STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
(1966)
The National
Organization for Women
Excerpts
NOTICE: This is a historic document, which was adopted at NOW's first
National Conference in
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
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 has 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 is
dedicated to the proposition that women, first and foremost, are human beings,
who, like all other people in our society, must have the chance to develop
their fullest human potential. We believe that women can achieve such equality
only by accepting to the full the challenges and responsibilities they share
with all other people in our society, as part of the decision-making mainstream
of American political, economic and social life.
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 …
… 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.
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.
WE DO NOT
ACCEPT the token appointment of a few women to high-level positions in government
and industry as a substitute for 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 the true
equality of opportunity and responsibility in society, without conflict with
their responsibilities as mothers and homemakers. In such innovations,
WE
BELIEVE that it is as 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 believe that American educators
are capable of devising means of imparting such expectations to girl students.
Moreover, we consider the decline in the proportion of women receiving higher
and professional education to be evidence of discrimination. This discrimination
may take the form of quotas against the admission of women to colleges, and
professional schools; lack of encouragement by parents, counselors and
educators; denial of loans or fellowships; or the traditional or arbitrary
procedures in graduate and professional training geared in terms of men, which
inadvertently discriminate against women. We believe that the same serious
attention must be given to high school dropouts who are girls as to boys.
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, an 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. To these ends, we will seek to open a reexamination
of laws and mores governing marriage and divorce, for we believe that the
current state of `half-equity" between the sexes discriminates against
both men and women, and is the cause of much unnecessary hostility between the
sexes.
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.
IN THE
INTERESTS OF THE HUMAN DIGNITY OF WOMEN, we will protest, and endeavor to
change, the false image of women now prevalent in the mass media, and in the
texts, ceremonies, laws, and practices of our major social institutions. Such
images perpetuate contempt for women by society and by women for themselves. We
are similarly opposed to all policies and practices -- in church, state,
college, factory, or office -- which, in the guise of protectiveness, not only
deny opportunities but also foster in women self-denigration, dependence, and
evasion of responsibility, undermine their confidence in their own abilities and
foster contempt for women.
NOW WILL
HOLD ITSELF INDEPENDENT OF ANY POLITICAL PARTY in order to mobilize the
political power of all women and men intent on our goals. We will strive to
ensure that no party, candidate, president, senator, governor, congressman, or
any public official who betrays or ignores the principle of full equality
between the sexes is elected or appointed to office. If it is necessary to
mobilize the votes of men and women who believe in our cause, in order to win
for women the final right to be fully free and equal human beings, we so commit
ourselves.
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.
This
Statement of Purpose was written by Betty Friedan, author of The Feminine
Mystique.