National Organization For Women - Background

Background

NOW was founded on June 30, 1966, in Washington, D.C., by 28 women and men attending the Third National Conference of State Commissions on the Status of Women, the successor to the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. It had been three years since the Commission reported findings of women being discriminated against. However, 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.

The founders included Betty Friedan (the author of The Feminine Mystique (1963), who was also NOW's first president), Rev. Pauli Murray, the first African-American female Episcopal priest, and Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to run for president of the United States of America. Betty Friedan and Pauli Murray wrote NOW's Statement of Purpose in 1966; the original was scribbled on a napkin by Friedan.

In 1968 NOW issued a Bill of Rights which they had adopted at their 1967 national conference, which advocated the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, enforcement of the prohibitions against sex discrimination in employment 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.

In 1969 Ivy Bottini designed the logo for NOW which is still their logo today.

Also in 1969, Ivy Bottini held a public forum titled "Is Lesbianism a Feminist Issue?", which was the first time lesbian concerns were introduced into NOW. In 1971 NOW expanded its agenda to include lesbian rights.

During the 1970s feminist leaders promoted the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. After Congress approved the amendment in 1972, it was quickly ratified by 28 states, and its passage seemed assured. However, a Stop ERA campaign, led by Phyllis Schlafly, crushed the progress of the legislation. By 1973, of the needed 38 states, 35 had ratified the amendment, but no remaining state would ratify the ERA.

The organization remains active in lobbying legislatures and media outlets on feminist issues.