The National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year was a presidential commission created by

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

on January 9, 1975 to promote the national observance in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

International Women's Year International Women's Year (IWY) was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976 to 1985, was also established. His ...

. The commission was tasked with "encouraging cooperative activity in the field of women's rights and responsibilities" in conjunction with International Women's Year, which had been declared by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

in 1972. It was established by Executive Order 11832 and originally composed of 35 private citizens appointed by the president. The Commission was extended by congressional statute b
HR 9924
beyond 1975 to March 31, 1978. The Commission enjoyed continued support by President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

after his assumption of office in January 1977, culminating in the organizing of the

1977 National Women's Conference The National Women's Conference of 1977 was a four-day event during November 18–21, 1977, as organized by the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. The conference drew around, 2,000 delegates along with 15,000-20,0 ...

and its 1978 report
''The Spirit of Houston''
which was a summary of the 26 planks adopted as the National Plan of Action at the conference. After the commission's expiry in March 1978, Carter established the

National Advisory Committee for Women The National Advisory Committee for Women (NACW) was a presidential commission established by President Jimmy Carter in 1978. It was renamed the President's Advisory Committee for Women (PACFW), with a reduced mandate, in 1979. It was the succes ...

by executive order.

Membership

The Commission's membership was originally composed of 35 private citizens appointed by the President. This number was expanded to 45 by executive order from President Carter. While the Carter presidency did originally consider reappointed a larger number of members from the Ford administration, only a handful did so: Elizabeth Athanasakos, the outgoing presiding officer; Audrey Rowe Colom, chairperson of the

National Women's Political Caucus The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), or the Caucus, describes itself as a multi-partisan grassroots organization in the United States dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting women who seek elected and appointed offices at all ...

;

Martha Griffiths Martha Wright Griffiths (January 29, 1912 – April 22, 2003) was an American lawyer and judge before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1954. Griffiths was the first woman to serve on the House Committee on Ways and M ...

, the first woman elected to Congress from

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

; Lenore Hershey, editor of

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In ...

; Ersa Poston, a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

; and Gerridee Wheeler, Republican political official from

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, ...

. The ''ex officio'' congressional members were all retained, with the exception of Bella Abzug, who lost her election to be a Senator for New York, who became the new presiding officer and was replaced by fellow New York Democratic congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman. The first Presiding Officer was

Jill Ruckelshaus Jill Elizabeth Ruckelshaus (née Strickland; born 1937) is a former special White House assistant and head of the White House Office of Women's Programs and a feminist activist. She also served as a commissioner for the United States Commission o ...

until June 1976, after which it was Elizabeth Athanasakos. The Commission also included four

Members of Congress A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

, two Senators and two Representatives in its membership. Those members were: Senator

Birch Bayh Birch Evans Bayh Jr. (; January 22, 1928 – March 14, 2019) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as U.S. Senator from Indiana from 1963 to 1981. He was first elected to office in 1954, when he won election to the India ...

( D), Senator Charles H. Percy ( R), Representative

Bella Abzug Bella Savitzky Abzug (July 24, 1920 – March 31, 1998), nicknamed "Battling Bella", was an American lawyer, politician, social activist, and a leader in the women's movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steine ...

( D), and Representative

Margaret Heckler Margaret Mary Heckler (née O'Shaughnessy; June 21, 1931 – August 6, 2018) was an American politician and diplomat who represented in the United States House of Representatives from 1967 until 1983. A member of the Republican Party, she als ...

( R). Other members during the Ford presidency (1975-8) were: *

Alan Alda Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the war come ...

Ethel D. Allen Ethel D. Allen (May 8, 1929 – December 16, 1981) was an African-American politician and physician from the Republican Party, who served as the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under governor Dick Thornburgh for 10 months, between ...

Anne Armstrong Anne Legendre Armstrong (December 27, 1927 – July 30, 2008) was a United States diplomat and politician. She was the first woman to serve as Counselor to the President and as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, serving in those cap ...

* Margaret Long Arnold *

Barbara Bergmann Barbara Rose Bergmann (20 July 1927 – 5 April 2015) was a feminist economist. Her work covers many topics from childcare and gender issues to poverty and Social Security. Bergmann was a co-founder and president of the International Associati ...

* Patricia Carbine * Weston Christopherson * Mary Stallings Coleman * Audrey Rowe Colom * Helen K. Copley *

Richard Cornuelle Richard Charles Cornuelle (April 10, 1927 – April 26, 2011) was a political activist, charity worker, author, and one of the first modern American libertarians. Early life Cornuelle received a bachelor's degree from Occidental College, graduat ...

* Casey Eike * Paula Gibson * Gilda Gjurich * Ella T. Grasso *

Katharine Hepburn Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...

* Lenore Hershey * Velma Murphy Hill * Patricia Hutar * Rita Johnston * Ellen Groves Kirby * Dorothy Vale Kissinger *

Clare Boothe Luce Clare Boothe Luce ( Ann Clare Boothe; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, U.S. ambassador, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which ha ...

* William Crawford Mercer * Ersa Poston * Sister Joel Read * Betty Smith * Mary Louise Smith (Sep 1975-7) *

Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...

(1975 only) * Annie Dodge Wauneka * Gerridee Wheeler * Winfield C. Dunn During the Carter presidency, the Presiding Officer was

, a former ''ex officio'' member as a

US Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. Other members included: * Ruth Abram *

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

* Elizabeth Athanasakos * Betty Blanton * Cecilia Preciado Burgiaga *

Liz Carpenter Mary Elizabeth Sutherland Carpenter (September 1, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was a writer, feminist, reporter, media advisor, speechwriter, political humorist, and public relations expert. As the first woman executive assistant to Vice Presiden ...

* John Mack Carter * Sey Chassler * Ruth C. Clusen * Audrey Rowe Colom * Jane Culbreth *

Harry T. Edwards Harry Thomas Edwards (born November 3, 1940) is an American jurist and legal scholar. He is currently a Senior United States Circuit Judge and chief judge emeritus of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Was ...

* Rita Elway * Beverly Everett *

Betty Ford Elizabeth Anne Ford (; formerly Warren; April 8, 1918 – July 8, 2011) was the first lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of President Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy and set a precedent as a p ...

* Bernice S. Frieder *

* Dorothy Haener * Rhea Mojica Hammer * LaDonna Harris * Lenore Hershey * Koryne Horbal *

Mildred Jeffrey Mildred McWilliams "Millie" Jeffrey (December 29, 1910 – March 24, 2004) was an American political and social activist during the labor reforms, women's rights, and civil rights movement. Biography Mildred Jeffrey's mother, Bertha McWilli ...

* Jeffalyn Johnson *

Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King ( Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was married to Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his death. As an advocate for African-American equality, she ...

Mary Anne Krupsak Mary Anne Krupsak (born March 26, 1932) is an American lawyer and politician from New York. She was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1975 to 1978. She was the first woman to hold the office. Early life She was born on March 26, 1932, in Sch ...

* Margaret Mealey *

Jean O'Leary Jean O'Leary (March 4, 1948 – June 4, 2005) was an American lesbian and gay rights activist. She was the founder of Lesbian Feminist Liberation, one of the first lesbian activist groups in the women's movement, and an early member and co-dir ...

Mildred Persinger Mildred Tilghman Emory Persinger (April 28, 1918 – November 11, 2018) was an American feminist and international activist for non-governmental organizations (NGO). Persinger was born in Roanoke, Virginia in April 1918. In the early 1960s Persinge ...

* Connie Plunkett * Ersa Poston * Claire Randall * Alice S. Rossi * Gloria Scott * Eleanor Smeal *

Jean Stapleton Jean Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film. Stapleton was best known for playing Edith Bunker, the perpetually optimistic and devoted wife of Arc ...

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was a c ...

* Ethel Taylor *

Carmen Delgado Votaw Carmen Delgado Votaw was a civil rights pioneer, a public servant, an author, and community leader. She studied at the University of Puerto Rico and graduated from American University in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor of arts in international ...

* Gerridee Wheeler * Addie Wyatt The membership of the Carter years of the Commission was notable for its diversity and its inclusion of minority groups. Prominent

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...

leader

were added as members, as was

, as a representative voice from the National Gay Task Force. This carried notable consequences for the commission's work, including the proposition of a plank around lesbian rights in th
National Plan of Action
one of the most controversial sections and one of the highest level debates for LGBT rights at its time.

Activities

The activities of the commission changed over time, in line with the political interests of the presidents at the time. In both presidencies, the adoption of the

Equal Rights Amendment The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...

was a prominent theme, with its ratification debate lasting throughout the duration of the Commission's existence.

World Conference on Women, 1975

The United Nations' activities around International Women's Year focused on the

World Conference on Women, 1975 World Conference on Women, 1975 was held between 19 June and 2 July 1975 in Mexico City, Mexico. It was the first international conference held by the United Nations to focus solely on women's issues and marked a turning point in policy directives ...

, held in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. The United States participated in the conference, sending three representatives: Patricia Hutar, delegation head and U.S. Representative to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women; Jewel LaFontant, former Deputy Solicitor General of the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

and U.S. Representative of the Conference; and Jill Ruckelshaus. The conference culminated in a

World Plan of Action United Nations General Assembly Resolution 30/3520 (XXX.) was a resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 15 December 1975. The resolution adopted the World Plan of Action and related resolutions from the International Women's Year World ...

, which the United States voted against due to its inclusion of

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...

language.

To_Form_a_More_Perfect_Union_Justice_for_American_Women_-_IWY_Commission_1976_Report_Cover

While the United States did not sign the World Plan of Action, the Commission published a report to the United States President, entitled
"To Form a More Perfect Union...": Justice for American Women
'. The report focuses on a number of issues, including gendered divisions of domestic labor, the Equal Rights Amendment, the under-representation of women in public life, and child care. The report is notable for its endorsement of the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

's decision in

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...

and asked the government to continue to remove other barriers "to permit women greater choice with regard to their reproductive lives." The Spirit of Houston An Official Report from the National Women's Conference 1977

The Spirit of Houston An Official Report from the National Women's Conference 1977

1977 National Women's Conference

In the Carter years, the Commission turned its focus to the

and its 56 supporting state and territorial conventions, where delegates for the national conference were to be selected. The event was one of the first events of its kind to be funded by the U.S. government and came at the pinnacle of

second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. Wh ...

American politics The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that Separation of powers, share powers. These are: the United States Congress, U.S. Congre ...

. The conference was a key part of the

FX on Hulu FX Networks, LLC, is a company consisting of a network of cable channels plus a production company and a subsidiary of the Disney General Entertainment Content segment of The Walt Disney Company. Originally a part of 21st Century Fox, the comp ...

television series ''Mrs. America'', where many of the Commission's members, including two of its three presiding officers, were main characters.

References

Presidency of Gerald Ford 1975 establishments in the United States Women's rights in the United States {{Politics-stub Presidency of Jimmy Carter Second-wave feminism 1975 in women's history