A Message from National NOW President Kim Villanueva
My interest in feminism began when I was just eight years old. I wanted to be an altar server at my church, but I was told that only boys were allowed. When I asked why, the answer was simple: “Because that’s the way it is.”
I remember thinking, that’s not the way it should be. That moment set me on the path to becoming a lifelong advocate for equality.
I imagine many of us have a similar story—a moment when we first recognized that women deserve equal rights and equal opportunity.
Since our founding in 1966, NOW has taken action through intersectional grassroots activism to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in every aspect of social, political, and economic life.
Our legacy is rooted in bold action and collective courage. From advancing workplace equality and reproductive justice to championing intersectional feminism and grassroots organizing, NOW has been a driving force for progress for six decades.
But anniversaries are not just about looking back—they are about looking forward.
Today, NOW members are taking our core issues and confronting them in their modern forms. While NOW was instrumental in the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, today chapters like NOW Houston Area and Minnesota NOW are speaking out against the mistreatment of women in ICE detention centers. National NOW challenged Elon Musk’s Grok for generating sexualized images of young girls and helped advance legislation to combat AI-generated deepfakes and online abuse targeting women.
After hard-fought victories for abortion rights, we are once again fighting to ensure that abortion is legal and accessible for all who need it while defending the full spectrum of reproductive freedom. Massachusetts NOW has led the nation on menstrual equity by successfully advocating for the I AM Bill, which guarantees free menstrual products in the bathrooms of schools, prisons, homeless shelters, and public buildings, and the Ingredient Disclosure Bill, requiring manufacturers to list all ingredients on menstrual product packaging sold in Massachusetts.
Dismantling a wall of oppression that has been built over decades will not happen overnight. It requires persistence, determination, and countless acts of courage. Change happens one step at a time: showing up at rallies, contacting legislators, speaking out at school board and library board meetings, and organizing in our own communities.
But it also means embracing the larger fights—mobilizing voters, winning elections, holding our government accountable, and reshaping our culture so that it truly values diversity, equity, inclusion, and intersectionality.
Our work is far from finished. Yet we carry with us the strength, determination, and vision of the women who built this movement over the past 60 years. Their courage brought us to this moment. Our courage will carry us into the next 60 years.
Together, we will continue to organize, advocate, and fight until equality is not simply an aspiration, but a reality.
Kim Villanueva