National Organization for Women in the 1960s
The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in 1966, emerging from a meeting led by Betty Friedan and a group of concerned women during the Conference on the Status of Women in Washington, D.C. This organization aimed to address sex discrimination, particularly in the context of employment, following the enactment of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. NOW quickly established itself as a significant political force, with its charter members advocating for a comprehensive agenda that included the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, improved maternity leave rights, tax deductions for child care, and equal educational opportunities.
Throughout the late 1960s, NOW organized key demonstrations, such as a notable protest against The New York Times' gender-segregated job advertisements and the first national demonstration for women’s rights in December 1967. The organization became instrumental in filing discrimination lawsuits against major corporations and lobbying for changes in public policies affecting women. NOW’s impact was profound, as it not only served as a political lobby but also fostered a space for discussing and promoting feminist ideas and activism. By the end of the decade, it had paved the way for a multitude of feminist organizations, each contributing to the broader movement for women's rights in the United States.
National Organization for Women in the 1960s
A feminist mass-membership organization. Its stated purpose is “to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, to exercise all of the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men.”
Origins and History
The origins of the National Organization for Women (NOW) can be traced to the summer of 1966 when Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique (1963), met informally with fifteen concerned women who were attending the third national Conference on the Status of Women. They met in Friedan’s hotel room in Washington, D.C., to discuss the possibility of organizing a feminist movement in reaction to passage of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned sex discrimination in employment. Twenty-eight concerned women continued the discussion over lunch the next day, contributed five dollars each, and launched the National Organization for Women.
Activities
NOW announced its incorporation on October 29, 1966, and elected Friedan president. Friedan accepted, vowing “to use every political tactic available to end sex discrimination against women.” NOW’s three hundred charter members drew up a statement of purpose, which stated that they not only believed that it was time for a new Civil Rights movement to work toward true equality for all women in the United States but that they also saw themselves as part of a worldwide revolution of human rights. On August 30, 1967, NOW picketed The New York Times to protest the policy of separate male-female help-wanted ads. At the second NOW National Conference, held in Washington, D.C., on November 18-19, 1967, members drew up a bill of rights for women, calling for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and for a repeal of all existing abortion legislation and laws restricting access to contraception. NOW also supported enforcement of laws banning sex discrimination in employment, maternity-leave rights in employment and in social security benefits, tax deductions for child care expenses for working parents, the establishment of more child care centers, equal and unsegregated education, and equal job training opportunities and allowances for women in poverty. NOW organized the first national demonstration on women’s rights since the suffrage movement on December 14, 1967, against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and on February 15, 1968, filed formal suit against the commission. Other NOW activities included filing discrimination cases against thirteen hundred of the largest corporations; testifying against federal and local sex discrimination in education, employment, welfare, and public accommodations; and lobbying for federal funds for child care centers.
Impact
NOW organized a political agenda to end discrimination against women. It filled not only the organizational need for a strong political lobby for women’s rights but also the philosophical need for a forum in which to address new feminist ideas. NOW initiated and supported action to end prejudice and discrimination against women in government, industry, churches, political parties, the judiciary, labor unions, education, science, medicine, law, religion, and the family. NOW was the first and largest national feminist mass-membership organization of the 1960’s that vowed to secure women’s rights and end discrimination against them; however, in the late 1960’s and subsequent decades, thousands of feminist organizations, many specialized rather than umbrella organizations and some more radical, have emerged to assist with this task.
Additional Information
Amy Swerdlow’s Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s (1993) is a study of various aspects of the women’s movement in the 1960’s that contains detailed information on the role of NOW.