2005 National NOW Conference Opens in Nashville July 1, Voting Held July 2

By Lisa Bennett, Communications Director

It's that time again—feminist activists from around the country will gather in Nashville, Tenn., for the 2005 National NOW Conference the weekend of July 1-3. Home of the Grand Old Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville is a rollicking good place for NOW to convene.

Fun aside, important business is on the conference agenda. Participants will concentrate on strategy and skill-building to counter George W. Bush and his right-wing cronies, including a focus on electoral organizing at the NOW PAC Political Institute. The NOW PAC will also hold a silent auction to benefit election-organizing work, with lots of valuable feminist paraphernalia up for grabs.

The Friday afternoon plenary session will be devoted to the recommendations from NOW Foundation's Women of Color and Allies (WOCA) Summit held in April and NOW's commitment to ending racism.

The plenary will feature Diana Castaneda, chair of the WOCA planning committee; Mandy Carter, longtime NOW activist and founder/executive director of Southerners on New Ground; and Loretta Ross, another NOW stalwart and national coordinator of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective.

As we do every four years, NOW delegates will elect a team of four national officers. Two slates have announced their candidacy for national NOW office (see pages 12-13). Candidate teams will present their visions and qualifications in speeches Saturday morning; the delegates cast their votes Saturday evening.

NOW will present the 2005 Woman of Courage Award to Kakenya Ntaiya, whose remarkable journey was chronicled in The Washington Post. In an African region where young women leave school at an early age, Ntaiya made a deal with her father. In exchange for being permitted to attend high school, she underwent genital mutilation. She became the first woman ever to leave her village and attend college in the United States. Ntaiya's mission is to return to Kenya and start a boarding school for girls, a maternity clinic and more.

The 2005 Woman of Vision Award will be presented to Tillie Black Bear, the executive director of the South Dakota-based Buffalo Calf Women Society, the first shelter established for women of color in the U.S. A survivor of family violence herself, Black Bear helped form the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence in 1978.

NOW is excited to have author Sara Paretsky speaking at the conference and signing her just-released book Fire Sale at Saturday afternoon's reception. For those who aren't already fans, Paretsky is the creator of the successful V.I. Warshawski mystery novels. Paretsky is also a longtime feminist, advocating for women in the arts, letters and sciences.

Other compelling speakers include Dolores Huerta and Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey. Huerta is one the century's most powerful and respected labor movement leaders and a 2004 NOW Intrepid Award honoree. Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962, and has organized a number of pivotal strikes and boycotts.

Daughtrey will be right at home at this year's conference—she is the first Tennessee woman appointed to the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. She served previously on the Tennessee Supreme Court and has received many honors for her achievements as a lawyer and judge.

Several other feminist authors will take part in Saturday's reception. Martha Burk, Chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations, will sign her new book "Cult of Power," which takes on the "good old boys club" that keeps places like the Augusta National Golf Club closed to women.

Andrea Moore Emmett will sign "God's Brothel," which reveals the gruesome facts about Bible-based polygamy in North America. We are also pleased to welcome back former NOW intern Anat Maytal, who will sign the book she co-edited for Harvard's Institute of Politics, "Skirting Tradition: Women in Politics Speak to the Next Generation."

Loretta Ross, one of the moderators of the Friday afternoon plenary and co-director of the 2004 March for Women's Lives, will sign "Undivided Rights: Women of Color Organize for Reproductive Justice."

Many exciting workshops are planned, covering issues such as: emergency contraception, Social Security, Title IX, sex trafficking, the drug war, family law, violence against women, young feminist organizing and so much more. We hope to see you in Nashville!

Get more information on the National Conference.