On this day in labor history: National Organization for Women founded

On this date in 1966, the National Organization for Women was founded, according to Workday Minnesota.

The organization was founded by 28 women and men out of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women. The commission had three years earlier found that women were systematically discriminated against, and members wanted government action. However, the commission was not even allowed at its 1966 meeting, due to administration policies, to pass resolutions that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission fulfill its mandate in regards to women’s rights.

As a consequence, members of the commission founded NOW as an independent organization, with Betty Friedan as its first president.

With half a million members, NOW is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It currently has more than 500 chapters in each state of the union, as well as the District of Columbia.

Photo: National Organization for Women, via Wikipedia.