National Organization for Women
United States 1966
Synopsis
Unionists played a prominent role in forming the National Organization for Women (NOW) in October 1966, but middle-class, professional women dominated NOW in its early years. Unlike radical feminists of the period, NOW members sought change through the political system. One of their first campaigns was to get the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964's ban on sex discrimination. NOW argued that protective laws for women no longer served women's best interests.
Women union leaders differed with NOW's position on key issues. They were ambivalent about Title VII's strong enforcement and sought to retain at least some protective measures for women. Although NOW was one of the chief supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment, unionists struggled to explain how its enactment might harm women in low-wage service and industrial jobs. They charged that NOW did not consider the needs of working-class women. Moreover, unionists opposed NOW when it sought to safeguard the recently won employment gains of women and minorities in the face of a deep recession in the mid-1970s by calling for a modification of the traditional seniority concept of "last hired, first fired." The Coalition of Labor Union Women argued that such a change would be divisive to workers and punish veteran employees unfairly.
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