NOW Chief Says ‘Gender Gap’ Hinders Progressive Legislation

More women need to be elected in 1990 to state legislatures to overcome a “gender gap” that stifles progressive legislation, the president of the National Organization for Women said Friday night.

Speaking before a crowd of 300 at Saddleback College, President Molly Yard said more candidates who favor abortion rights and other issues important to women must reach elective office.

“If we can elect many more women to public office, we will begin to see more legislation that we have backed all these years begin to move,” Yard said.

She said that male-dominated legislatures throughout the nation have resulted in a “gender gap” that has kept key social legislation from being passed.

“There is a difference between the way women vote in the legislature than the way men vote,” she said. “There is a gender gap on many issues.”

Yard said the gender gap among officeholders has slowed the passage of legislation assisting the homeless, providing food for the hungry and delivering adequate medical care to women and the poor.

“The largest group in poverty today are women and their children,” she said.

Much of Yard’s impromptu speech focused on abortion rights. It will be a central issue in many campaigns this year, she predicted.

While Yard urged the election of more women to public office, she noted that NOW also has male members and supports male candidates.

“We support men who stand up for ERA (equal rights amendment) and abortion rights and that kind of thing,” she said.

About a dozen people opposed to abortion peacefully picketed in front of Saddleback College’s gymnasium, where Yard spoke. One picket, Barbara McGuigan of Laguna Niguel, said she represented Human Life International. “We want to get them to stop more abortions,” she said.

Yard, a civil rights and political activist in her 70s, was elected NOW president in 1987.