Epilogue Summary

When Friedan had finished the book and her children were all in school, she decided to go back to school and get her Ph.D. She experienced resistance from the head of the sociology department at Columbia University. She found other women experiencing similar problems. She realized society had to change. Friedan also experienced hostility from other housewives in her suburb. She and her husband were not invited to parties anymore and ended up moving back to the city. She recognized this hostility as fear.

Friedan was also experiencing fear. She had always been afraid of being alone and had held onto a marriage that was no longer based on love. She found it easier to start the women's movement than to start a new life of her own. Ultimately she and her husband divorced in 1969.

In 1965, The President's Commission on the Status...