.
"You don't have to give up femininity to be a woman," she insisted. "To feel good about yourself as a woman is the meaning of femininity, and the more liberated we are, the more feminine we will be and the more we will love men. Men are here to stay," she said with waving hands, "and they're joining us and supporting us, telling their wives to go back to school, to get a job."

POLITICAL GAME
According to Mrs. Friedan, the "name of the game is political. We're in the third stage now. First was consciousness-raising, and that's taking place everywhere. Girls are joining Little League, couples are sharing in housework. Second was commitment, and that's been hap-
pening for five years. Now, third, we need to restructure our institutions, so we can have a voice of decision in society.
"Every woman in America is a housewife,"she expounded. "We're expected to do for love what no one would do for money. The govern-
ment spends 10 billion dollars for a space shuttle to the moon, six billion dollars for some undersea mess, and then vetoes a paltry few million dollars for childcare centers.
Just getting started on the child-care center issue, Friedan gained speed. "It takes two to bring a child into the world, and two should share in the rearing. A mother shouldn't be forced to go into a sexual
monastery with nothing over three feet tall."

SENATORS MENTIONED

Mrs. Friedan said that she hopes that Louisiana women will "make their way through the bayous and magnolias" to make sure that
Senators Ellender and Long vote for the Equal Rights Amendment March 20. "Senators should know that we will notice how they vote, and that we will replace them if they vote against it," she said to resounding applause.
"Women have 53 per cent of the vote," she stressed. "And we're going to get together, cross party lines, to get something done. We have one great advantage : we weren't brought up to be men. We see the human side of things. If the government can land men on the moon, why can't they use technology to help human beings clean up the cities." Quietly she added, "More important than who wins the presidency is the emergence of women as an unprecedented political force."
Mrs. Friedan said that the movement will even accept as allies "ornery White Anglo-Saxon geriatric bosses who have finally seen
the new needs of women."
She gave the victory sign, got a standing ovation, and sat down, before dashing off to another city and another speech.

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NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE
MAR 8, 1972 PART 3 PG 22 C 8
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'LIB' AND CHILD CARE

Editor, The Times-Picayune :
The most revolting article I have read in years was the one including Mrs., Miss or Ms. Betty Friedan's statement that "The government spends $10 billion for a space shuttle to the moon, $8 billion for some undersea mess and then vetoes a paltry few million dollars for child care centers.
...... It takes two to bring a child into the world and two should share in the rearing. A mother shouldn't be forced to go into a sexual monastery with nothing over three feet tall."
I'm a woman and I'm for the space shuttle to the moon and the undersea mess - not government child care centers. If a woman has a baby she should be willing to take care of that baby, not turn it over to someone who does not love it. What kind of "care" will it get ?
MAUD O'BRYAN
New Orleans

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NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE
MAR 12, 1972 PART 2 PAGE 2 COL 4
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