The National Organization for Women

The Women’s Rights Movement in the United States extends over the nation’s history.

Various leaders, accomplishments, and failures have formed the movement’s history. Beginning in the 19th century, activists concerned in the so called “women problem” worked to develop significance of the high-minded democratic principles reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the “nuts and bolts” structure in the U.S. Constitution to comprise women at an equivalent level with men.While John Adams partook in the 1789 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Abigail Adams asked her husband to “remember the ladies” in the meetings’ discussions.

John Adams seemed to purely dismiss his wife’s suggestion by joking that giving way such rights to females would set women higher than men and compared to Indians and African Americans also calling for constitutional rights. Without a doubt, there is no evidence that the “ladies” issue ever came up throughout the convention.Women weren’t seen as equals by the majority of the higher class in the recently formed United States and the men of status at the convention were a product of their times. Even most women would’ve considered the concept of female suffrage morally shocking. Therefore, women’s prohibition from the U.S.

Constitution wasn’t simply a misunderstanding. It was a reflection of the times and the position of women in the United States. Women did not have the ability to vote and most Americans supposed it was normal to prevent women from holding government offices. By the early 19th century, thoughts began to change.The start of the American women’s rights movement is frequently named as the gathering in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848 organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.

The conference incorporated passage of the “Declaration of Sentiments”, which was incredibly alike in its choice of words to the Declaration of Independence that was written by Thomas Jefferson and given to King George to explain the colonies complaints in opposition to England. The debate over slavery and the sudden occurrence of the Civil War overshadowed the women’s rights movement. The movement lost momentum broke over passage and ratification of the 14th and 15th Amendments at the war’s end. Women suffrage advocates such as Frederick Douglass and Lucy Stone argued that it was “the negro’s hour” and women’s constitutional rights would come later. Other supporters such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were infuriated.

ThesisAlthough the women’s rights movement took place around the late 19th and early 20th century, the efforts of advocates like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Susan B. Anthony continue to create an influence on women in today’s culture and society.Equal Rights AmendmentThe Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution intended to assure equal rights for women. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was established in the Congress for the first time. In 1972, it passed both houses of Congress and went to the state legislatures for ratification. The ERA was unsuccessful to obtain the obligatory number of ratifications (38) before the ultimate closing date consented by Congress of June 30th, 1982; therefore the amendment was not adopted.

The National Organization for WomenThe National Organization for Women (NOW) is a feminist organization established on June 30th, 1966, in Washington, D.C., by 28 people attending the Third National Conference of State Commissions on the Status of Women, the descendant to the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. The founders included Betty Friedan (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.

In 1968, NOW issued a Bill of Rights, which they had implemented at their 1967 national conference, supporting the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, enforcement of the preventions against sex discrimination in employment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, maternity leave rights in employment and service, and in Social Security benefits, tax deduction for home and child care operating costs for working parents, child day care centers, equal and non-gender segregated education, equivalent job training opportunities and allowances for women in poverty, and the right of women to manage their reproductive lives. In 1969, Ivy Bottini designed the logo for NOW, which is still in use today! Advocation of the Equal Rights Amendment was a relevant issue to NOW.The amendment had three key objectives, which were: “Section 1. Equality of Rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of sex. Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.” Efforts were proven triumphant when Congress passed the amendment in 1972. However, simply passing the amendment in the two houses of Congress did not mean the work was completed. NOW had to guide the efforts of getting the amendment ratified in at least three-fourths of the states (38 out of the 50 states). Even though efforts did not prove to be adequate to have the amendment approved, the organization remains in action in promoting legislatures and media outlets on feminist subjects.

Also, in 1972, NOW chose the Schlesinger Library as the archives for its records.The VisionIn 1961, John F. Kennedy organized the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, in hopes of offering an answer to female discrimination in education, work force, and Social Security. Kennedy appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as the Head of the association. Later in 1966, Betty Friedan and Rev. Pauli Murray composed the organizations Statement of Purpose.

The statement declared the rationale of NOW as "To take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men." The six focal issues that NOW embarks upon are abortion and reproductive health services access, violence against women, constitutional equality, promoting diversity/ending racism, lesbian rights, and economic justice, with these topics having a variety of sub-issues. The organization goes about producing these changes through arduous lobbying, rallies, marches, and conferences. NOW focuses on an assortment of issues arranging multiple strategies, causing it to be an association in which a comprehensive goal is envisioned and performed.