FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: ELLEN ZUCKER, PHONE: 901/529-3625

NOW ELECTS NATIONAL LEADERS TO TAKE ORGANIZATION INTO THE 21ST CENTURY

SATURDAY, JULY 5, 1997

MEMPHIS, TENN.: At their annual conference this July 4th weekend, NOW activists from across the country are discussing key issues of the day -- from sexual harassment, economic justice and the rise of right wing men's groups such as the Promise Keepers, to the need to elect more feminists to political office -- and naming their national leadership for the next four years. While debating strategies and priorities, members agreed on one thing: Patricia Ireland, Kim Gandy, Karen Johnson and Elizabeth Toledo are the women they want to lead the organization into the 21st century.

Voting by acclamation, NOW members elected Ireland to her second full term as President, Gandy to her second full term as Vice President/Executive; Johnson, to her second term as Vice President/Membership; and Elizabeth Toledo of California, the newest member of the team, as Vice President/Action. They bring not only racial diversity -- they are African-American, Latina, and White -- but also diverse life experiences to their posts at the head of the largest feminist organization in the world.

Ireland, an attorney from Miami and a former flight attendant, has been at the helm of the organization since 1991. Known for her ability to talk with equal ease to everyone from CEOs to students, Ireland's major accomplishments thus far include organizing NOW activists to elect more feminists, champion affirmative action, strengthen ties with other social justice movements and demand more attention be paid to violence against women. She is the author of "What Women Want," a feminist memoir that is a hit with reviewers and the public, now out in paperback (Plume, 1996).

In discussing the current political climate and NOW's future goals, Ireland told the membership: "Yes, we must fight to maintain the gains we have made over the past 30 years, but we cannot be satisfied with the status quo."

Ireland called for NOW to continue fighting for the rights of all women-- "young women, retired women, women on welfare and women on Wall Street." She went on to say that NOW needs to work from inside institutions of power -- in the private sector and the public -- as well as from the outside. At all times, she said, activists must have the "courage to maintain NOW's role on the cutting edge of the women's rights movement, because NOW is a leader, not a follower, of public opinion."

As for particular activist campaigns, Ireland stressed the need to continue working for an end to discrimination in the workplace and in education, particularly through the organization's Women- Friendly Workplace Campaign. She also emphasized working against emerging right wing men's groups such as the Promise Keepers. Finally, Ireland announced a new national campaign: Victory 2000. She said, "Together, with your support, we intend to elect 2,000 new feminist women to office by the year 2000."

Gandy, also an attorney and a former prosecutor who grew up in Bossier City, La., brings 24 years of grassroots feminist organizing and years of experience in NOW's national office to her position. Known for her attention to the bottom line, her commitment to developing new NOW leadership and her expansion of NOW's litigation efforts, Ms. Gandy will continue to serve NOW -- as her two small children continue to grow up. "I have a better understanding of the pressure on all of us to be ‘superwoman' and the challenge of balancing love of our work and love of your family," Gandy said.

Johnson, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, spent 25 years as a military nurse -- and a feminist in the military. Having grown up in a family that needed public assistance when her father abandoned them, Johnson brings understanding and real knowledge to her work for economic justice. Whether taking the lead on pushing for change within the armed forces or working on issues of women's health and economic justice, Johnson told the gathered NOW membership that NOW -- and she -- must always maintain a "passion for the possible and the impossible."

Toledo, the newest member of the team, is also a mother of two young children and an activist. Toledo has led California NOW for the past four years, taking a statewide and national leadership role in fighting Proposition 209, the California anti-affirmative action ballot measure. She has also developed a reputation for bringing equal rigor to her work for women's health, civil rights and abortion rights.

Addressing the NOW membership, Toledo described facing an unintended pregnancy in the 1980s. At a women's health clinic she saw protesters -- and NOW activists protecting her passage. Toledo resolved to thank the organization. She has since crafted grassroots actions, as well as legislative and electoral change at the local, state and national levels.

Toledo told the audience that while NOW has made tremendous strides, there is a lot to do. She pledged to support NOW's continuing work to use new media to get out its message and shape public opinion. But she also said that "kitchen table politics" still should be the organization's model. She explained that, like a family making decisions around the kitchen table: "We're not going to wait until we have enough time, or enough resources or enough people, we are just going to do it."

The NOW Annual Conference will conclude on Sunday, July 6, 1997, with the membership's consideration of policy resolutions and future activist campaigns. For further information, please contact the NOW Press Office in Memphis 901/529-3625.

Link to this release at http://www.now.org/press/07-97/07-05-97.html