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NOW ORIGINS
The National Organization for Women (NOW) was born June 30, 1966, out of the fury and frustration of 28 women attending the Third National Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women in Washington, D.C. Their fury was understandable. The Commission had been set up by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 under the leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt. Three full years had passed since it had first reported that despite having won the right to vote, women were still discriminated against in virtually every aspect of life.
Nevertheless, the 1966 conference delegates were prohibited by the Administration's rules for the conference, from even passing resolutions recommending that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforce its legal mandate to end sex discrimination.
Betty Friedan, a Conference guest and author of The Feminine Mystique, invited a group of women to her hotel room one night to discuss alternative strategies. It was decided that the only solution was to form a separate civil rights organization dedicated to achieving full equality for women. It was Friedan who christened it NOW.
Kathryn Clarenbach, head of the Wisconsin Commission on the Status of Women, was named temporary coordinator and the women drafted a statement of purpose:
"To take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, assuming all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in fully equal partnership with men."
Thus was born the new feminist movement. The same way that the original suffragists were inspired to launch their revolution after being frustrated in attempts to take their rightful places as delegates to the 1840 World Anti- Slavery Convention in London.
NOW's first organizing conference was held October 29-30, 1966, in Washington, D.C. More than 300 women and men from all parts of the country assembled in the Washington Post Building to formulate an organizational structure and philosophy for the new feminist movement, or as Friedan termed it, "the unfinished revolution."
Kathryn Clarenbach was elected NOW's first Chair of the Board and Betty Friedan, NOW's first President. Richard Graham, former EEOC Commissioner, was elected Vice President, and Caroline Davis, of the United Auto Workers, Secretary- Treasurer. NOW was incorporated officially in Washington, D.C. on February 10, 1967, after finalization of its National Constitution and Bylaws by an appointed committee.
The watch word was "action" as NOW waged war on all aspects of sex discrimination. Task forces were set up to deal with the problems of women in employment,
education, religion, poverty, law, politics and their image in the media.
Committees were also organized to handle finance, membership, public relations,
legislation and legal activities. Somehow, without one paid staff member and no
budget, NOW started raising the consciousness of the nation. Closet feminists
began to expound their beliefs in public and NOW chapters were formed all over
the country.
By the time NOW held its second National Conference in Washington, D.C., in 1967, membership had risen to 1200. That was the year NOW startled the media and lost some members by declaring its support for repeal of all abortion laws and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Betty Friedan continued as president through the Third National NOW Conference in Atlanta, Georgia (December, 1968) and until March, 1970, when Aileen Hernandez, former EEOC Commissioner, was elected to that office at the Fourth National Conference in Des Plaines, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago; Wilma Scott Heide became Chair of the Board. Also at that time, a Legal Defense and Education Fund was incorporated.
On August 26, 1970, 10,000 women and men staged a spectacular march down New York City's Fifth Avenue, as part of NOW's nationwide celebration of the 50th anniversary of women's suffrage.
Membership had mushroomed to 15,000 by September, 1971, when NOW chapters from Maine to Hawaii attended the Fifth Annual Conference in Los Angeles on Labor Day weekend. Wilma Scott Heide became NOW's third national president and Muriel Fox became Chair of the Board. The "shocker" resolution of this convention was that NOW acknowledged the "oppression of lesbians as a legitimate concern of feminism."
In 1971, NOW members came together with other feminist organizations and formed the National Women's Political Caucus, a non-partisan coalition of women in politics. This provided a forceful demonstration of woman power in politics during the 1972 election campaigns.
Eleanor Smeal became NOW's president in 1977. Under her leadership, NOW spearheaded the "ERA Countdown Campaign." Reproductive Rights, Lesbian Rights, and Minority Women continued to be priority issues, along with the ERA.
In 1982, Judy Goldsmith was elected President, and with the narrowly defeated Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) campaign over, NOW plunged into the issue of fighting legal sex discrimination in insurance. In June, 1983, NOW coordinated successful pickets of insurance companies across the country.
1983 became the year of the "Gender Gap." NOW, once again, became the organization publicizing President Reagan's disastrous record concerning women by forming the "Women's Truth Squad on Reagan."
Currently, NOW is the largest women's rights organization in the United States, with approximately 250,000 members and with over 800 chapters across the country.
Molly Yard was elected President in 1987 and was succeeded by Patricia Ireland, a former Dade County Chapter President, in 1991. Kim Gandy was elected in 2001.
National NOW is divided into regions. Our Chapter is part of the Southeast Region. Margaret Barovich, first President of Florida State NOW and past President of South Palm Beach County NOW, was elected Director from the Southeast region to the National Board. National NOW conventions are held yearly in different cities of the United States. All members are encouraged to attend.
NOW WILL CONTINUE ITS FIGHT UNTIL WOMEN ACHIEVE FULL EQUALITY.