Focusing on legal and economic issues, the Ohio-based Women’s Equity Action League (WEAL) formed part of the moderate, women’s rights-oriented wing of the American feminist movement.
In the 1960s, new federal laws against discrimination combined with increasing assertiveness among women to revive the moribund women’s movement. Traditional attitudes about the appropriate roles of women had not changed, yet more and more women did not view homemaking and childrearing as their primary responsibilities. Large numbers of women had entered the labor force and pursued higher EDUCATION. Many who attended college found themselves stifled in the isolation and routine of domesticity. Women had grown disenchanted with their status as second-class citizens and began to demand recognition of sex discrimination in all areas of life.
Laws such as Title VII of the CiviL Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, offered hope to women. But these laws guarding women were not enforced and, instead, were often regarded as a joke by the men responsible for guaranteeing their implementation. By treating women’s concerns with contempt and hostility, federal officials demonstrated the need for an organization dedicated to pressuring the government from the outside to end sex discrimination. The National Organization for Women (NOW) was established in 1966 to fight for the equal participation of women in employment, education, government, and the family. In 1968, much to the consternation of its conservative members, NOW called for the reform of laws restricting abortion and the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Various groups left NOW in response to these demands, including the women who would establish the Women’s Equity Action League.
Believing that a more narrowly focused group was needed to appeal to women in the nation’s heartland, Elizabeth Boyer, an Ohio lawyer and NOW founder, created WEAL. According to its president, Nancy Dowding, WEAL avoided issues “that polarize people—like The Pill, or abortion or husbands washing dishes.” The new organization attracted members who viewed abortion as too divisive an issue for a women’s rights organization and who wanted to focus on legal and economic issues, especially in the areas of employment and education. WEAL was also one of a number of interest groups that succeeded in defining health care as a women’s issue and in placing women’s health care on the national policy agenda.
For the first few years of its life, WEAL was centered in Ohio and consisted mostly of friends of Elizabeth Boyer. Members of the inner circle around Boyer served as officers, and they controlled nominations and elections. Unlike NOW, there was little input from the rank and file, and there were no demonstrations or protests. WEAL was carefully organized from the top down to keep out radicals. Members made requests, not demands; they supported “feminine” behavior; they sympathized with their opponents and with homemakers; and they sought reform and compromise. WEAL remained a small organization since many of its members were lawyers with little time to recruit new blood. They formed a loose-knit group with top officers limited to women who had the time and money to pay for their own travel.
WEAL had intended to be a small, powerful organization for professional, executive, and influential women around the country. Over time, it discovered that a significant percentage of its membership resided in Washington, D. C., and that its members elsewhere wielded varying degrees of influence on Washington politicians. Faced with these facts, WEAL redefined its primary purpose as that of a national lobbying organization.
WEAL sought to achieve success through legislation and lobbying rather than more direct pressure tactics such as picketing. Lacking a large membership, WEAL could not employ tactics that required much grassroots participation. Instead, it addressed women’s issues through public education, policy analysis, support for litigation, and advocacy. It targeted laws, institutions, discriminatory practices, and the people who could affect them. Using money raised through direct mail fundraising, WEAL also offered financial help to candidates for public office.
In time, WEAL came to exchange ideology, tactics, and even personnel with the radical wing of the women’s movement. By 1972, WEAL had dropped its opposition to a woman’s right to choose abortion and had declared itself in favor of “responsible rebellion.” WEAL continued to work to eliminate sex discrimination throughout the subsequent decades, still focusing on eliminating gender bias in education and employment.
Further reading: Janet A. Flammang, Wo-men’s Political Voice (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997); Susan M. Hartmann, From Margin to Mainstream (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1989).
—Carynn Neumann
World History
