Significant Developments:

The National Organization for Women has many objectives for which they advocate for, with six issues that are predominantly discussed and featured on their website. The first focus is that of reproductive rights and justice, through supporting “access to safe and legal abortion, to effective birth control and emergency contraception, to reproductive health services and education for all women.” (National Organization for Women). This initially became a strong focus of action that was brought to the public’s attention by Betty Friedan. In the journal “Betty Friedan: Feminist Icon and Founder of the National Organization for Women” written by Manon Parry, it is stated “In 1966, Friedan cofounded the National Organization for Women (NOW) to campaign for equality. In 1969 she helped launch the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, later named NARAL Pro-Choice America. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s she was an outspoken advocate for women and a leading figure of the feminist movement.” (Parry). Friedan was a vital figure in the original and continuing developments, achievements and political strides that are made by NOW. The National Organization for Women is also a strong advocate for economic justice and they support this by reinforcing the necessity of a focus on a “wide range of economic justice issues affecting women including a living wage, job discrimination, pay equality, social security and pension reform…” (National Organization for Women). Ending violence against women is also a vital campaign that the National Organization for Women puts much effort towards, as they emphasize “the interrelated factors and complexity of the issue.” (National Organization for Women). Next is a focus on racial justice, with an attempt to “continue to fight for equal opportunities for women of color in all areas including employment, education & health care.” (National Organization for Women). LGBTQ rights are also an important commitment of the National Organization for Women, in that they are actively “fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation of gender identity in all areas, including employment, housing, health services, and child custody.” (National Organization for Women). Finally, constitutional equality is an objective that the National Organization for Women also supports.

With the six main objectives that the National Organization for Women advocates for, there are also many accomplishments, milestones and major historical events that are as a direct result of the hard work and dedication of the organization. One of the very first milestones that the NOW achieved was that of being the first national organization to endorse the legalization of abortion. In 1970, NOW organized a strike labelled the “Women’s Strike for Equality” with the involvement from more than 90 cities and towns in a total of 40 states. One of the most pivotal milestones is that of the House passing the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) by a vote of 350 to 15, in August of 1970 (National Organization for Women). In 1984, the NOW holds its first Lesbian Rights Conference, which directly relates to the NOW’s goal to achieve for LGBTQ rights, starting by giving them a platform to have a voice. Another vital accomplishment of the NOW was achieved in 1989, as NOW aids in drafting a new Civil Rights Act, which soon passes in 1991, which gives women the “right to money damages and jury trials for sex discrimination and sexual harassment.”(National Organization for Women). More recently, in 2004, the NOW Foundation campaigns to get voters registered, with a focus on women, in which they managed to get over 7 million voter contracts. As the National Organizations statement of purpose declares, “the purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men.”, which all of the milestones, objectives and major events have had the goal of achieving, and have succeeded in accomplishing throughout the years (National Organization for Women).

 

Related Actions:

– In 1961, The President’s Commission on the Status of Women established by John F. Kennedy, which aim to provide a solution to female discrimination in education, work force, and Social Security. The goal of action was advanced women’s rights in the workforce.

-On October 29, 1966, the conference in Washington, D.C. declares among things that “the time has come to 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, and as human beings.”

-In 1966, Betty Friedan and Pauli Murray wrote the organization’s Statement of Purpose. It stated that the purpose of NOW is “To take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men.”

-In 1968 NOW issued a Bill of Right, which they had adopted at their 1967 national conference. It was an enforcement of the prohibitions that against sex discrimination in workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, maternity leave rights in employment and in Social Security benefits, tax deduction for home and child care expenses for working parents, child day care centers, equal and non-gender-segregated education, equal job training opportunities and allowances for women in poverty, and the right of women to control their reproductive lives. (National Organization for Woman, Bill of Right, 1968)

-In 2017, The Equality Act — which was introduced in both the House and Senate in late July, which advance of civil rights protections not only for LGBTQIA persons, but also fills many loopholes in civil rights and other laws to better protect women from discriminatory treatment.

-National Organization for Women for the 2017 Forward Feminism Conference will hold on June 30-July 2 in Orlando, Florida. This conference will gather for inspiring plenary speakers, thought-provoking workshops, and opportunities to engage with feminist organizers around the world.

List of important actor/institution:

-Ivy Bottini, who was openly lesbian, designed the logo for NOW, which is still in use today. The first time lesbian concerns were introduced into NOW in 1969. Bottini, who was then president of the New York chapter of NOW, held a public forum titled “Is Lesbianism a Feminist Issue?”

-Del Martin was the first open lesbian elected to NOW, and Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were the first lesbian couple to join NOW.