National Organization for Women (NOW)

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is a feminist advocacy group founded in 1966 to fight gender discrimination in employment, law, and society; in APUSH it represents second-wave feminism's organized push for the Equal Rights Amendment and legal equality during the social changes of 1945-1980.

What is the National Organization for Women (NOW)?

The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded in 1966 by activists including Betty Friedan, whose 1963 book The Feminine Mystique had already cracked open the myth of the happy suburban housewife. NOW's founders were frustrated that the federal government wasn't enforcing the sex-discrimination ban in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. So they built an organization to force the issue, modeled in part on civil rights groups like the NAACP.

NOW became the institutional engine of second-wave feminism. Where first-wave feminism (think 19th Amendment) focused on suffrage, NOW targeted everything else, including equal pay, hiring discrimination, access to education and credit, and reproductive rights. Its biggest single campaign was ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). For APUSH, NOW is your go-to evidence that postwar social change wasn't just spontaneous protest. It was organized, legalistic, and aimed squarely at federal policy.

Why the National Organization for Women (NOW) matters in APUSH

NOW lives in Unit 8: Cold War and Social Change, 1945-1980, and supports learning objective APUSH 8.1.A (explain the context for societal changes from 1945 to 1980). The Cold War era wasn't only about containment abroad. At home, Americans debated who got to share in postwar prosperity and rights, and NOW is a prime example of citizens organizing to expand those rights. It also feeds the Social Structures (SOC) and Politics and Power (PCE) themes. If a prompt asks how reform movements of the 1960s-70s challenged the status quo, NOW is concrete, datable evidence you can drop in alongside the civil rights movement and anti-war activism.

How the National Organization for Women (NOW) connects across the course

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) (Unit 8)

The ERA was NOW's signature cause. NOW lobbied hard for the amendment's passage through Congress in 1972, and the ERA's eventual failure to be ratified (thanks largely to Phyllis Schlafly's conservative countermovement) sets up the rise of the New Right in Unit 9.

Title IX (Unit 8)

Title IX (1972) banned sex discrimination in federally funded education, exactly the kind of legal-equality win NOW's pressure campaigns made possible. Together they show second-wave feminism scoring real policy victories, not just holding marches.

19th Amendment (Unit 7)

Here's the continuity thread the exam loves. The 19th Amendment (1920) capped first-wave feminism's fight for the vote; NOW picked up the unfinished business of economic and legal equality four decades later. That's a ready-made continuity-and-change argument across periods 7 and 8.

The 1950s (Unit 8)

NOW makes more sense when you see what it was reacting against. The 1950s ideal of the suburban housewife and rigid domestic gender roles was the cultural baseline that Friedan critiqued and NOW organized to dismantle.

Is the National Organization for Women (NOW) on the APUSH exam?

NOW shows up most often in multiple-choice questions paired with an excerpt, frequently from The Feminine Mystique or NOW's 1966 Statement of Purpose, asking you to identify the movement's goals or its historical context. Know three things you can do with it. First, place it precisely (founded 1966, second-wave feminism, post-Civil Rights Act). Second, name its concrete goals (workplace equality, ERA ratification). Third, connect it to broader 1960s-70s activism. No released FRQ has required the term by name, but it's strong specific evidence for LEQs and DBQs about postwar social movements, and a continuity essay linking it back to suffrage-era feminism is a classic move that earns complexity points.

The National Organization for Women (NOW) vs Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

NOW is an organization; the ERA is a proposed constitutional amendment. Easy to blur because NOW's main campaign was getting the ERA ratified. Keep it straight by remembering NOW is the group of people, founded in 1966, and the ERA is the document they fought for, which passed Congress in 1972 but never got ratified by enough states.

Key things to remember about the National Organization for Women (NOW)

• NOW was founded in 1966 by Betty Friedan and other activists to fight sex discrimination, especially after the government failed to enforce Title VII's ban on workplace discrimination.

• NOW is the key organizational example of second-wave feminism, which targeted economic and legal equality rather than the voting rights first-wave feminists had won.

• NOW's biggest campaign was ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which passed Congress in 1972 but fell short of state ratification.

• In APUSH, NOW supports learning objective APUSH 8.1.A by showing how Americans organized to demand social change during the 1945-1980 period.

• NOW modeled its strategy on civil rights organizations, which makes it useful evidence for essays comparing or connecting 1960s reform movements.

• The backlash against NOW's agenda, especially the anti-ERA movement, helps explain the conservative resurgence you'll see in Unit 9.

Frequently asked questions about the National Organization for Women (NOW)

What is the National Organization for Women (NOW) in APUSH?

NOW is a feminist advocacy organization founded in 1966 by Betty Friedan and others to fight gender discrimination in jobs, law, and education. In APUSH it's the flagship example of second-wave feminism during Unit 8's era of social change (1945-1980).

Did NOW win passage of the Equal Rights Amendment?

No, not fully. NOW's lobbying helped the ERA pass Congress in 1972, but the amendment fell short of the 38 state ratifications needed, largely due to conservative opposition led by Phyllis Schlafly. The ERA's failure is itself testable material.

How is NOW different from the suffrage movement?

The suffrage movement (first-wave feminism) fought for the vote and won it with the 19th Amendment in 1920. NOW belongs to second-wave feminism, which started from voting rights and pushed for equal pay, anti-discrimination enforcement, and the ERA. Same long struggle, different goals and different period.

Why was NOW founded in 1966 specifically?

Founders were angry that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission wasn't enforcing the sex-discrimination ban in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Friedan's The Feminine Mystique (1963) had also primed a generation of women to see their frustration as a political problem, not a personal one.

Is NOW on the AP US History exam?

Yes, it falls under Unit 8 and learning objective APUSH 8.1.A on the context for societal change from 1945 to 1980. It typically appears in source-based multiple-choice questions and works as strong specific evidence in essays about 1960s-70s social movements.