Mission

The National Organization for Women aims to take action to bring true equality for all women in America, and toward a fully equal partnership of the sexes.

Stay Updated

Women’s Strike for Equality

(08/26/70)

On the 50th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, NOW organized the “Women’s Strike for Equality.” There were demonstrations and rallies in more than 90 major cities and small towns in 42 states. Some 50,000 women marched on Fifth Avenue in New York and across the country more than […]

NY NOW Demonstrates at the Statue of Liberty

Lead by chapter President, Ivy Bottini, New York NOW demonstrated at the Statue of Liberty as a prelude to the Strike for Women’s Equality to be held later this month. The demonstrators draped a huge banner over the railing which read, “WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE!”

Join us in our Strike for Equality on the […]

National Association of Manufacturers and Department of Labor picket

(07/31/70)

NOW conducted demonstrations in 14 cities against the National Association of Manufacturers & Department of Labor closed-circuit television conference on equal opportunity to protest the exclusion of guidelines on sex discrimination from the Labor Department’s “Order 4,” which required affirmative action plans for minorities only.

The next day, the Secretary of Labor promised to […]

NOW’s Fourth National Conference

(03/20/70)

Election results:

President: Aileen Hernandez Chair of the Board: Wilma Scott Heide

At NOW’s Fourth National Conference in Des Plaines, IL, during a two-hour “farewell address,” retiring president Betty Friedan called for a “Women’s Strike for Equality” on August 26.

NOW Membership 3033; NOW Annual Budget $38,000.

 

NASA Protest

(12/27-68-05/26/69)

NOW protested the exclusion of women as astronauts from the space program. Nita Ladewig, president of the Northern California Chapter of NOW, initiated correspondence with NASA that continued for six months, also protesting the exclusive use of the names of masculine gods for the space ships. NASA maintained it had yet to find women […]

Freedom for Women Week

(05/04-11/69)

During the “Freedom for Women Week,” members of NOW demonstrated at the White House on Mother’s Day for “Rights, Not Roses.” Other demonstrations occurred in Chicago, Albuquerque and Los Angeles.

Public Accommodations Week

(02/09/69)

NOW has proclaimed this week as “Public Accommodations Week”. Join us in our national actions at “men only” restaurants, bars, and public transportation across the country, including: New York City, Syracuse, Cochester (CT), Pittsburgh, Washington, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles, or start your own!

The assumptions behind policies like this are that women are […]

Colgate-Palmolive Boycott

(09/05/68)

NOW sponsored a boycott of all Colgate-Palmolive products to protest the company’s long-standing fragrant discrimination against female employees. In addition to the usual separate seniority lists, unequal pay rates, and exclusion from promotion to better jobs on the grounds of “state protective legislation,” the company has been laying off women with more than twenty […]

New York Times Protest

(07/22-26/68)

Members of New York NOW again picketed the New York Times, this time for a week, urging the end of sex-segregated job advertising. They chanted: “The New York Times is a sex-offender!”

Ti-Grace Atkinson and Flo Kennedy picket the New York TimesCred.: The Sisterhood by Marcia Cohen

[…]

Abortion Law Repeal Demonstration

(02/29/68)

New York NOW demonstrated for abortion law repeal. Among the chapter demonstrators was Kate Millet carrying a sign that read, “Nobody should legislate my rights to my body.”