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National Organization for Women
We, men and women who hereby constitute ourselves as the National Organization
for Women, believe that the time has come for a new movement toward true
equality for all women in America, and toward a fully equal partnership of the
sexes, as part of the worldwide revolution of human rights now taking place
within and beyond our national borders.
The purpose of NOW is to take action
to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society
now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal
partnership with men.
WE BELIEVE the time has come to move beyond the abstract argument, discussion,
and symposia over the status and special nature of women which have raged in
America in recent years; the time has come to confront, with concrete action,
the conditions that now prevent women from enjoying the equality of opportunity
and freedom of choice which is their right, as individual Americans, and as
human beings.
NOW
WE ORGANIZE to initiate or support action, nationally, or in any part of this
nation, by individuals or organizations, to break through the silken curtain of
prejudice and discrimination against women in government, industry, the
professions, the churches, the political parties, the judiciary, the labor
unions, in education, science, medicine, law, religion, and every other field of
importance in American society. . . .
Despite all the talk about the status of American women in recent years, the
actual position of women in the United States has declined, and is declining, to
an alarming degree throughout the 1950's and 1960's. . . . Working women are
becoming increasingly-not less concentrated on the bottom of the job ladder. As
a consequence full-time women workers today earn on the average only 60% of what
men earn, and that wage gap has been increasing over the past twenty-five years
in every major industry group. . . .
Further, with higher education increasingly essential in today's society, too
few women are entering and finishing college or going on to graduate or
professional school . . . .
In all the professions considered of importance to society, and in the executive
ranks of industry and government, women are losing ground. Where they are
present it is only a token handful . . . .
Official pronouncement of the advance in the status of women hide not only the
reality of this dangerous decline, but the fact that nothing is being done to
stop it. The excellent reports of the President's Commission on the Status of
Women and of the State Commissions have not been fully implemented. Such
Commissions have power only to advise. They have no power to enforce their
recommendations; nor have they the freedom to organize American women and men to
press for action on them. The reports of these commissions have, however,
created a basis upon which it is now possible to build.
Discrimination in employment on the basis of sex is now prohibited by federal
law, in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . . . . Until now, too few
women's organizations and official spokesmen have been willing to speak out
against these dangers facing women. Too many women have been restrained by the
fear of being called "feminist."
There is no civil rights movement to speak for women, as there has been for
Negroes and other victims of discrimination. The National Organization for Women
must therefore begin to speak.
WE BELIEVE that the power of American law, and the protection guaranteed by the
U.S. Constitution to the civil rights of all individuals, must be effectively
applied and enforced to isolate and remove patterns of sex discrimination, to
ensure equality of opportunity in employment and education, and equality of
civil and political rights and responsibilities on behalf of women, as well as
for Negroes and other deprived groups.
WE REALIZE that women's problems are linked to many broader questions of social
justice; their solution will require concerted action by many groups . . . .
WE DO NOT ACCEPT the token appointment of a few women to high-level positions in
government and industry as a substitute for a serious continuing effort to
recruit and advance women according to their individual abilities. To this end,
we urge American government and industry to mobilize the same resources of
ingenuity and command with which they have solved problems of far greater
difficulty than those now impeding the progress of women.
WE BELIEVE that this nation has a capacity at least as great as other nations,
to innovate new social institutions which will enable women to enjoy true
equality of opportunity and responsibility in society, without conflict with
their responsibilities as mothers and homemakers . . . .
. . . WE REJECT the assumption that these problems are the unique responsibility
of each individual woman, rather than a basic social dilemma which society must
solve . . . .
WE BELIEVE that it is an essential for every girl to be educated to her full
potential of human ability as it is for every boy-with the knowledge that such
education is the key to effective participation in today's economy and that, for
a girl as for a boy, education can only be serious where there is expectation
that it will be used in society . . . .
WE REJECT the current assumptions that a man must carry the sole burden of
supporting himself, his wife, and family, and that a woman is automatically
entitled to lifelong support by a man upon her marriage, or that marriage, home,
and family are primarily woman's world and responsibility-hers to dominate-his
to support. We believe that a true partnership between the sexes demands a
different concept of marriage and equitable sharing of the responsibilities of
home and children and of the economic burdens of their support. We believe that
proper recognition should be given to the economic and social value of
homemaking and child care. . . .
WE BELIEVE that women must now exercise their political rights and
responsibilities as American citizens. They must refuse to be segregated on the
basis of sex into separate-and-not-equal ladies' auxiliaries in the political
parties, and they must demand representation according to their numbers in the
regularly constituted party committees-at local, state, and national levels-and
in the informal power structure, participating fully in the selection of
candidates and political decision making, and running for office themselves . .
. .
NOW
WE BELIEVE that women will do most to create a new image of women by acting now,
and by speaking out in behalf of their own equality, freedom, and human
dignity-not in pleas for special privilege, nor in enmity toward men, who are
also victims of the current, half-equality between the sexes-but in an active,
self-respecting partnership with men. By so doing, women will develop confidence
in their own ability to determine actively, in partnership with men, the
conditions of their life, their choices, their future, and their society.
Reprinted from the National Organization for Women "Statement of Purpose." It should be noted that this is a historical document and does not reflect all current NOW policies and priorities.