Profile of the National Organization for Women (NOW)

Profile of the National Organization for Women (NOW) During a June 1966 meeting of state commissions on the status of women in Washington, D.C., Betty Friedan and other attendees felt dissatisfied with the lack of concrete forward motion. Seeing the need for a civil rights organization specifically focused on womens rights, 28 of them met in Friedans hotel room and created the National Organization for Women (NOW) to take action to achieve the equality of women. The time was ripe for such a move. In 1961, President Kennedy had established the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women (PCSW) to study and resolve problems experienced by women in areas like work, education, and tax laws. In 1963, Friedan had published her groundbreaking feminist classic The Feminine Mystique, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had technically outlawed sex discrimination (though many women still felt there was little or no enforcement.) Did You Know? Betty Friedan was elected the first president of NOW and served in that office for three years. NOW Statement of Purpose 1966: Key Points womens rights as truly equal partnership with men, fully equal partnership of the sexesfocused on activism: confront, with concrete action, the conditions that now prevent women from enjoying the equality of opportunity and freedom of choice which is their right as individual Americans, as human beingswomens rights seen in the context of the world-wide revolution of human rights; equality of women as an opportunity to develop their fullest human potentialspurpose to put women in the mainstream of American political, economic and social lifeNOWs commitment equality, freedom, and dignity for women specifically defined as not being about special privilege for women or enmity towards men Key Feminist Issues in Statement of Purpose employment the most attention in the document is to issues around employment and economicseducationfamily including marriage and divorce laws, home responsibilities by gender rolepolitical participation: in parties, decision-making, candidates (NOW was to be independent of any particular political party)images of women in the media, in culture, in laws, in social practicesbriefly addressed issue of double discrimination of African American women, linked womens rights to broader issues of social justice including racial justiceopposition to protectiveness in work, school, church, etc. NOW instituted seven task forces to work on these issues: The Seven Original NOW Task Forces. NOW Founders Included: Gene Boyer, 1925-2003Kathryn Clarenbach,1920-1994Inez Casiano, 1926-Mary Eastwood, 1930-Caroline Davis, 1911-Catherine East, 1916-1996Elizabeth Farians, 1923-Muriel Fox, 1928-Betty Friedan, 1921-2006Sonia Pressman Fuentes, 1928-Richard Graham, 1920-2007Anna Arnold Hedgeman, 1899-1990Aileen Hernandez, 1926-Phineas Indritz, 1916-1997Pauli Murray, 1910-1985Marguerite Rawalt, 1895-1989Sister Mary Joel ReadAlice Rossi, 1922-More about some of these women and men: The First NOW Officers Key NOW Activism Some key issues in which NOW has been active: 1967 Into the 1970s At the first NOW convention after the founding conference, 1967, members chose to focus on the Equal Rights Amendment, repeal of abortion laws, and public funding of child care. The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) remained a major focus until the final deadline for ratification passed in 1982. Marches, beginning in 1977, tried to mobilize support; NOW also organized boycotts by organizations and individuals of events in states which had not ratified the ERA; NOW lobbied for a 7-year extension in 1979 but the House and Senate only approved half of that time. NOW also focused on legal enforcement of provisions of the Civil Rights Act that applied to women, helped conceive and pass legislation inluding the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (1978), worked for repeal of abortion laws and, after Roe v. Wade, against laws that would restrict abortions availability or a pregnant womans role in choosing abortion. In the 1980s In the 1980s, NOW endorsed presidential candidate Walter Mondale who nominated the first woman candidate for VP of a major party, Geraldine Ferraro. NOW added activism against policies of President Ronald Reagan, and began to be more active on issues of lesbian rights. NOW also filed a federal civil suit against groups attacking abortion clinics and their leaders, resulting in a 1994 Supreme Court decision in NOW v. Scheidler. In the  1990s In the 1990s, NOW remained active on issues including economic and reproductive rights, and also became more visibly active on issues of domestic violence. NOW also created a Women of Color and Allies Summit, and took aim at the fathers rights movement as part of NOWs activism on issues of family law. In the  2000s After 2000, NOW worked to oppose the Bush administrations strategies on issues of womens economic rights, reproductive rights, and marriage equality. In 2006, the Supreme Court removed the NOW v. Scheidler protections that kept abortion clinic protesters from interfering with patients access to the clinics. NOW also took on issues of Mothers and Caregivers Economic Rights and the interface between disability issues and womens rights, and between immigration and womens rights. In 2008, NOWs Political Action Committee (PAC) endorsed Barack Obama for president. The PAC had endorsed Hillary Clinton in March, 2007,  during the primary.  The organization had not endorsed a candidate in the general election since the 1984 nomination of Walter Mondale for President and Geraldine Ferraro for Vice President. NOW also endorsed President Obama for a second term in 2012.  NOW continued to put pressure on President Obama on womens issues, including for more appointments of women and especially women of color.   In 2009, NOW was a key supporter of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed by President Obama as his first official act. NOW was also active in the struggle to keep contraception coverage in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Issues of economic security, right to marry for same-sex couples, immigrant rights, violence against women, and laws limiting abortions and requiring ultrasounds or extraordinary health clinic regulations continued to be on NOWs agenda.  NOW also became active on new activity to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).