Difference between revisions of "Women's NGOs"
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==‘60s Social Change== | ==‘60s Social Change== | ||
| − | In the 1960s, over a century after the fight to end slavery fostered the emergence of the women’s rights movement, the civil rights battles of the decade provided another impetus for social change. Women organized to demand their birthright as citizens and persons, and the Equal Rights Amendment rather than the right to vote became the central symbol of the struggle. | + | In the 1960s, over a century after the fight to end slavery fostered the emergence of the women’s rights movement, the civil rights battles of the decade provided another impetus for social change. Women organized to demand their birthright as citizens and persons, and the Equal Rights Amendment, rather than the right to vote, became the central symbol of the struggle. |
With the rise of the civil rights movement, feminists again made their place in the political arena. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came to Congress, and feminists lobbied hard for the addition of an amendment prohibiting sex discrimination in employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was formed in 1965 to enforce the Civil Rights Act. | With the rise of the civil rights movement, feminists again made their place in the political arena. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 came to Congress, and feminists lobbied hard for the addition of an amendment prohibiting sex discrimination in employment. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was formed in 1965 to enforce the Civil Rights Act. | ||
Pro-ERA advocacy was led by the National Organization for Women (NOW) and ERAmerica, a coalition of nearly 80 other mainstream organizations. NOW is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States, with 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. | Pro-ERA advocacy was led by the National Organization for Women (NOW) and ERAmerica, a coalition of nearly 80 other mainstream organizations. NOW is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States, with 500,000 contributing members and 550 chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. | ||
| − | The ERA passed the U.S. Senate and then the House of Representatives, and on March 22, 1972, the proposed 27th Amendment to the Constitution was sent to the states for ratification. | + | The ERA passed in the U.S. Senate and then the House of Representatives, and on March 22, 1972, the proposed 27th Amendment to the Constitution was sent to the states for ratification. However, the ERA is still not part of the U.S. Constitution; the Amendment has been ratified by 35 of the necessary 38 states. When three more states vote yes, the ERA might become the 28th Amendment. |
The 1960s saw the emergence, in many parts of the world, of a new consciousness of the patterns of discrimination against women and a rise in the number of organizations committed to combating the effect of such discrimination. In 1974, at its 25th session and in the light of the report of this working group, the CSW decided, in principle, to prepare a single, comprehensive and internationally binding instrument to eliminate discrimination against women. This instrument was to be prepared without prejudice to any future recommendations that might be made by the United Nations or its specialized agencies with respect to the preparation of legal instruments to eliminate discrimination in specific fields. | The 1960s saw the emergence, in many parts of the world, of a new consciousness of the patterns of discrimination against women and a rise in the number of organizations committed to combating the effect of such discrimination. In 1974, at its 25th session and in the light of the report of this working group, the CSW decided, in principle, to prepare a single, comprehensive and internationally binding instrument to eliminate discrimination against women. This instrument was to be prepared without prejudice to any future recommendations that might be made by the United Nations or its specialized agencies with respect to the preparation of legal instruments to eliminate discrimination in specific fields. | ||
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==1975: Women’s Year== | ==1975: Women’s Year== | ||
Revision as of 07:32, 5 August 2008
This article is based on an article written for the NGO Handbook by Kate Perchuk titled "Women and Civil Society."
The modern landscape of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) devoted to causes and issues critical to women is the legacy of human rights activism in times of historical crisis and is rooted in the fundamental principles of equality first articulated by philosophers in the age of Enlightenment.
Early women’s rights groups challenged the prevailing social order arguing that all individuals were born with natural rights that made them free and equal; that all inequalities that existed among citizens were the result of an inadequate educational system and an imperfect social environment and that these inequalities would be justly remedied by improved education and more egalitarian social structures.
Among these thinkers was Mary Wollstonecraft, a British author best known for her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), which was one of the first to claim that women should have equality with men. The book was inspired by the democratic principles of the French Revolution (1789-1799). Wollstonecraft argues that the quality of women’s lives was directly related to their inferior educational opportunities.
Riding the momentum of the American Revolution, the nascent campaign for women’s rights in the U.S. was born from the passion of patriots with a mission to improve American democracy by helping to deliver on the promise of better, more egalitarian lives for all its citizens, outlined in the Declaration of Independence (adopted on July 4, 1776). A small group of educated women, known to one another through their work in the Abolitionist movement , gathered in a corner of New York State in 1848 to address “the social, civil, and religious conditions and rights of woman,” and invoked the powerful language of the seminal document to make their case. The positions articulated in their “Declaration of Sentiments” echoed the hallowed predecessor: “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
