National Organization of Women

Summary

• The National Organization for Women (NOW) is a women’s rights organization started in the 60’s. It is considered to be the “second wave of feminism” that picked up where the previous wave had left off.

• Betty Friedan

Origin:

• NOW was created in1966 by Betty Friedan and several other women . Prier to the inception of NOW, there had been a few steps already taken towards women’s rights, Title VII of the Civil Rights act of 1964 and the EEOC were the most prominent ones . However, the effectiveness of these measures before 1966 was questionable at best. Because of the general failure of the programs, Betty Friedan and several other women were inspired to get together to try to change the path that women’s rights was following. It was at the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women that Betty Friedan wrote the acronym NOW on a napkin .

Goals and Purpose:

• The original mission of NOW was essentially, as Analoyce Clapp wrote, “to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, assuming all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men". While this has remained the central goal of NOW, their specific aims expanded quickly. Soon after it’s inception, NOW’s board of directors asked President Johnson in a letter to make it a priority in the next Congress to get the EEOC effective enforcement powers, because at the time, it was fairly ineffective . Within a few years, NOW’s goals included, again total enforcement of Title VII, a network of childcare centers nationwide, alteration of tax laws to allow deduction of home and child care expenses, maternity benefits including paid maternity leave and the right of a woman to return to her job after childbirth, and revision of divorce laws including the issue of alimony .

Chronology:

• From The National Organization for Women Official Website

1966: (June) National Organization for Women (NOW) is established by a group of women, including Betty Friedan and Pauli Murray, who meet to discuss alternative action strategies during the Third Annual Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women in Washington, D.C. Friedan famously writes the acronym NOW on a paper napkin.

1966: (October) NOW holds its founding conference. Betty Friedan is elected president and Kay Clarenbach, chair of the board. Aileen Hernandez is elected executive vice president in absentia; Richard Graham, vice president; and Caroline Davis, secretary-treasurer. NOW sets up seven Task Forces: Equal Opportunity of Employment; Legal and Political Rights; Education; Women in Poverty; The Family; Image of Women; and Women and Religion .

1967: At its second national conference, NOW adopts passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), the repeal of all abortion laws, and publicly-funded child care among its goals in a "Bill of Rights for Women." NOW is the first national organization to endorse the legalization of abortion.

1967: In May, the EEOC holds hearings on sex discrimination in employment ads as a result of NOW's 1966 petition. NOW members demonstrate at EEOC field offices across the country in protest of EEOC's failure to end sex-segregated "Help Wanted" advertising. In December, four NYC newspapers, including the New York Times, de-sexigrate their Help Wanted ads.

1969: NOW holds a week-long action called "Freedom for Women Week" at the White House, beginning on Mother's Day. Demonstrators call for "Rights, Not Roses."

1970: NOW organizes "Women's Strike for Equality" on the 50th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, with actions in more than 90 cities and towns in 40 states. 50,000 women march on Fifth Avenue in New York.

1971: NOW protests the Department of Health, Education and Welfare's failure to deal with discrimination complaints against universities, and work begins on what will eventually become Title IX.

Significant People:

• Betty Friedan is the most prominent name associated with NOW because she was the leading founder, as well as the first president. She was born in 1921 as Betty Goldstein. She was very well educated, graduating summa cum laude from Smith with a B.A. in psychology. She later married Carl Friedan, had three children, and eventually devorced. Many considered her the mother of the movement, partially because of the book she published in 1963, “The Feminine Mystique”, which provided a vital undercurrent of feminism in the time leading up to the formation of NOW . It was in Betty Friedan’s hotel room where the first gathering was held, and it was she who came up with the name . Also it was in her Victorian style apartment that many important NOW interviews and press conferences were held, with Betty herself speaking from a lilac chair in a distinctively gravely alto voice .

• Ti-Grace Atkinson was another important member of NOW. Her early life includes her being married at 17 years old, which made her feel like her life had already ended. She eventually managed to get a fine arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and later divorced her husband. After reading Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex,” she became interested in the feminist movement, so she joined NOW. She was eventually made president of the New York chapter of NOW. From this position, Ti-Grace Atkinson contributed greatly to the organization, including drafting the position paper on abortion .

• Some of the other important people involved in NOW were Dr. Pauli Murray, a law professor at Yale and a member of the President’s Commission on the status of women, with whom Betty Friedan consulted prior to forming NOW, and Richard Grahm who was the vice president of NOW (5).

External links:

• NOW's Official Website, www.now.org