The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Founding members consists of 28 men and women. Among those members are Co-founders Betty Friedan, Pauli Murray and Shirley Chisholm.
In celebration of Women’s History Month, we applaud and honor the Co-founders of NOW.
Betty Friedan
A leading figure in the Women’s Movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the “second wave” of American feminism in the twentieth century. In 1966, Friedan founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women, which aimed to bring women “into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men”.
Reverend Dr. Anna Pauline (Pauli) Murray
She was the first African-American woman Episcopal priest and a co-founder of NOW, the National Organization for Women. Murray was one of the founders of the Women’s Rights Law Reporter, the first legal periodical to focus exclusively on women’s rights. Pauli Murray contributed to the NAACP’s litigation strategy in Brown v. Board of Education and in 1961 she was appointed to the President’s Commission on the Status of Women.
Shirley Chisholm
One of the founding members of NOW. She was a Congresswoman, representing New York’s 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to1983. On January 25, 1972, she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Editor-In-Chief, Stephanie Penn-Danforth -- Daily Venus Diva.
These women have changed history and left some real big shoes for us to step into..if we work hard enough. I am so proud of them all…it must have taken them much hard work to get the results they did.
Looking forward to many more successful women in our lives and supporting my dreams, yours and theirs!!
Steph-this was amazing…fab feature.
Curvy hugs,
Olga