National Organization for Women

US feminist activist organization promoting equality for women, with headquarters in Washington, DC. NOW was founded in 1966 by a group of feminists attending the Third National Conference on the Commission on the Status of Women, and its first president was Betty Friedan. The organization has been dedicated to actively eliminating discrimination and prejudice in all areas of US society, particularly in government and employment, and has consistently promoted the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). NOW has also championed abortion rights, opposed racism, fought bigotry against lesbians and gays, and sought to end violence against women.

NOW pledged its commitment to working towards the ratification of the ERA in 1967, a mission it undertook through litigation, lobbying, nonviolent acts of civil disobedience, and the organization of demonstrations, including the ERA Extension March of more than 100,000 supporters in Washington, DC, in July 1978. Many advocates of the ERA believed that the failure to adopt the measure as an amendment would cause women to lose many gains and would give a negative mandate to courts and legislators regarding feminist issues.

Also an emphatic advocate of women's right to abortion, the NOW was the main sponsor of the March for Women's Lives, which drew 750,000 supporters to Washington, DC, in April 1992. In 2002, the NOW contained 550 local chapters throughout 50 states and the District of Columbia, and had a membership of about 500,000 women and men.