A Brief History
On June 30, 1966, the Women’s Rights movement took a giant leap forward when the National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded by 28 women’s rights activists. Soon, terms like feminist and Women’s Liberation became common, and a new force in the civil rights movement flexed its muscles.
Digging Deeper
Activists for women’s rights were frustrated by new laws and rules that supposedly protected the rights of women that were blatantly being ignored in the real world. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were supposed to equalize pay and hiring of men and women, but the reality was drastically different.
The first president of NOW (and one of the founders) was the author of 1963’s The Feminine Mystique, Betty Freidan. NOW members were less than satisfied by the efforts of Washington politicians to make real changes rather than just posture and merely look like they were accomplishing something. NOW campaigned for abortion rights (at that time, abortion was illegal in most states), the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, equity in hiring and promotions in the workplace, maternity leave, and increased access of women to college and graduate school as well as equity between men’s and women’s athletics in school and college.
NOW today claims 550,000 members in all 50 states, with 550 local chapters in each of those states plus Washington, DC. The fight over abortion rights (and “reproductive rights“) and the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) continues, as does the demand for “equal pay for equal work.” Other issues such as gay rights, eliminating racism, domestic violence, economic justice, and constitutional equality (through the ERA or other means) remain as “core issues.” Sexual harassment in the workplace or elsewhere is also a topic under attack by NOW.
NOW is not without its enemies, and is opposed by anti-abortionists and conservative religious groups that believe women are ordained by God to occupy an inferior and submissive role in society. Fathers’ rights organizations advocating for the father’s equal say so about abortion and perceived unfairness regarding child support and custody also go head to head with NOW (and other women’s rights groups) as well.
If there ever was a doubt that “you can’t please everybody” the fact that even some ardent feminists criticize NOW as being “too inclusive” and not radical enough is proof. Question for students (and subscribers): How about you? Do you support an Equal Rights Amendment? Let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Barakso, Maryann. Governing NOW: Grassroots Activism in the National Organization for Women. Cornell University Press, 2004.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of Billington; National Organization for Women (NOW) founder and president Betty Naomi Goldstein Friedan (1921-2006); NOW co-chair and Washington, D.C., lobbyist Barbara Ireton (1932-1998); and feminist attorney Marguerite Rawalt (1895-1989), was taken from Flickr‘s The Commons. The uploading organization may have various reasons for determining that no known copyright restrictions exist, such as:
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More information can be found at https://flickr.com/commons/usage/. This image, originally posted to Flickr, was reviewed on by the administrator or reviewer File Upload Bot (Magnus Manske), who confirmed that it was available on Flickr under the stated license on that date.
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2797 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=2797">103 Comments
I agree with NOW for raising awareness for the need for change. I do not have to agree with everything they do, but the direction they are going is indeed a positive thing.
All men and women should be treated equally! — DAVID WARDLE
Glad those 28 women stood up in what they believed in. Their impact will continue on forever
Interesting that the 1960s and 70s brought about so much protest for equal rights
As a feminist myself, I applaud these women and their activism. Without these women, other women would probably not have the rights that they do now. I do not understand people who do not believe in equal rights. We are all human beings.
Without equal rights being a topic in the 60s and 70s, our nation may have been different today.
I do support an Equal Rights Amendment but I do not see it fair as women want to be treated equally in certain aspects when it would benefit them but they do not want to be treated equally at other times when once again it would benefit them. I am not a fan of women fence sitting and choosing situation to situation if they should be treated equally or not.
Equality under the law should happen, no argument there.
I’m just curious as to where the massive sit-ins, strikes, and clamoring for signing up for selective service crowd holds their meetings, or whether there exists a drive for across-the-board fairness in military physical fitness standards.
Equality is full or it is nonexistent, or we have our priorities out of whack.
It is awful to think that women are still fighting for equal pay in 2015
It is crazy to me to think of how recent in history it was that women did not have equal rights. Less than 50 years ago women did not have the rights they have today, and even today women are still getting paid less than men. I support Equal Rights Amendments but it seems to me that equal rights need more than support to actually happen, they need action and people actually living it, not just supporting it. The golden rule of treating others as you would like to be treated is pretty simple but could change the world dramatically if people actually lived by it.
I am surprised by all the progress America has accomplished but women still do not have equal rights. I support the Equal Rights Amendment and believe that women should be paid the same as a man. It astonish me how a women could be in the same position as a man, completing the same work and being paid less. I agree with Billy White that you should treat other the way you would like to be treated. If that were the case America would have a different society.
i am all for equality and very impressed that these women took such bold stand many years ago, and it is shocking to me how much inequality is still in existence today. i think part of that issue could be that people want everybody to be equal but we aren’t sure how to execute that so we are complaining with out a plan. it also is something that has to come from with in. each individual person has to change their mindset about every stereotype that they have. it is something that is hard and will take time, and in cases like this it might be better to keep working hard and focus on how much progress we have made instead of looking at how much left we have to accomplish.
Without the equal rights back in the 60’s and 70’s I cant imagine how unfair it would be today for women
I know the emvironment in workplace is not organized enough. I hope it will be improved in the near future.
I cannot believe that in this day and age women are not paid equally for equal work. How hard is it to write the same numbers on two checks with one going to a man and one to a woman? Who cares what their gender is as long as they do the work?
I also believe that if the equal rights act didn’t happen in the 60’s then inequality would be a lot worse in today’s society.
No matter what things will never be completely equal for everyone. Even if some how they were people would still be unable to see the progress and claim it still unfair. Like the article say, you can’t make everyone happy.
I thought this was always stupid to treat women different than men. There are really no differences both are humans and both are capable of doing whatever they want. I’m glad the act passed because they do not deserve to be treated differently.
I learned about NOW when I wrote my midterm paper and the group was very influential in the push for woman’s rights. Men and women should be treated equally.
It seems to have always been that men and women are equal in theory, but not yet equal in reality. I wonder if it will ever happen.
Even to this day women aren’t treated completely equal to men. It is a sad thing, but maybe some day it will change.
It upsets me that in 2016 equal rights have still not been achieved. Hopefully some day this will happen.
I think that it isn’t right t women don’t get treated the same as men! Something needs to change
I feel slightly ashamed for I didn’t know that NOW was still in existence.
Hopefully one day women will be completely equal to men.
Women are still fighting to be 100% completely equal
I wonder what the U.S would be like today if it wasn’t for equal rights.
I do support the Equal Rights Amendment as well as a woman’s right to choose.
I can’t believe that women still don’t get equal pay after all this time.
I don’t understand why people to this day still consider women unequal. They should have every right and opportunity as everyone else.
Women should be treated as men equal we are both human
womens rights should be expressed more. even today they have a wage gap at roughly 77 cents at least to the mens full dollar. so the same degree and same career they still make less. we need to treat women more equal as far as the pay gap goes. i do disagree that they should not be aloud to participate in “some” military actions. like infantry for example.
The NOW organization really gave women a voice in politics but not always heard. Media sometimes paints them as very forceful Feminist, only caring for women and asking for things that can not be done, Which not true they want equality for all not just women and the things they want are not impossible to provide if we really try to fix them.
Woman’s right are still a little suppressed but having an organization to back us is really good. The time is NOW for women.
i think it is wrong that women are still fighting for equality today. Especially to close the wage gap.
It’s great to hear how NOW is present in all states and the members are increasing. But it’s still said that the idea of this glass ceiling for women still exist today.
ITS good to see how the laws from then have changed for women i honestly dont think their ever should have been discrimination against women.
Women’s rights is still an issue today, shown by many feminist movements.
Discrimination and segregation sadly still exist at some levels. Women and blacks have been fighting for equal rights since the 1800’s. When will it be possible for all to exist on a equal playing field?
Not of fan of NOW. I do agree about equality when it comes to work and pay, but there are other things that I do not agree with.
I am absolutely a fan of the work and strides made by NOW. One may not agree 100% with the organizations views on every platform; however, the organization has worked tirelessly for women’s equality and much of what I benefit from on a daily basis is because of the strides they have made on mine and all women’s behalf.
I am very thankful for the NOW group or else everything that women can do today may not be possible. I could not fathom not being allowed to participate in sports or attend college. Women work just as hard as men and more jobs are becoming more common for a woman to hold.
It is sad that even today women are not treated the same as men.
I am thankful for the hard work and dedication the women from the NOW group have put in. Without this group it is hard telling when change for women would have occurred.
This set the stage for women in the business world and you can see by the growth of women CEOs show that today
A shame that they still have to fight to get equal pay still.
This just helps to show that women still need to go an extra mile to get equal rights.
Regardless of one’s opinion, there will alway be someone else running against it. In this case NOW drew a line in the sand between conservative church and anti-abortion groups.
I think woman have come a long way but there will always be some hurdles that we may never overcome.
Women’s rights have come such a long way and the start of this movement has made such a difference!
I really did not realize that the “NOW,” existed. Overall, women’s rights have really came a long way in the last few decades and have really liberalized over time.
I learned even more about this organization while researching for my midterm paper. Women’s rights has come so far, but there are still improvements to be made.
It’s amazing to see in just the short amount of time from then to now. Back then they were forming groups to get rights now elections are based a lot on what women think of the candidate and candidates have to appeal to women.
I always love seeing how far women as a whole have come. I do agree though, that there are still changes that should be made to make women and men completely equal and I am praying that our new president does not make things worse for women.
When working on the weekly discussion post I saw this organization as one of the many important moments in American history. It is amazing how much women as a whole has accomplished over the years, and continue to gain as we move to the future. One day I believe that men and women can become equals.
Hillary Clinton ran for president in this year. The event shows us that women’s rights are increasing. From the Civil Rights Law, we can see that females should have the equal opportunities and rights with males. Any different treatment can be seen as a discrimination.
I believes that man and woman are always equally. We should try to find out some ways to make it more obviously.
Before reading this article I had never heard of the National Organization for Women (NOW). NOW was founded by 28 women’s rights activists and I am curious to learn more about these women individually.
All people should be treated equally. I hate the fact that our world used to and still discriminatory.
I believe that all people should be treated equally, it floors me that people are still treated this way in today’s society
It is good to see an organization that fights for women’s rights.
I like reading about the women that fought for rights. It upsets me that they have not come farther by now.
I believe that there are more women against gaining women’s rights than any other group.
This had to be one of the main organizations for women that had the biggest impact. It has huge numbers today, and it was because of this moment in history.
Women’s rights are always a tough subject. They have earned so much praise and scrutiny and it is sometimes hard to actually understand what the movement is fighting for.
Women’s rights have come such a long way, and it’s important to recognize organizations that have dedicated time to making these steps
I can’t imagine what it would be like without the rights I have today
This organization accomplished a lot for women today.
I’ve known for a long time that NOW has done a lot for women’s rights, but I didn’t know when or by whom it was founded. It would be interesting to learn more about the 28 females that created NOW.
Women do so much and men always under appreciate us.
Always good too see women rights moving forward
NOW is not what it once was. Feminism is not what it once was. As with a great many things, the original idea was honorable and meaningful but has gotten a bit muddled. Organizations such as this that change their core reasons and take on many other “causes” dilutes their arguments for a great many people.
NOW has been fighting for the same reasons since they began. That will not change, and has not changed. Betty Friedan would be astonished at the calls to defund Planned Parenthood.
With a half a million members, one would think this group would be known by everyone. I never heard of WOW before today.
I think we should respect all groups even though they aren’t necessarily our own personal views. I think as long as they are being peaceful it is good for people to gather for their beliefs.
While women should have the same rights as a man, the femenist movement in some ways destroyed what women were called to be by God. Women should not be on the front lines of battle because their bodies weren’t meant to withstand such beating.
This was a great organization and I think that women still get discriminated against today.
There are still some things that could be changed to make men and women equal, but I think we are going in the right direction.
The women’s movement has brought about many changes and rights for women. Not all women are for some of the changes. I think some respect has been lost toward women. Meaning some men are not as kind and respectful to women.
Equity in women and hiring them in the workplace, maternity leave, and increased access of women to college and graduate school.
The women’s rights movement has made impact in society, but we are still far away from equality. Women are not treated equally in the workforce.
I support the equal rights of women. I do not support some of the methods they go about trying to institute change however. I also feel that they need to know what women should and should not be involved with, e.g. Marine infantry positions.
This is the first that I have ever heard of “NOW”. I am a strong believer that you have to fight for what you believe to be right. Women deserve to be treated in every way the same as man.
I wrote my paper for this class on this topic. I feel strongly for the movement and am proud to be a woman thanks to all of the incredible women before me that fought for my rights.
I am against abortion but equal rights, I support. As a father of two girls, I am glad that there is a community that fights for their rights as much as I do.
I also believe in equal rights but I am against abortion because those unborn kids have there rights taken when some one says I want an abortion. That takes away the kids rights.
Betty Friedan was an amazing women women who’s book “The Feminine Mystique” and huge contribution in the creation of NOW made huge strides for women’s rights. What interests me is do you think that feminism today is the same as feminism back in the 50’s and 60’s?
Women absolutely deserve equal right. Nevertheless, I believe the feminist move towards a man hating group, rather than a group of equal rights.
I personally have never encountered an issue with not having equal rights. I think some of the times these issues are blown out of proportion by people who love to argue. I am all for equal pay, paid longer maternity leave and mutual respect. Lets discuss and work towards resolutions, not protest and breed hate.
I am against abortion, if a woman does not want to have children than they should take the necessary measures to prevent themselves from getting pregnant. I believe women should have equal rights, which in today’s society I do not believe is an issue. I think a lot of the “issues” are being blown out of proportion.
I am all for equal rights and not just for women, but children and men as well.I am anxious to see how the government does with implementing the draft for women. Will people fight this move? I certainly hope not a single person does.
I am a female so of course I am for equal rights. A big controversial subject about woman and the right to abortion is something I feel strongly about. Although abortion is not right for me, I do believe in the right to choose.
I’m not a female but I do believe in equal rights for everyone. I am usually against abortions. But if a woman was raped, she should be allowed to get an abortion if she gets pregnant. I’m a humanitarian and believe infants should be born. If a woman gets pregnant and is not ready to take care of it, I think she should put it up for adoption and give it a chance at life instead of aborting it.
Being a female of course I am going to be for equal rights. As for the topic of abortion, everyone has personal beliefs, whether those are faith based or situational based. Abortion is a topic I am rather passionate about and care not to discuss due to being passionate in certain stances. Overall, at the end of the day it is a decision someone has to live with.
It is hard to pick a side on this to one extreme or another. As a female, I would never have an abortion, I don’t like the idea of it. I would also gladly adopt any baby I could as a means of an alternative to abortion. If someone decides that they are going to have an abortion then why exactly is that any of my business? I don’t think it should be available as a form of birth control, multiple abortions because women and men aren’t preventing it , but things happen. I know two women in my life that have made this decision, and do not think any less of them. Its personal. I also feel like fathers get completely screwed over when it comes to rights over a child. The law automatically sides with the mother, a father who wants to spend time with his child, but the mother of the child does not wish to share custody or split custody, better be rich, resourceful, and patient. I don’t think men should have any say over a woman’s body, including abortion, but once the child is born, fathers should have equal rights to the child and not have to pay an insane amount of money to have access to his child.
I am totally against abortion but everyone has their own beliefs on this issue. When it comes to equal right for woman seeing that I’m a woman I am so for it. The fact that all these women fought for woman to have equal rights is just truly amazing.
I’m a single mother of a 10-year-old son and I’m here going to college to better my life. I’m in the nursing program and once I graduate I would hope to have the same pay as any male nurse.
I always hate debating with others about abortion because there really is no right or wrong answer when it comes to a decision like that…
I think that feminism has developed a negative connotation recently and that makes me sad. It is about equality not female superiority. Also I’m pro choice. That doesn’t mean I support abortion but it does mean I support a woman’s right to do what she wants with her body.
I am completely against abortion even though everyone has their own beliefs on this topic. I do not understand how a woman could live with herself knowing she ‘killed’ her baby. I am 18 years old almost 19 and just had a baby, looking at my daughter she is the best thing that ever happened to me. I could have NEVER as it was NEVER an option in my eyes. I made the crime so ill pay the time…This time I am doing is the best time i will ever do! Being a mom is the biggest blessing i could have ever asked for!
The women’s movement has brought about many changes and rights for women. Not all women agree or like some of these movements.
I think its important that women’s rights are protected. You do not have to agree with what NOW is advocating, but I would have to support what they stand for. This group of women is dedicated to fighting for the protection of women’s rights; if they didn’t exist women may not have the choices they do.
The fight for “equal pay for equal work” has been going on since 1966 and it is still an issue today. That just goes to show how hard women have been fighting and how important it is.