The National Organization of Women was founded in 1966 by 28 men and women including Betty Friedan, Pauli Murray, and Shirley Chisholm. The statement of purpose that they came up with to define what they are fighting for states “The purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men.” Their membership holds 500,000 members that are scattered across the country. There are 5,987 chapters in 47 states, not including Hawaii, North Dakota, and Maine, and in Washington D.C. In order to become a member, one simply goes on the website and fills out an application then makes a donation. NOW gets their money from two main sources; fundraisers and donations from members.
In order to achieve their agenda items, the organizers of NOW take the time to call each of their members to keep them up to date on the current issues as well as try to persuade them who to vote for in upcoming elections. Currently, NOW members are pushing for the support of the Fair Elections Now Act. Their website reads, “Save Our Democracy -- Support the Fair Elections Now Act” and goes n to explain the purpose of the act and why women should vote for it. They use very strong language as well as a play on emotions in their articles because they know that the vast majority of their supporters are women that can be greatly affected through the way that NOW states its issues.
A major issue that NOW is currently facing is abortion rights and reproduction problems. The
Cited: www.nowfoundation.org www.now.org