A Milestone in Modern Feminism

In mid-1987, five feminists met in Los Angeles to discuss the feminization of power. Out of that meeting was born the Feminist Majority, which in the next decade would carry forward the fight for women’s rights from abortion clinics to polling places.

The Feminist Majority and its educational / programming arm, the Feminist Majority Foundation, will celebrate their 10th anniversary at a star-studded event Monday at the Directors Guild of America.

Headliners will include Jay Leno (whose wife, Mavis, serves on the Feminist Majority board), U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Mikulski, and California Reps. Loretta Sanchez and Jane Harman.

The event, to be preceded by a buffet for the big spenders--including those holding the high-priced Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth tickets--will be a salute to Peg Yorkin, a founder and current board chairwoman, who in 1991 gave $10 million to the Feminist Majority.

Like all of the Feminist Majority’s founders, Kathy Spillar, now national coordinator, had long been active in the National Organization for Women. The Feminist Majority, she says, differed from NOW from the start in strategies and structure.

“We’re not membership-based. We don’t have members or chapters all over the country,” Spillar says.

The Feminist Majority maintains two permanent offices, in Los Angeles and Arlington, Va., with a total staff of 28.

“We started with the whole feminization of power idea, how we were going to increase women in elective office, broaden the movement, fight the backlash and promote civil rights and women’s rights,” Spillar says.

The organization’s name was inspired by a Newsweek / Gallup opinion poll that showed that the majority of women in the United States (56%) identified themselves as feminists.

Attending the anniversary salute will be founders Eleanor Smeal, Feminist Majority president; Yorkin; Spillar; Toni Carabillo; and Judith Meuli. “We hope to crack $200,000,” says Spillar, with all proceeds earmarked for the fight against terrorist acts perpetrated at women’s health clinics.