NOW was established 59 years ago today, on June 30, 1966.
Today, NOW remains the front-line, intersectional, grassroots arm of our movement, with a history, record and reach that is a testament to the energy and dedication of NOW members.
NOW began on that date, when a group of women decided they’d had enough of being told “no” by men in power. In this instance, it was at the Third National Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women, where the writer and activist Betty Friedan, Dorothy Haener from the United Automobile Workers’ Union and the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, the Black lawyer who had helped draft civil rights legislation pushed for a resolution calling on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to carry out its legal mandate to end sex discrimination in employment.
But the conference’s organizers told them they had no authority to pass a resolution.
That didn’t quiet them down. It made them mad as hell.
About 20 women crammed into Betty Friedan’s hotel room that night to make plans, and the next day at lunch she famously scribbled “National Organization for Women” and the acronym NOW on a paper napkin. That napkin isn’t in the Smithsonian, but the first NOW button is.
Here’s an archived page from the Obama White House celebrating NOW Founding Day as a “This Day In History!”
Pauli Murray and Betty Friedan made more history with NOW’s first Statement of Purpose. It’s one of the first declarations of intersectionality as a social justice goal.
“We realize that women’s problems are linked to many broader questions of social justice; their solution will require concerted action by many groups,” it reads. “Therefore, convinced that human rights for all are indivisible, we expect to give active support to the common cause of equal rights for all those who suffer discrimination and deprivation, and we call upon other organizations committed to such goals to support our efforts toward equality for women.”
As we celebrate the legacy we share on NOW Founding Day, we know that as we near our 60th anniversary, many of the causes we champion are under renewed attack. They need our active participation and steadfast commitment more than ever.
