We had no staff, no offices, just a telephone answering machine in Washington, D.C. We could only file amicus briefs that our volunteer attorney could prepare

"We fondly believed that once we created the LDEF money would pour in," remembers Betty Friedan. Unfortunately, this was not the case. "The fund was poor, very poor," noted Gene Boyer, our treasurer and later president in our early years. "We had no staff, no offices, just a telephone answering machine in Washington, D.C. We could only file amicus briefs that our volunteer attorney could prepare."

SYLVIA ROBERTS BECOMES PRESIDENT | Foundations were not ready to support groups that were aiming at such sweeping changes in the system 

Litigation seemed most urgent and education projects a luxury. At the time there were very few lawyers who were willing to take sex discrimination cases or who had expertise in the area of women's rights. And it did not take long for our board to find out that foundations and corporations rarely funded new organizations that were challenging sexist policies of major institutions. Sex discrimination was being practiced by the very people from whom we sought funding. Foundations were not ready to support groups that were aiming at such sweeping changes in the system. In 1972, Sylvia Roberts became our President, a post she held for two years. Under Roberts, litigation became our cornerstone. "We creatively used our meager resources to bring sex discrimination cases. The NOW chapters would bring forward potential litigation, and we would try to help," Roberts remembers.

The Fund looked for cases and issues which would help the greatest numbeR of women 

Over the next several years corporations, universities, financial institutions, cities and states were being challenged by us for their blatant discriminatory policies. Although our financial resources were extremely limited, small allotments were made to help support women's right cases. But more important than the money, we provided expertise and strategies for eliminating sex discrimination. Under Robert's leadership, we forged into new areas for women's rights. We looked for cases and issues which would help the greatest number of women including mandatory pregnancy leave policies. 

We took bold steps where other groups rarely ventured.

Ending discriminatory hiring practices, separate male and female seniority lists, and segregated job assignments; ensure medical payments for abortion; bring to a stop television license challenges and sex segregated help wanted ads in newspapers; ensure a woman's right to use her own (birth) name; ensure property rights and the rights of homemakers to military retirement benefits; protect lesbian mothers in custody cases and the rights of women regardless of sexual preference - all just a few of the areas on which we chose to focus our energies and expert background. We took bold steps where other groups rarely ventured. Abortion, lesbian rights, and most recently the military registration case, are just a few of the "controversial" issues we had considered.  We stood and still stand for the rights of all women. Time and again our Board of Directors reaffirmed their commitment to women of all faces, creeds, religions and lifestyles.

Education and litigation were used to balance each other

Roberts and our Board of Directors also recognized the importance of their ''education'' strategies. ''Education and litigation were used to balance each othar," Roberts noted in an interview, "We were in a position of having to tell the American people that discrimation is unfair, it's not the American way." We felt it necessary to develop projects on education," Roberts added.

MIDGE KOVACS' Hire Him. He's Got Great Legs | The fight with ad council | A Breakthrough for Women's Rights Ads: Acceptance as Public Service Messages

A national public service ad campaign Hire Him. He's Got Great Legs was developed by New York NOW member Midge Kovacs for us in 1973. By all accounts these PSA's were a tremendous success. The New York Daily News headline called the campaign "A Breakthrough for Women's Rights Ads: Acceptance as Public Service Messages." It took two years for Kovacs to finally get the National Ad Council to approve the campaign as public service. In 1971, the Ad Council withheld its recommendation of the campaign on the grounds that our parent NOW was a political organization. Without Ad Council ap­proval, PSA campaigns were rarely successful or used by local stations. Kovacs countered the turndown from the Council with a scathing article in Advertising Age in which she outlined the problems we had in getting the approval of the Ad Council. In Ad Age, Kovacs documented unanswered letters, formal presentations to the Council, and behind the scene negotiations. Magically, after the negative publicity in Ad Age, the Advertising Council approved the campaign.  Through this campaign, which pro­moted woman power as "much too good to waste" we joined the ranks of Smokey the Bear and the Red Cross by finally cracking free public service time on radio and television. The ads were run by more than 100 television stations in forty states, as well as by national print journals, magazines and newspapers. Another PSA campaign was to be repeated nearly a decade later through the efforts of Jane Trahey, one of our board  members.   Trehey conceptualized a harder hitting campaign aimed at the economic issues inherent in the fight for equality. PSA's newly famous slogan. "He calls it Fun, she calls it Harassment," just started being used by major media in the early 1980's.

 

Our "Legal Defense and Education Fund (has) exerted pressure against discriminatory institutions from both the inside and the outside. (It has) monitored and persuaded from the outside. At the same time, our major litigation projects strove to win policy making roles for women within the Inner Circles that shape our society." We remain "committed to pressing from both directions until equality for women becomes a reality in America. Certainly feminist groups must con­tinue to criticize and yes, attack­ sexism from an independent position outside the system. However feminists must achieve power on the inside as well, for us to create a non-sexist society in this country. "

 

Mary Jean Tully President Legal Momentum (NOW LDEF) 1975 

source | NOW Salutes LEGAL MOMENTUM (NOW LEDF)| national NOW times | june 1981 | national organization for women image

1974 to 1977 | The Stabilizing Years

The President's gavel transferS From Sylvia Roberts to Mary Jean Tully

The President's gavel was transferred from Sylvia Roberts to Mary Jean Tully in 1974. Tully lived in the New York area and had a firm commitment to establishing financial stability for our organization. She opened the first permanent NYC offices which were donated by the Avon Corporation. Working as a full-time volunteer Tully focused her energies on fundraising, working to identify reasons why foundations and corporations would not give money to our work. What she found was that women's projects in general were not funded by philanthropic groups. Tully was one of the first to stand up publicly and challenge these sexist practices. In a New York Times op-ed piece, Tully critized the predominantly "white male establishment" composition of the Filer Commission (a group studying private philanthropy) for faillng to represent the diversity of contemporary American society. Throughout her presidency, Tully pressed for a share of foundation and corporate dollars for feminist organizations.

funding diversity important for "insulating" our organization and its ability to be action oriented

During this period,  we began using direct mall as a source of income with modest success. And slowly, over the course of the next several years, we began building a base of support which included an impressive and diversified list of corporations, foundations, large donors and individual contributions. This diversity has proved important for "insulating" our organization and its ability to be action oriented, while not dependent upon any one source of funding.

Title IX prohibiting discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal money would require feminists to monitor and pressure to ensure progress.

Monitoring the recently passed Title IX of the Education Amendments - which prohibited discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal money we anticipated that the government's enforcement efforts would be ineffective and that feminists needed to monitor and pressure HEW to ensure progress. Tully and our Board recognized the potential advancements for all women if barriers to equal education opportunities were removed. Our leaders decided to put full resources and volunteer energies toward foundation funding of such an education project. After long meetings and negotiations, the Ford Foundation provided initial support for the Title IX monitoring program. In July 1974, the Project on Equal Education Rights (PEER) opened offices in Washington, D.C., with full-time staffer Holly Knox serving as Project Director after having chaired the HEW Task Force on the impact of the Office of Education Program on Women. Knox knew the extent to which females faced discrimination in education and how school systems were resisting the changes that provided equal opportunities. It took HEW two years before it published a draft of proposed rules on Implementation of Title IX.

Project Development Evolves

Just as our lawyers were developing litigation strategies, so were the activists and fundraisers tooking to build projects around femi­nist issues.  Occasionally, NOWs Task Force Chairs would approach us for grants. For example, Tish Sommers who chaired the NOW Older Women's Task Force in 1973, came to us with ideas for projects which would support and retrain older women for jobs. She hoped to develop a community-oriented project with a blue collar orientation especially for homemakers affected by divorce, separation or widowhood. With a small grant to cover printing and postage, Sommers developed and tested her ideas, and Sommel's term "displaced homemaker" was introduced lo U.S. policymakers. Sommers went on to form the Alliance for Displaced Home­makers which passed a major piece of legislation, The Displaced Homemakers bill, to CETA funding. At the same time, Tully and our Board were planning projects which would focus on a particular area of industry. They felt that we needed a project on which to build a track record with funders and the outside world. It was during one of our 1974 Board meeting that the idea was first proposed for a project on women and girls in education.

"Throughout the development and implementation of our programs and projects, we are ever mindful that there are groups of women - the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the members or racial, ethnic and sexual minorities - who suffer multiple forms of discrimination and for whom we are not yet doing enough. They deserve, and will get, our special attention". 

 

Gene Boyer President Legal Momentum (NOW LDEF) 1975 

 

source | NOW Salutes LEGAL MOMENTUM (NOW LEDF) | national NOW times | june 1981 | national organization for women image

The Equal Rights Amendment

We decided we would do anything within our power legally, including paying additional taxes, to support the ERA ratification

In Spring of 1977, Mary Jean Tully raised with our Board the possibility of becoming active in the ERA ratification efforts. It was an unprecedented discussion. Through 1975, ERA ratification seemed imminent. Thirty-four states had ratified in the first three years of the state ratification drive, but in 1976 and1977, only Indiana passed the ERA. In April 1977, Eleanor Smeal, NOW's newly elected President, laid out several options for us, including research on Illinois' 3/5th rule change and a possibility for extending the time for ERA ratification. We decided we would do anything within our power legally, including paying additional taxes, to support the ERA ratification drive. This was a bold step for a tax deductible group, but we recognized that we could provide legal expertise and support to NOW, at a time when coalitions were splintering and some groups were opposed to extending the time limitation for ERA. Ever since 1977, we have been active on the ERA campaign. At Betty Friedan's urging, we set up EPEA, the Emergency Project for Equal Rights. Managed by Laurie Goldstein, EPEA coordinated and eflectively used the talents of entertainers, writers, artists, and other news makers who are committed to ERA ratification. During the extension drive, Goldstein organized Students for ERA, Wives and Daughters for ERA, and other constituency groups. EPEA was a full time project based in NewYork City serving as support to the direct lobbying efforts of NOW's ERA Ratification Campaign. In our Legal Dopartment, we commenced an education and litigation project to develop principles of sex equality in state law. Focusing on the 16 states that had state equal rights provisions in their own constitutions, the ERA Impact Project created a national information clearinghouse on state ERA litigation. ERA Impact Project implemented national education the myths and stereotypes that often lead to sex discriminatory court de­cisions. This project was been widely praised by feminist lawyers and provided outreach, conducted pilot litigation, and developed state ERA litigation strategy. The ERA Impact Project was a cooperative undertaking of our organization and the Women's Law Project in Philadelphia.

1978 to 1981 | Thriving

We made a breakthrough with foundations, PEER gave us a track record, and we were ready to expand

Gene Boyer served as our President from 1978 to 1979. A founder of NOW, she had also served as its Treasurer and Finance Vice-President before joining our Board and serving as our Treasurer. Her major contribution to the presidency was administrative development, and she built upon the foundation laid by Mary Jean Tully and the seven years of hard volunteer work of our founding Board members. "I wanted to see us make the shift from a volunteer run organization to a staff-based, fully funded viable operation," Boyer explained. "We made a breakthrough with foundations, PEER gave us a track record, and we were ready to expand". 

but steady increases in staff and budget would create a healthy and stable environment

Direct mail solicitation was profitable in 1977, and, with a more reliable financial base, the Board decided to take the risk of a full time staff. Stephanie Clohesy was hired as Executive Director and Phyllis Segal as Legal Director. Both knew that the existing resources would last perhaps six to ten months. They would either expand the horizons or go back to the volunteer run organization of the early70's. It was under the team headed by Clohesy and Segal that a full time, New York based staff of 25 was built. New and continuing friends gave generously to us in 1978. The loyal support made it possible for us to survive the new budgetary staff commitments while expanding in other areas. Boyer carefully monitored the growth and expansion. Her more than ten years of budget experience in NOW had taught her that too rapid growth could kill the organization, but steady increases in staff and budget would create a healthy and stable environment. "I went from Wisconsin (her home state) to New York 27 times in 1978. I wanted to make sure the transition moved smoothly," Boyer recalled. The "funding" strategies were working. By 1979, the list of foundations supporting our organization had doubled several times while the list of corporate donors was modest but growing.

 

"It is not merely a happy coincidence that social needs identified by the Legal Momentum (NOW LDEF) have often moved soon after to center stage in America's consciousness. We consider it part of our mandate to seek out and study ominous problems on the social horizon, and then help set into motion solutions with the brainpower and the energies needed to solve those problems"

 

Muriel Fox President Legal Momentum (NOW LDEF) 1981

PHOTO FROM NOW Salutes LEGAL MOMENTUM (NOW LEDF) | national NOW times | june 1981 

Muriel Fox Takes Leadership Reins | equal opportunity for women can be an invaluable boon to our society doubling the pool of talented leaders 

In late 1978, Muriel Fox agreed to "do the work" and serve as our President. Fox had been active in the area of women's rights for decades. In 1966, Muriel Fox stopped Betty Friedan after a speech on The Feminine Mystique to say that if Betty ever started an NAACP for women, she would help with the publicity. Fox was one of the few women at the top in the public relations profes­sions and was considered one of the best. At the time, Fox told Friedan she would"consult" for free but someone else would have to do the work. As anyone in our organization at that time knew, there was never "anyone else to do the work" and Muriel Fox has been working ever since. Our funding base needed to expand if we were to survive growing attacks from the far right and limited government funding. Fox sought to add more names to the growing list of contributors through the enlightened self-interest approach. Perhaps more than any other President, Muriel Fox helped "establishment" leaders in business and government understand that equal opportunity for women can be an invaluable boon to our society as a whole because females double the pool of talented leaders and energetic workers available to solve our societal problems.

On November 19, 1979 we organized the widely praised forum National Assembly on the Future of The Family 

1979 was to be the White House Year of the Family, but the Carter Administration was having organizational and structural problems which delayed their Family Conferences. Under Fox, we forged ahead to focus public attention on the needs of the changing family. On November 19, 1979, we organized the National Assembly on the Future of The Family. The Board did not share the frequentiy voiced opinion that American families were in a state of hopeless collapse. Rather, we sought to offer new hope through constuctive ideas and action through the Assembly. Leading thinkers and doers from govenment, education, the professions, business, religion, and a broad spec­trum of public service activists met to share their insights and to identify new concepts that woutd help our society derive the fullest benefits from the new realities of family life. Betty Friedan had been working on several theories which she was putting to print, first in a major article in the New York Times, and later in a new book on the next phase of the women's movement. The list of participants included many of the top philosophers and activists concerned with women's rights. Friedan, Alvin Toffler and Isaac Asminov gave keynote speeches. Eleanor Smeal, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Elizabeth Holtzman, John Cowles, Bess Myerson, Nancy Friday, Joyce Miller, Ben Spock, Herman Badillo, Jessie Bernard, Carol Bellamy and Martha Keyes were only a few of the more than 2,000 participants. The widely praised forum developed workable concepts for the social agendas of many American institutions - including the 1980 White House Conference on Families.

social needs identified by Legal Momentum (NOW LDEF) have often moved soon after to center stage in America's consciousness

Even before the Family Assembly took place, our staff began work on still another closely related project for 1980-81, "New Leadership ln the Public Interest." Through a high level roundtable in October 1980, publication of two major research papers, and a conference of 400 leaders of public interest organizations in March 1981, this year-long project offered creative solutions to help resolve America's leadership crisis.  "It is not merely a happy coincidence that social needs identified by the Legal Momentum (NOW LDEF) have often moved soon after to center stage in America's consciousness. We consider it part of our mandate to seek out and study ominous problems on the social horizon, and than help set into motion solutions with the brainpower and the energies needed to solve those problems" stressed Fox.  Fox noted in our 1979 annual report,  "we recognize that our goals on behalf of women and families cannot be achieved unless strong and responsive leadership is generated at all levels of our society. We also believe that women and minorities can help provide much-needed leadership and that certain leadership techniques developed by the feminist movement can be especially productive in our complex culture of the 1980's and later decades."

Our hard fought gains are fragile at best.  The decades ahead will be more important than the past if we are to survive as a movement.

Our story never really ends. In ten years, our organization has grown from a budget of $4,000 to over $2 million today. Betty Friedan, the woman who brought us together, sat on our board for many years helping us with her vision and insight. As new leaders emerge, new projects and ideas keep us at the forefront of the struggle for equality. The decades ahead will not be easy for women. Our hard fought gains are fragile at best.  The decades ahead will be more important than the past if we are to survive as a movement. The dedication and spirit of the women and men who founded our organization lives on and to them we give a ten year and now a fifty year salute.