Issue Advisory: Restoring Democracy – Court Ruling Approves Independent Commissions to Counter Gerrymandering
In 1989, NOW members at the National NOW Conference adopted a resolution calling for “direct and equal representation for women in elected office and at all levels of government.” It reminded readers at the time that only five percent of the members of Congress and 17 percent of members of state legislatures were women. The resolution resolved that the goal of equal representation for women can only be accomplished by “pursuing legal strategies which challenge reapportionment plans for gender and racial bias” and “requiring redistricting guidelines that make gender balance and increasing representation of women a priority.”