The Evolving Goals of the National Organization for Women

Although equality for all people and social justice may seem like universal ideals, every movement for social justice is deeply embedded within the culture from which it springs. An individual's definition of equality and fairness is heavily informed by that individual's cultural and historical perspective. Political, technological, and economic advancements can all change the way equality looks at any given time. Thus, in order for a social justice movement to remain relevant, that movement must be adaptable. The National Organization for Women (NOW) is able to remain relevant and continue to expand its membership by evolving along with the culture in which it exists. Though the organization's original Statement of Purpose may have been pertinent primarily to middle-class, heterosexual, white women, NOW's current goals address the challenges faced by women from all walks of life.

The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States of America. NOW has over half a million contributing members who belong to five hundred and fifty chapters. These chapters can be found in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia ("About NOW"). In the most general terms, the goal of NOW has always been to bring about equality for all women. Currently, NOW takes a five-pronged approach to achieve that equality. NOW's contemporary mission is to bring an end to harassment and discrimination in schools, the justice system, and the workplace; secure reproductive rights for all women including the right to birth control and safe abortions; end violence against women; eliminate sexism, racism, and homophobia; and promote justice and equality (Reger 710). These goals have evolved over time to meet the changing needs and challenges faced by women at particular points in history.

When NOW was first created in 1966, the organization's primary goal was to enforce equal opportunity for employment for the sexes as guaranteed by The Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 originally guaranteed equal opportunity for employment to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. A ban on sexual discrimination was added by Title VII, which was actually written by a congressman who mistakenly assumed that Act would surely be defeated if it included equal opportunities for both sexes ("History of NOW"). The Act passed with Title VII, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was formed to enforce Title VII's ban on sexual discrimination. Title VII offered very little protection against sexual discrimination, however.

Although Title VII technically prohibited sexual discrimination, the EEOC was able to vote on what did or did not constitute sexual discrimination. Shortly after the Act passed, the EEOC voted three to two to continue to allow sex segregation in job advertising ("History of NOW"). Thus, employers could continue to advertise lower-paying jobs that traditionally went to women such as clerical positions or early childhood education positions exclusively to women. Higher paying, more prestigious jobs would continue to be advertised specifically to men. When feminists at the "Targets for Action" conference in Washington demanded that the EEOC end sexual discrimination, they were told that they had no authority to pass a resolution ("History of NOW"). NOW founders Aileen Hernandez, Betty Friedan, and Sonia Pressman Fuentes held an informal gathering for the frustrated representatives in which NOW was officially founded.

At the time NOW was founded, women were facing a backlash against feminism that had been ongoing for the past two decades, since the conclusion of World War II. During the war, unprecedented numbers of women entered the workforce, completing jobs that were previously restricted to men (Honey 16). Due to the shortage of available male workers, women were encouraged by the United States government to take jobs previously restricted to men. Posters with Rosie the Riveter encouraged women to take jobs in factories and female workers could be found building airplanes or operating assembly lines. When the war ended, women were heavily encouraged to return to their homes to raise their children so that men could return to their jobs.

Not every woman was happy to give up the freedom and sense of accomplishment that these jobs had provided, however, and NOW's original Statement of Purpose reflects this frustration ("The National Organization for Women's 1966 Statement of Purpose"). The Statement of Purpose argues for women's full participation in the workforce. It demands equal opportunities for women in regard to education, employment, and political representation. Like every political act, this document can best be understood when read as a product of a specific cultural context (Jasper 41). The Statement specifically mentions that recent technological advancements have made the physical differences between men and women irrelevant. Furthermore, advancements in medicine have extended women's lives to an average of seventy-five years. As such, the document states, women can no longer devote the greater part of their lives to childbearing and rearing. Therefore, the document concludes, women must be allowed to participate in all fields of society in full equality. In other words, automation and medicine have made the traditional role of housewife obsolete. Women must be allowed to work because they can no longer be expected to spend all of their time raising their young.

Although NOW was founded with the goal of achieving equality for all women, the original Statement of Purpose is particularly revealing about the concerns of the upper-middle class, married women who wrote the Statement, as well as the contemporary criticisms launched at outspoken feminists. The Statement argues primarily in favor of full participation in the workforce (Barakso 18). This must have sounded particularly strange to poor women and African American women, who had always participated in the workforce, not necessarily by choice. The Statement does acknowledge the double-layered discrimination faced by African-American women, but there is no indication that the founders of NOW acknowledged that some women may want to stay home with their own children. Instead, the writers of the Statement assume that all women would prefer to work outside of the home at all times. Work is a privilege, according to this document, not a necessity for survival. It is very likely that this view of work was held primarily by women who came from the middle and upper classes and could imagine themselves in the same prestigious, professional jobs that their husbands held.

NOW's original Statement of Purpose paints a very specific picture of what equality would look like for those contemporary women. The Statement demands equal access to education and employment, and argues in favor of public childcare centers so that women are not required to retire from society to care for their children. There is absolutely no mention of a woman's right to remain unmarried or a woman's right not to bear or rear children. This omission is no oversight, but instead a strategy (Jasper 20). Critics of women's rights accused feminists of being man-hating, child-hating radicals. NOW responded to these criticisms by publishing a Statement of Purpose that claims that women can continue to fulfill their roles as wives and mothers while enjoying the educational and work-related privileges enjoyed by men. The writers of the Statement were interested in presenting what seemed like a reasonable argument to their critics, as opposed to a radical manifesto.

As the National Organization for Women grew and gained traction, ideas that once would have seemed radical began to be incorporated into the organization's mission. Older goals like equal access to employment were met, new ideas and ways of life became normalized, and the organization turned its attention towards new challenges faced by women such as reproductive rights. NOW's original goals, described in the organization's 1966 Statement of Purpose, were of concern primarily to upper- or middle-class white women who wanted to work as well as raise families. As the movement grew, however, NOW was better able to address the challenges faced by poor women, women of color, and gay women.

Works Cited

"About NOW: We Want It All." About NOW: We Want It All. n.d. http://www.now.org/about.html.

Barakso, Maryann. Governing NOW: grassroots activism in the National Organization for Women. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004-2005.

"History of NOW." History of NOW. n.d., www.now.org/history/.

Honey, Maureen. Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, gender, and propaganda during World War II. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1984.

Jasper, James M.. The art of moral protest culture, biography, and creativity in social movements. Pbk. ed. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

Reger, Jo. "Organizational Dynamics and Construction of Multiple Feminist Identities in the National Organization for Women." Gender & Society, vol. 16, no. 5, 2002, pp. 710-727.

"The National Organization for Women's 1966 Statement of Purpose." The National Organization for Women's 1966 Statement of Purpose. n.d. http://www.now.org/history/purpos66.html.