National Organization for Women

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is a United States feminist advocacy organization founded in 1966. It was created by activists who believed that federal civil-rights protections were not being adequately enforced against sex discrimination in employment and public life. Rather than functioning as a commercial brand, NOW operates as a membership-based social-welfare and political-advocacy organization, using lobbying, litigation, public demonstrations, electoral activity, education, and local chapter organizing to pursue gender equality. NOW emerged from the institutional and intellectual developments of the early 1960s. The President's Commission on the Status of Women, established by President John F. Kennedy and chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, documented barriers affecting women's education, employment, pay, and social-security treatment. Betty Friedan's 1963 book The Feminine Mystique helped popularize criticism of the expectation that women should find fulfillment primarily through domestic roles. At the same time, activists were frustrated that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission were not, in their view, being applied forcefully enough to sex discrimination. The organization was initiated in Washington, D.C., in 1966. Twenty-eight women associated with the Third National Conference of Commissions on the Status of Women became early founders, and another twenty-one women and men joined at the October organizing conference. Betty Friedan and Pauli Murray helped prepare the organization's Statement of Purpose. The founding group envisioned NOW as a national pressure organization that could mobilize women, challenge discriminatory employers and institutions, and promote equal access to education, professional work, public office, and economic opportunity. NOW's agenda broadened rapidly. Its 1967 national conference adopted a Bill of Rights that called for the Equal Rights Amendment, stronger enforcement of employment-discrimination law, maternity and child-care protections, equal education and job training, and women's control over reproductive decisions. The group became one of the most prominent liberal feminist organizations in the United States and has generally pursued change through existing political and legal institutions, while also supporting direct action when it considered institutional channels ineffective. Its campaigns have included constitutional equality through the Equal Rights Amendment, workplace and pay equality, reproductive rights, access to abortion, child-care and family-support policies, ending violence against women, LGBTQIA+ equality, racial justice, and opposition to discrimination in commercial and public establishments. NOW's history also includes internal conflict over lesbian participation. In the late 1960s, some national leaders treated visible lesbian organizing as a political liability, and lesbian members were excluded from parts of the organization. NOW reversed course in 1971 by adopting resolutions supporting women's sexual self-determination and lesbian rights, later creating a task force devoted to sexuality and lesbianism. NOW remains a nationwide chapter-based organization. Reference material describes approximately 550 chapters across all fifty states and Washington, D.C., and about 500,000 members, although membership and chapter counts can change over time. Its positioning is that of a progressive, intersectional feminist organization combining national policy advocacy with grassroots mobilization. The organization is legally structured as a 501(c)(4) social-welfare entity rather than a publicly listed company. It has no conventional product portfolio; its principal offerings are membership, organizing, policy advocacy, public education, litigation support, and campaigns.

NOW was formed in 1966 after activists at a national conference on the status of women were prevented from advancing a resolution urging stronger enforcement of the federal prohibition on employment discrimination. The organization drew on the work of the President's Commission on the Status of Women, the influence of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, and dissatisfaction with the limited enforcement of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The founding meeting took place in Washington, D.C.; the name was reportedly reduced to the acronym NOW in a note written by Friedan. The founders sought to build a nationwide organization comparable in political influence to established civil-rights groups. Its initial purpose was to secure women's full participation in American society by confronting discrimination in employment, education, government appointments, and public accommodations. Friedan and Pauli Murray helped write the Statement of Purpose adopted at the October 1966 organizing conference. The statement framed equality and freedom of choice as individual and human rights. During its first years, NOW developed a policy program addressing equal employment, professional and educational access, child care, maternity protections, economic independence, and the Equal Rights Amendment. Its legal committee supported challenges to sex discrimination, including a case involving airline flight attendants. In 1968, the organization published a Bill of Rights that consolidated many of these demands and helped establish the policy vocabulary that it would use for subsequent campaigns. NOW also participated in direct-action challenges to exclusionary institutions. Members protested sex-segregated dining practices and pursued litigation against McSorley's Old Ale House after women were refused service. The resulting 1970 federal court ruling required the establishment to admit women as a public accommodation. In the banking sector, NOW-backed protests against discriminatory credit practices contributed to the political pressure surrounding the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, enacted in 1974. The organization became a major supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment after Congress approved it in 1972. NOW encouraged marches, lobbying, public communication, and economic boycotts to secure ratification by the required number of states. The amendment did not achieve the necessary ratifications within the original deadline, and NOW continued to advocate constitutional equality and related legislative protections. Reproductive rights became another central area of activity after Roe v. Wade in 1973. NOW opposed restrictions that it regarded as undermining women's control over reproduction and supported federal legislation intended to protect access to abortion. Its work in this area has remained connected to broader arguments about health care, bodily autonomy, economic equality, and freedom from gender-based coercion. NOW's record on lesbian rights developed through internal conflict. In 1969, lesbian activist Ivy Bottini designed the organization's enduring logo and organized a public discussion of lesbianism as a feminist issue. National leadership under Friedan opposed what it viewed as an emphasis that could damage the movement's public standing, and lesbian activists were removed from or marginalized within parts of NOW. The 1970 Lavender Menace protest publicly challenged this exclusion. In 1971, NOW adopted resolutions affirming sexual self-determination and supporting lesbian mothers in custody disputes, and it later created a task force on sexuality and lesbianism. This change marked a significant expansion of the organization's conception of feminist equality. In later decades, NOW continued to combine national policy work with local chapter activism. Its stated priorities have included constitutional equality, reproductive justice, economic justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, racial justice, and opposition to violence against women. The organization is described in reference material as having hundreds of chapters throughout the United States and a membership numbering in the hundreds of thousands. It remains a prominent progressive feminist institution, although its influence and priorities have evolved alongside changes in federal law, the women's movement, and the broader civil-rights landscape.

• 1974

  Equal Credit Opportunity Act enacted

  [1]National Organization for Womenen.wikipedia.org

  NOW's protests against discriminatory banking practices formed part of the wider advocacy environment surrounding federal credit protections.

• 1972

  Equal Rights Amendment advocacy intensifies

  [1]National Organization for Womenen.wikipedia.org

  After congressional passage of the ERA, NOW organized lobbying, marches, and economic pressure to seek state ratification.

• 1971

  Lesbian-rights resolutions adopted

  [1]National Organization for Womenen.wikipedia.org

  NOW endorsed sexual self-determination and supported legal and moral assistance for lesbian mothers facing custody discrimination.

• 1970

  McSorley's discrimination case succeeds

  [1]National Organization for Womenen.wikipedia.org

  Litigation supported by NOW established that the New York public establishment could not exclude women from service.

• 1967

  Bill of Rights approved

  [1]National Organization for Womenen.wikipedia.org

  NOW's national conference adopted a program covering the Equal Rights Amendment, employment equality, child care, education, reproductive control, and economic rights.

• 1966

  Organization founded

  [1]National Organization for Womenen.wikipedia.org

  Activists formed NOW in Washington, D.C., in response to inadequate enforcement of federal protections against sex discrimination.

• 1966

  Statement of Purpose adopted

  [1]National Organization for Womenen.wikipedia.org

  The organizing conference adopted a founding statement calling for concrete action to secure women's equality of opportunity and freedom of choice.

Progressive, intersectional feminist advocacy conducted through grassroots organizing, litigation, lobbying, public education, and electoral pressure.

• Organizing · 1966

  Membership and chapter network

  NOW's principal organizational offering is participation through national membership and local chapters. Chapters provide a structure for meetings, demonstrations, voter and legislative outreach, public education, and campaigns adapted to state and local conditions. Reference material describes a network of roughly 550 chapters in all fifty states and Washington, D.C., though the exact number may vary.

• Advocacy · 1966

  Policy and legislative advocacy

  The organization lobbies and mobilizes supporters around constitutional equality, employment and pay discrimination, reproductive rights, child care, LGBTQIA+ equality, racial justice, and measures addressing violence against women. Its methods include testimony, constituent contact, coalition work, demonstrations, and public communications.

• Legal advocacy · 1966

  Legal and public-accommodation advocacy

  NOW has supported legal challenges and public campaigns against sex discrimination. Historical examples include litigation concerning airline flight attendants and the successful challenge to women being refused service at McSorley's Old Ale House. The organization uses legal advocacy as one element of a broader political strategy.

• 1969

  Internal conflict over lesbian participation

  NOW leadership, including Betty Friedan, opposed the prominence of lesbian issues and removed or marginalized some openly lesbian activists. The conflict contributed to the 1970 Lavender Menace protest and later policy changes supporting lesbian rights.

  Source

Read more

• 1972Equal Rights Amendment ratification campaign

  United States

  NOW coordinated lobbying, marches, communications, and economic boycotts to persuade states to ratify the ERA after congressional approval.

  Outcome. The campaign did not secure ratification by the original deadline, but ERA advocacy remained a central organizational priority.

  Source
• 1970McSorley's Old Ale House challenge

  United States

  NOW members and attorneys challenged the exclusion of women from a New York public establishment. The federal court ruling required the bar to admit women.

  Outcome. Successful litigation and institutional policy change.

  Source
• 1968NOW Bill of Rights program

  United States

  NOW promoted a broad rights program calling for the Equal Rights Amendment, enforcement of employment protections, maternity and child-care measures, equal education and training, and reproductive autonomy.

  Outcome. Established a durable policy framework for the organization's national advocacy.

  Source

• 1972

  Escalate Equal Rights Amendment campaignStrategy

  Background

  Congress had approved the ERA, but constitutional adoption still required ratification by the states.

  Action taken

  NOW organized nationwide lobbying, marches, public messaging, and economic boycotts aimed at state ratification.

  Aftermath

  The amendment did not obtain the required ratifications within the original period, while NOW continued to pursue constitutional equality through advocacy.

  Source

• 1971

  Adopt lesbian-rights and sexual-autonomy resolutionsStrategy

  Background

  Internal criticism and organized protest challenged the organization's earlier exclusionary approach to lesbian participation.

  Action taken

  NOW adopted resolutions affirming a woman's right to define and express her sexuality and supporting lesbian mothers in custody cases.

  Aftermath

  The organization created a task force on sexuality and lesbianism and incorporated lesbian rights more clearly into its feminist agenda.

  Source

1. 1National Organization for Womenen.wikipedia.org
2. 2National Organization for Women official websitenow.org