Christian Science Monitor, July 19, 2006
NOW
at 40: What's left to do?
Feminists
rocked the 1970s and '80s, profoundly
changing US society. Today's challenges
are more subtle, but still urgent.
Author: Marilyn Gardner
As a young editor in the mid-1960s, Karen
DeCrow paid $5 in dues to join a fledgling
group called the National Organization
for Women (NOW). It was a simple act ("I
didn't even get a membership card,"
she recalls), but it marked the beginning
of a lifelong commitment to working for
women's equality.
This weekend that commitment will take her
to Albany, N.Y., where she and more than
800 other members will observe a milestone:
NOW's 40th anniversary. Amid balloons
and confetti, partygoers will watch a
video tracing the group's history. They
will also honor founders and past presidents,
among them Ms. DeCrow.
"It will be a gala celebration of how
we changed the country and the world for
women, for children, and definitely for
men," says an exuberant DeCrow.
Although NOW puts its membership at 500,000
and counts 550 chapters, the anniversary
comes at a time when the group is far
less visible than it was in the heady
1970s and 1980s. That is leading both
self-described "old-timers"
of DeCrow's generation and younger activists
to find new ways to work for equality.
Leaders note that a growing conservatism
in the courts and challenges to reproductive
rights are drawing new members.
"I see renewed energy around the country,"
says Kim Gandy, NOW's president. "There's
an increased sense that women need to
get involved personally and put themselves
on the line to make change, that they
can't sit back and say, 'Let Jane do it.'
"
Early seeds of change were planted 40 years
ago this month when a small band of women
gathered at the Washington Hilton seeking
ways to enforce a federal law outlawing
sex discrimination at work. Betty Friedan,
author of "The Feminine Mystique,"
scribbled three letters - NOW - on a napkin,
and an organization was born.
At the time, airline stewardesses, as they
were then called, typically lost their
jobs when they married, got pregnant,
or reached the advanced age of 32. Some
waitresses were forbidden to work at night.
Women in Utah could not be hired if a
job required them to lift more than 15
pounds. Employment ads were segregated
by gender.
"Sometimes when I teach or talk to
students about the women's movement, I
tell them that when I started work, newspaper
ads identified jobs as 'Help wanted -
male' and 'Help wanted - female,' "
says Judy Goldsmith, a former NOW president.
"They say, 'Oh, come on.' They don't
want to believe it. It's so Neanderthal."
DeCrow remembers other unenlightened attitudes
in those early days. "Everyone laughed
at us and made fun of us and ignored us.
When it seemed we were making progress,
they attacked us. It wasn't like the doors
were open: 'Oh girls, come in. We're so
glad you're calling attention to the fact
that there are no women astronauts in
the NASA program.' We had barriers everywhere.
But it was exciting. People would come
from all over the world to meet with us.
We could pick our targets, because everything
was a target."
Today discrimination is more subtle and
the targets are less obvious, she says.
"The issues have matured. We don't
have to fight to get women into law school
anymore, but overwhelmingly the partners
in major firms are still men. Getting
into medical school is not an issue. However,
at the top there are still problems."
Other issues on NOW's broad-based agenda
include violence against women, abortion
rights, and legalizing same-sex marriage.
And then there is the family. "One
of the wonderful things that has happened
is a much greater acceptance and encouragement
of men's involvement in child-rearing,"
Ms. Goldsmith says. "It's taken some
of the pressure off men to be the great
provider and the rock that everyone leans
on."
Yet DeCrow still includes the family on
her agenda, saying, "We need a sense
that children are a shared responsibility
for mothers and fathers. We haven't gotten
there yet, although the young fathers
of today certainly do a lot more than
their dads and grandfathers did."
When Ms. Gandy joined NOW 33 years ago,
the most active members were homemakers
and students. She describes them as "women
of extraordinary intelligence and commitment
who hadn't had the opportunity to use
those skills in law or medicine or engineering
or other professions. They threw their
energy into building the movement."
Many devoted 30 or 40 hours a week to
the work.
That kind of commitment is now rare, Gandy
says. Today's membership is mostly made
up of women whose work and family obligations
leave them little spare time. Activists
also have a choice of organizations they
can join.
"It used to be just us and NOW,"
says Clare Giesen, executive director
of the National Women's Political Caucus
in Washington, formed five years after
NOW. "Now there are any number of
groups that are addressing niche issues
for women - legal issues, family issues."
She cites the National Women's Law Center
and the National Research Center for Women
and Families.
As NOW's leaders look ahead, they are searching
for ways to attract the next generation.
Its Young Feminist Task Force, co-chaired
by Erin Matson of Minneapolis, includes
a dozen members between ages 15 and 29.
They advise the national board on issues
of concern to young women. This weekend's
national conference includes workshops
on teen dating violence, music and feminism,
and fashion and feminism.
"We are a different generation,"
Ms. Matson says, "We're much less
focused on bylaws and structure and the
nuts and bolts of how organizations work.
We're figuring out how we work together
in a new way, side by side with the people
we owe so much of our lives to."
Both generations are keenly aware of the
work yet to be done. Women hold only 15
percent of seats in Congress and 14 percent
of seats on Fortune 500 boards. On average,
they still earn less than men.
"This is not a time for complacency,"
Goldsmith says.
Some younger women regard this as a transitional
time for organizations like NOW.
"I do think NOW still serves a purpose
in Washington-based organizing and lobbying,"
says Jessica Valenti, editor of the website
feministing.com. "But younger feminists
are exploring new ways of organizing and
doing their activism. Hopefully NOW will
come along with us."
In the past, she says, activists looked
to "large feminist icons" such
as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan. "Now
young women are becoming their own leaders.
We don't necessarily need one or two or
three feminist icons to show us the way.
We're already doing this work." That
includes forming grass-roots organizations,
magazines, and blogs.
Referring to unfinished work, she says,
"It's easy to talk about abortion
rights and pay equity, which are obviously
important. But poverty is also huge, and
child-care is huge, and having to deal
with this ridiculous backlash that says,
'Women don't want to work - they want
to have lots of babies.' "
In addition, Ms. Valenti says, women must
continue to be active in the wider political
arena, bringing activism "to electoral
politics and to their daily lives."
Jean Kilbourne, a visiting research scholar
at the Wellesley Centers for Women, also
sees a need for groups like NOW. "I
wish I could say it were no longer necessary,
but there are still a lot of issues left
to be discussed and resolved," she
says. "It's important to remember
that these gains are relatively new and
not set in stone. We have to be vigilant."
Lillian Ciarrochi, a past president of NOW's
Philadelphia chapter, imagines a scenario
that would be anything but complacent
if those gains are ever threatened. "I
think there'll be a revolution. They'll
do anything to not lose those rights."
From the beginning, men have served on NOW's
board of directors in addition to being
members. Robert Seidenberg of Fayetteville,
N.Y., is widely considered to be the first
male member of the national organization.
As a psychiatrist, he became aware of
"social and interpersonal" challenges
that kept women down. "That propelled
me to see what I could do in making things
a little better." Describing himself
as "very hopeful and very encouraged,"
he adds, "I see things I never thought
were possible."
Dr. Seidenberg offers a radical proposal
to honor the woman who wrote those three
letters, NOW, on a napkin 40 years ago.
"We don't have any national holiday
for a woman in this country yet,"
he says. "Betty Friedan should be
the one. She was not perfect. She was
controversial. But the basic thing she
did should not be forgotten. She changed
America for the better with the liberation
of women."
As Gandy prepares for Saturday's celebration,
she reflects on progress.
"Perhaps the greatest changes we've
accomplished in the last 40 years are
that we've changed hearts and minds, we've
changed laws and won lawsuits," she
says. "Feminism today is what I hoped
it would be 30 years ago. It's my daughters,
who are 10 and 13, not just believing
they can do anything, but absolutely knowing
they can. Unfortunately we haven't come
quite that far, but it's so important
that our daughters expect equality, because
they will demand it when it's not there."
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