“As with everything Betty, it’s complicated.”

— Rebecca Jo Plant, a historian at the University of California, San Diego

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If she were alive today, the feminist Betty Friedan would turn 100 this year.

It has been 15 years since she died on her birthday, Feb. 4, 2006, at age 85, and on Thursday there’ll be a pandemic-approved digital celebration in her honor.

Betty Friedan’s “100th Birthday Webinar,” produced by the Veteran Feminists of America, will be streamed on multiple platforms and will feature a veritable who’s who of speakers, including Gloria Steinem; Senator Elizabeth Warren; Alicia Garza, a founder of Black Lives Matter; and Christian Nunes, the president of the National Organization for Women, or NOW, which Ms. Friedan founded. There will be archival video footage, and two of Ms. Friedan’s children will talk about the difficulties of growing up with the so-called mother of the women’s movement. Senator Chuck Schumer will declare Feb. 4 “Betty Friedan Day.”

But less present in the event lineup are the voices of young, queer and lesbian feminists, which raises the question: What is Ms. Friedan’s legacy exactly?

“As with everything Betty, it’s complicated,” said Rebecca Jo Plant, a historian at the University of San Diego. “Today we celebrate an inclusive, intersectional feminism.” And Ms. Friedan came before that.

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