Patricia Ireland (born October 19, 1945) is an American administrator and feminist. She served as president of the

National Organization for Women The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...

from 1991 to 2001 and published an autobiography, ''What Women Want'', in 1996.

Early life

Ireland was born on October 19, 1945, in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated ...

. Her parents are James Ireland, a metallurgical engineer, and Joan Filipek, a volunteer counselor and local director of Planned Parenthood. She grew up in

Valparaiso, Indiana Valparaiso ( ), colloquially Valpo, is a city and the county seat of Porter County, Indiana, United States. The population was 34,151 at the 2020 census. History The site of present-day Valparaiso was included in the purchase of land from the ...

, and graduated from

Valparaiso High School Valparaiso High School is a public high school in Valparaiso, Indiana. History Valparaiso High School opened in 1871 as Valparaiso City Public Graded School in a facility that had been built in 1861 by the local Presbyterian members as the Val ...

at the age of sixteen in 1962. She began studying at

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the ...

and married Don Anderson, a student at Ball State University, and the couple transferred to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state ...

. She quickly divorced her first husband and received her bachelor's degree from the university in 1966. She received a J.D. degree from the

University of Miami School of Law The University of Miami School of Law (Miami Law or UM Law) is the law school of the University of Miami, a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. Founded in 1926, the University of Miami School of Law is the oldest law school i ...

in 1975. She also attended

Florida State University College of Law Florida State University College of Law is the law school of Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. The law school borders the southeast quadrant of the University's campus, near the Donald L. Tucker Center, an arena and part of ...

Career

Before beginning a career as an attorney, Ireland worked as a flight attendant for

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

. After discovering gender-based discrepancies in the treatment of

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

coverage for spouses of employees, Ireland brought a formal complaint and fought for a change in coverage. Her first victory came when the

United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploy ...

ruled in her favor, and she immediately began law school and performing volunteer work for the

(NOW). She advocated extensively for the rights of poor women,

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

s and lesbians, and

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 ensl ...

women. She has also advocated electing female candidates, and training people to defend clinics from anti-abortion protesters around the United States. Ireland became the president of NOW in 1991. She ran for re-election in 1993, winning with 671 votes against Efia Nwangaza, who received 235 votes. Immediately following Ireland's appointment to president of NOW, questions arose about her sexual orientation. On December 17, 1991, she gave an interview with '' The Advocate'', in which she stated that she was bisexual and had a female companion while remaining married to her second husband. She published a book, ''What Women Want'', in 1996. In 2003, Ireland served for six months as the CEO of the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

. In October 2003, Ireland was dismissed after refusing to step down, although YWCA spokespeople denied that conservative pressure was a factor in the decision. Following her dismissal from the YWCA, Ireland was former Senator

Carol Moseley Braun Carol Elizabeth Moseley Braun, also sometimes Moseley-Braun (born August 16, 1947), is a former U.S. Senator, an American diplomat, politician, and lawyer who represented Illinois in the United States Senate from 1993 to 1999. Prior to her Senate ...

's national campaign manager for her brief 2004 presidential bid.

References

External links

Papers of NOW officer Patricia Ireland, 1972-2005.
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ireland, Patricia 1945 births American women lawyers American feminists Bisexual feminists Bisexual women writers DePauw University alumni LGBT people from Illinois American LGBT rights activists Living people Writers from Oak Park, Illinois Presidents of the National Organization for Women University of Miami School of Law alumni University of Tennessee alumni 21st-century American women American bisexual writers