IS IT NOT TIME TO RATIFY EQUALITY?

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded on 30^th June 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Chisholm

Friedan

NOW was founded in Washington D.C., by 28 women and men attending the Third National Conference of the Commission 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.

Pauli

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 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.

Terry O’Neil

Current President

Ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex," remains a priority for the organization, as stated in their platform. During their 1995 conference, NOW also wrote and adopted their own constitutional amendment that would cover all of NOW's programs of reform, including abortion, lesbian and gay rights, affirmative action, etc., and labelled it the Constitutional Equality Amendment.

Although NOW has given moral support to attempts to ratify the ERA, they also continue to support the CEA as part of their official platform.

The Constitutional Equality Amendment, which has not been introduced into any session of Congress, reads;

1. Women and men shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place and entity subject to its jurisdiction; through this article, the subordination of women to men is abolished;

2. All persons shall have equal rights and privileges without discrimination on account of sex, race, sexual orientation, marital status, ethnicity, national origin, colour or indigence;

3. This article prohibits pregnancy discrimination and guarantees the absolute right of a woman to make her own reproductive decisions including the termination of pregnancy;

4. This article prohibits discrimination based upon characteristics unique to or stereotypes about any class protected under this article. This article also prohibits discrimination through the use of any facially neutral criteria which have a disparate impact based on membership in a class protected under this article.

5. This article does not preclude any law, program or activity that would remedy the effects of discrimination and that is closely related to achieving such remedial purposes;

6. This article shall be interpreted under the highest standard of judicial review;

The United States and the several states shall guarantee the implementation and enforcement of this article.