Feminists Will Celebrate 20th Anniversary of the Women’s Movement : Adding Up the Victories and Defeats: a Box Score

Recapping some of the wins and losses from NOW’s first 20 years:

MAJOR VICTORIES:

1967: Issuance of executive order 11246, which prohibited sex discrimination in employment by federal contractors.

1972: Passage of Title IX, the education amendments prohibiting sex discrimination in educational institutions.

1973: The Roe vs. Wade decision, striking down state anti-abortion laws.

1973-4: The settlements with American Telephone & Telegraph Co., totaling back pay and wage adjustments of $75 million. The company had been charged by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as being “the single largest exploiter of women in the United States.”

1978: Passage of the pregnancy discrimination act, prohibiting employers from discriminating against women who became pregnant.

1986: Defeat of anti-abortion referendums in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Arkansas and Oregon.

MAJOR DEFEATS:

1971: The veto by President Richard M. Nixon of the Comprehensive Child Care Act, which would have set up a publicly funded comprehensive system of child care and early childhood development programs. Nixon said these would “Sovietize” the American family.

1982: Failure to pass the Equal Rights Amendment by the ratification deadline of June 30.

1984: The Grove City College decision, narrowing the interpretation of Title IX, specifying that only a particular activity receiving federal funding is restricted from discriminating by sex, not the entire institution.

Ongoing: Failure of the Reagan Administration to enforce affirmative action as a policy and rollbacks under the Reagan Administration, including weakening of the Civil Rights Commission and attempts to repeal executive order 11246.