The National Organization for Women reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

National Organization for Women

National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist group founded on June 30, 1966 in Washington, D.C. by women attending the Third National Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women. Among the 28 founders were Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine Mystique (1963), who became NOW's first president, and Rev. Pauli Murray, the first African-American woman Episcopal priest. Molly Yard was president from 1987 to 1991. During the 1970s NOW promoted the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The group's original purpose (which Friedman scribbled on a napkin) remains "to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men". The organization remains active in lobbying legislatures and media outlets on women's issues. It also takes action to bring homosexuals "into full participation in the mainstream of American society." This organization is also controversial in the male perspective.

It claims 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

Controversy

The National Organization for Women has been subject to controversy in the male perspective. Many masculists accused the organization of promoting high rates of divorce, alienation of the genders, disintegrating communities, female chauvinism, and fatherless children.

External links

• National Organization for Women

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