My father James Lerner worked side-by-side with Betty (Goldstein) Friedan from 1946 to 1952 when both were labor journalists at UE News, the publication of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Friedan took maternity leave with her second child during the time when the union was being decimated by the McCarthy anti-communist attacks on labor organizations. As a result, Betty was laid off along with other staff at UE News. While Friedan's work as a union reporter is sometimes mentioned in biographies, her important early writings on behalf of the rights of industrial working women have been virtually unknown. Friedan's writings from this era have been obscured in part by the practice of UE News for individual reporters to remain anonymous, including my father and Betty.
Although Friedan went on to write "The Feminine Mystique" and became a leader in the feminist movement in the 1960s, she did not acknowledge the seminal confluence between this period of her activism and her former history as advocate for working class women. An excerpt from my father's posthumous memoir "Course of Action" (www.RNLpublishing.com), describing his working relationship with Friedan, appears with an analysis by Peter Handel in truthout.com (www.tinyURL.com/b-friedan). The article contains a link to the remarkable 39-page pamphlet written by Friedan, "UE Fights for Women Workers" (http://tinyurl.com/friedan-pdf ). Friedan's authorship was verified by Daniel Horowitz in his book "Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique."
My father James Lerner worked side-by-side with Betty (Goldstein) Friedan from 1946 to 1952 when both were labor journalists at UE News, the publication of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Friedan took maternity leave with her second child during the time when the union was being decimated by the McCarthy anti-communist attacks on labor organizations. As a result, Betty was laid off along with other staff at UE News. While Friedan's work as a union reporter is sometimes mentioned in biographies, her important early writings on behalf of the rights of industrial working women have been virtually unknown. Friedan's writings from this era have been obscured in part by the practice of UE News for individual reporters to remain anonymous, including my father and Betty.
Although Friedan went on to write "The Feminine Mystique" and became a leader in the feminist movement in the 1960s, she did not acknowledge the seminal confluence between this period of her activism and her former history as advocate for working class women. An excerpt from my father's posthumous memoir "Course of Action" (www.RNLpublishing.com), describing his working relationship with Friedan, appears with an analysis by Peter Handel in truthout.com (www.tinyURL.com/b-friedan). The article contains a link to the remarkable 39-page pamphlet written by Friedan, "UE Fights for Women Workers" (http://tinyurl.com/friedan-pdf ). Friedan's authorship was verified by Daniel Horowitz in his book "Betty Friedan and the Making of the Feminine Mystique."