<P> The administration of President Kennedy made women's rights a key issue of the New Frontier, and named women (such as Esther Peterson) to many high - ranking posts in his administration . Kennedy also established a Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt and comprising cabinet officials (including Peterson and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy), senators, representatives, businesspeople, psychologists, sociologists, professors, activists, and public servants . There were other actions by women in wider society, presaging their wider engagement in politics which would come with the second wave . In 1961, 50,000 women in 60 cities, mobilized by Women Strike for Peace, protested above ground testing of nuclear bombs and tainted milk . </P> <P> In 1963 Betty Friedan, influenced by The Second Sex, wrote the bestselling book The Feminine Mystique . Discussing primarily white women, she explicitly objected to how women were depicted in the mainstream media, and how placing them at home limited their possibilities and wasted potential . She had helped conduct a very important survey using her old classmates from Smith College . This survey revealed that the women who played a role at home and the work force were more satisfied with their life compared to the women who stayed home . The women who stayed home showed feelings of agitation and sadness . She concluded that many of these unhappy women had emerged themselves in the idea that they should not have any ambitions outside their home . Friedan described this as "The Problem That Has No Name". The perfect nuclear family image depicted and strongly marketed at the time, she wrote, did not reflect happiness and was rather degrading for women . This book is widely credited with having begun second - wave feminism in the United States . </P> <P> Though it is widely accepted that the movement lasted from the 1960s into the early 1980s, the exact years of the movement are more difficult to pinpoint and are often disputed . The movement is usually believed to have begun in 1963, when "Mother of the Movement" Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique, and President John F. Kennedy's Presidential Commission on the Status of Women released its report on gender inequality . The report revealed, that there was gender inequality, but also recommended changing it by giving paid maternity leave, greater access to education, and help with child care, along with Friedan's book, which spoke to the discontent of many women (especially housewives), led to the formation of many local, state, and federal government women's groups as well as many independent feminist organizations . Friedan was referencing a "movement" as early as 1964 . </P> <P> The movement grew with legal victories such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court ruling of 1965 . In 1966 Friedan joined other women and men to found the National Organization for Women (NOW); Friedan would be named as the organization's first president . </P>

Who is credited with starting the second wave of the women's rights movement in the united states