National Organization for Women:
The National Organization for Women or the NOW was founded back in 1966 and is still heavily active today. The Organization has 550 chapters throughout the United States. There are four founders Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Pauli Murray, and Muriel Fox. The current leader of the NOW is Terry O'Neil. The NOW has been around for a very long time and had many influences that have contributed to their organization. Back in 1961 when John F. Kennedy established 'The President's Commission on the Status of Women' and made Eleanor Roosevelt the head of the new organization. When the Commission was created it was made to keep the President up to date on the issues the concerned women around the world. This group was created around the ideas of issues that were being addressed in organizations like the one mentioned above. They also work for LGTBQ rights as they woman who designed their logo back in 1969 was openly gay and the logo is still in use today. Featured below is the founder and president of the NOW Betty Friedan discussing issues with lawyer Marguerite Rawalt and lobbyist Barbara Ireton.
Their website is constantly being updated where you can apply to be a member and even donate to the organization. Their statement of the foundation is as follows
"The NOW Foundation focuses on a broad range of women's rights issues, including economic justice, pay equality, racial discrimination, women's health and body image, women with disabilities, reproductive rights and justice, family law, term paper help, marriage and family formation rights of same sex couples, representation of women in the media, and global feminist issues." Their main focuses currently are their 'Love Your Body', 'Crisis in Family Court', 'Global Feminism', and 'Voter Mobilization'. Here in the United States you may not be aware of the crisis that is happening in family court. Women across the states are facing injustice within their family court sessions. This deals with women who are involved in domestic abuse issues and may be trying to protect themselves and their children. When their spouses are using family court as a way to stalk and harass these women along with their children. The NOW has created a
'Family Court Newsletter' and a 'Family Law Advisory Ad Hoc Committee' which has a collection of people working around the clock to gather information that could help fight the discrimination against women in court.
Their 'Love Your Body' campaign addresses the issues of the beauty industry and how media influences young girls. Speaking as woman I agree that the beauty standards girls are held to these days are very unrealistic. The campaign is attempting to teach girls that beauty truly does come in all forms and that they shouldn't risk their health to fit the expectations of society. The NOW also does a great job keeping members and woman around the world involved in their campaigns. They had a poster competition to submit ideas the embodied their campaign. You can view all of the
past and current winners dating all the way back to 1999. Below is this years winner Jessilyn Fletcher and Love Your Body week is quickly approaching October 11th through 18th 2020.
Their social media presence matches their impressive website as they are extremely active on platforms like Twitter. They are most active on their
Twitter and
Facebook sharing articles that support the ideas of the organization. Their most recent post shared the article written by
FastCompany.com which discusses how the equal rights amendment is crucial to our economic recovery. Their social media all have the same theme as their website featuring a dark purple color. They typically post the same things to their social media but are constantly sharing issues women are currently facing attempting to get the attention of our government officials. October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This has the NOW bringing the Violence Against Women Act to the attention of the media.
The NOW has been around for many years and is staying relevant in a mainly technological world. They have updated their social media and website to match aesthetics and relate to a wide variety of demographics. Their graphics grab the attention of potential donors and creating competitors like the Love Your Body poster competition keeps their members involved. Overall I would have to say the NOW is doing a great job keeping up with our constantly changing chaotic world and will stay a relevant interest group here in the United States.
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