The National Women's Conference of 1977 was a four-day event during November 18–21, 1977, as organized by the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. The conference drew around, 2,000 delegates along with 15,000-20,000 observers in Houston, Texas.[1][2] The United States Congress approved $5 million in public appropriations for both the state and national conferences as HR 9924, sponsored by Congresswoman Patsy Mink, which Ford signed into law.[3][4] In 1977 at the start of his presidency, President Jimmy Carter chose a new Commission and appointed Congresswoman Bella Abzug to head it. Numerous events were held over the next two years, culminating in the National Women's Conference.[5]

The conference represents a turning point for the political history of second-wave feminism in the United States. A number of controversial issues, including abortion rights and sexual orientation, were flashpoints in the event's program. Historian Marjorie J. Spruill argues that the anti-feminists led by Phyllis Schlafly had a more successful follow-up. They moved the Republican Party to a more socially conservative position.[6] As the Reagan administration came into office in January 1981, much of the political support for the conference and its output, The Spirit of Houston, dissipated in national politics.

History

In 1972, the United Nations proclaimed 1975 as International Women's Year.[7] In the spirit of that proclamation, U.S. President Gerald Ford issued Executive Order 11832, creating a National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year "to promote equality between men and women." Jill Ruckelshaus would be appointed its first chairperson.

This commission would become the organizing body for the conference as part of the provisions of congressional legislation that would appropriate $5,000,000 for the conference.[8]

Before the Opening Ceremonies of the Conference, there was relay of important women who brought an torch from Seneca Falls, New York to Houston, Texas. Seneca Falls was the location of the seminal women's rights convention in 1848, and this relay took place over 51 days to show and recognize the link between these two historical conferences. This relay was put together by multiple organizations, including the Road Runners of America, and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Those taking part in the relay wore easily recognizable bright blue T-shirts with the words "Women on the Move" written on them. Some of the most notable people involved in this relay included Katherine Switzer (the first women to officially compete in the Boston Marathon), Donna de Varona (Olympic gold medalist and Women's Sports Foundation activist), and Billie Jean King.[9]

Event

The goal was to hammer out a "Plan of Action" to be presented to the Carter Administration and Congress for consideration and/or adoption. Each of the twenty-six Resolutions on Women's Rights in the Plan was proposed to the attendees and voted upon collectively.[10] The Conference was chaired by Congresswoman Bella Abzug.[11]

The opening ceremony speakers included: First Ladies Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford and Lady Bird Johnson, activists Coretta Scott King, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Barbara Jordan, Liz Carpenter, and Jean Stapleton. Maya Angelou read the Declaration of American Women 1977.

American Women on the Move, the cover of the program for the National Women's Conference

Heated debates ensued over 26 major topics addressed at the conference, such as the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), reproductive rights, the nuclear family, child care funding, sexual orientation, education reform, and the rights of disabled, minority, and aging women.[11][12] At the conference, there was also a lengthy discussion about nuclear disarmament and a series of talks featuring women who had reached important positions of responsibility in government such as chair of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Assistant Secretary for the United States Department of Commerce, and head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

On the other side of Houston, at the Astrodome, almost fifteen thousand conservative women under the leadership of Phyllis Schlafly held their own counter-conference in which they vowed to uphold traditional pro-family values.[13] The competing Houston conferences demonstrated the discord among women over key issues, and Schlafly's message that women had something to lose, not something to gain, from feminism continued to resonate in the increasingly conservative political climate. Nowhere was this clearer than in the battles over reproductive freedom and the Equal Rights Amendment, the issues most associated with feminism in the public mind in the 1970s.[14]

An abundance of people attended the 1977 National Women's Conference and "delegates ranged from students and homemakers attending their first women's conference to Presidents of National Women's groups."[15] The head of the conference was Congresswoman Bella Abzug who spoke in front of more than 20,000 of her fellow advocates.[16]

Many people who were interested in feminism were at the 1977 National Women's Conference to support women's rights. The inspiring author Betty Friedan attended the conference, the feminist Gloria Steinem attended the conference along with a new feminist leader Eleanor Smeal. Celebrities in education and sports like the anthropologist Margaret Mead, the advocate for women in sports Billie Jean King, the poet Maya Angelou, Commissioner Jean Stapleton, Commissioner Coretta Scott King. Congresswomen included Bella Abzug, Republican Jill Ruckelshaus, Congresswoman Margaret Heckler, Mary Louise, Mary Crisp, Republican Elly Peterson, Democrat Elizabeth Holtzman, Pat Schroeder, Lindy Boggs, Martha Griffiths, and Barbara Jordan.[15][17] Past, and at the time, current first ladies Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, and Lady Bird Johnson were also in attendance at this conference.[16]

All of these women banded together in the Conference to create the 26 planks described above and discuss the rights of women as well as how women should not be discriminated against.   

Outcomes

Cover Page of The Spirit of Houston, including the adoption of the 26 planks of the National Plan of Action agreed by delegates

The Spirit of Houston, the official report on the first national women's conference, was submitted to President Carter and Congress in March 1978. A month later, Carter established the National Advisory Committee for Women. The Senate granted a three-year extension for ratification of the ERA within a year of the Houston meeting; this unprecedented move was viewed as a major post-conference achievement, despite the final failure of the amendment in 1982,[1] at which point only 35 of the required 38 states had ratified the amendment.[18][19] Under political pressure, President Carter fired Abzug from the Commission.[20] No further action was taken by the Administration or Congress on the Plan.

National Plan of Action

Included in the official conference report, the conference produced a National Plan of Action,[21] a culminating document that comprised a series of demands for more revisions, changes in enforcement, and new policies to improve the living conditions of women in American society. The National Plan of Action included 26 planks representing issues and concerns of interest to American women. The planks were discussed at the state-level women's meetings that preceded the 1977 conference and were then open to debate on the floor at the Houston conference.[22] Seventeen of the planks were adopted by conference delegates by wide majorities, and only 20% of delegates opposed certain planks, representing a consensus among conference delegates and attendees on "what American women need and want to achieve equal rights, equal status, and equal responsibilities with men."[22]

The 26 planks contained in the National Plan of Action are:

Declaration of American Women

This plank declared that all women from different backgrounds, cultures, and beliefs deserved the same rights and privileges as men. Equality was an important theme throughout this conference and this plank brought to light the significance of women finally being able to achieve the same privileges as men. At the time, women did not have the right to vote in politics, own housing property, have more power politically, or have the same pay as men in the workplace.[23] The conference concentrated on emphasizing the why women's rights should be implemented into society, and how close women were to achieving these rights.

Arts and Humanities

Opportunities for manager positions and employment jobs in Arts and Humanities were little to non-existent before this conference. This plank was introduced to point this out to society and hopefully inspire a change. Another issue in this department was that women were having a difficult time obtaining art grants, whereas their male counterparts were finding success in this area. If men were the only ones receiving funding for art projects, how would women ever be able to showcase their talent and education to be able to do the same? Being withheld from receiving art grants would be very detrimental to the progression of an artist's career. This was unfortunately the sad reality many aspiring female artists were having to face and a large reason why this plank was brought up at the conference for debate.

Battered Women

A common theme in society was violence against women, which because of its prevalence and importance, earned its own plank at the conference for discussion. They voiced that the amount of violence that women were receiving should be stopped/minimized however possible. A solution that came out of the conference was to provide shelters for women who have experienced violence. It was also announced that these programs should be offered with bilingual and cultural options in order for them to be able to help and benefit a larger portion of society.

Business

At the time of this conference, "less than one percent"[24] of businesses were owned by women. This statistic, among other reasons, gained this issue a spot as a plank at the conference. It was determined that female entrepreneurs in government activities were to be included as a part of government and granted the same opportunities as men to own a business. Additionally, the Executive Order 11625 of October 13, 1971, was put into place to protect minorities and women with small businesses[23] and the benefits of this order were applauded at this conference.

Child Abuse

Another important issue in society was the problem of child abuse. There really was not any support for the victims of this, so the conference brought up the topic of Child Care to work towards a way to help the victims. The conference determined that the government should provide support, funds, and protective services to help prevent child abuse and assist those affected by it. Also, it was decided that the government should provide equal child care programs for minority women, and improve schools as well as parenthood programs. The "care must be low cost and high quality"[24] in programs in order for Child Care programs to be efficient in assisting the public.

Credit

This plank argued that women should have equal credit and be informed of their rights pertaining to credit. In order to ensure that women had equal access to credit, regardless of gender, the conference determined that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act needed to be passed. Consequently, the credit issue was the only plank out of all 26 that "was approved unanimously".[24] Everyone at the conference was in agreement that due to the prevalence of this important issue in society, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act needed to be passed immediately.

Disabled Women

During this time period, society did not give much credit to people that were disabled; additionally, they were not given equal opportunities. The conference discussions led to the decision that disabled women should be able to have the right to education and employment, take care of their children, and be protected from discrimination.

Education

Due to the discrimination against women's education, the conference brought up this plank to argue for law prohibiting this. Discussion on this plank brought to light the lack of women in educational textbooks and leadership positions in society. In order for young women to have more influential role models to inspire them to benefit future generations, there needed to be more female leadership in education. To ensure that these changes were placed into society, "Title IX must be enforced".[24]

Elective and Appointive Office

There was a serious lack of women in leadership roles before this conference. Most high status and upper pay grade jobs went to males and this kept women from aspiring to achieve more in the workforce. Instead of settling for the less important jobs and positions, the conference decided that women should be allowed more positions in office and more opportunities to move up in the work force. The prejudice that women belonged at home and not in an office was old-fashioned and the discussions at this conference helped to open people's eyes to the importance of aiming higher in the job arena. This factor would also be crucial in inspiring the younger female generations into believing that they too could succeed in the world and were able to do more than past generations.

Employment

The employment plank goes along with the elective and appointive office plank; more women should be allowed into the workforce with higher paying positions. The conference decided that there should be no discrimination in employment and all employment should have equal pay, no discrimination for pregnancy, and special attention to minority women.

Equal Rights Amendment

The ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment which establishes equal rights for all people was discussed. Although this amendment was never ratified, the conference succeeded in earning a three-year extension from the Senate for further discussion on it.

Health

All women should have equal opportunities to health benefits. Additionally, the food and drug administration should be expanded so that food overall could be safer to consume. Another aspect of this plank the conference deemed important was low-cost reproductive health services as well as research into the effects of women's contraception.

Homemakers

All women should be equal to their partners when it comes to owning property. If divorced with children, then the children's needs should come first as well. These topics were reviewed by the convention and ultimately ended up deciding that homemakers should have access to social security because a difficult economic situation would arise from a divorce or death of a spouse. If their significant other died and the homemaker did not have social security, they would be left broke.

Insurance

There should be no discrimination between women and insurance, all insurance should be equally provided to women and insurance.

International Affairs

Women should be allowed to be more involved with international affairs, especially in the UN Commission and the UN Decade, Country Development, Human Rights, Peace and Disarmament, Education[23]

Media

All jobs in the media should be able to hire women and women should be given the proper training as well. Additionally, more women should have leadership roles in the media jobs. Federal agencies should look into how mass media impacts sex discrimination.

Minority Women

Some people at the convention felt that the needs and concerns of women of color were not accurately discussed or solved. For example, attendee, Jane Hickie commented, "I don't believe that Anglo women had heard directly expressed sorts of frustrations from other women who were Mexican American or Puerto Rican Americans, Latinas, ever before".[24] The conference discussed how all minority women should be respected and treated equally, and the government should give them equal rights to work and education, etc. Another aspect that the conference went over about minorities was how all minority cultures should be accepted into the United States.

Offenders

There should be no discrimination with women in facilities, the health services should be improved, and protection from sexual abuse should be more prominent. Also, children should have special care if their mother is in prison. The mother in prison would not be able to adequately care for her children due to her situation, so an alternate care program would need to be open to the children that this circumstance applied to.

Older Women

All health and social services should be provided to older women so that they can "live with dignity".[24] These services would allow the older population to live comfortably after they retire and not have to worry about running out of money in their old age.

Rape

The government should revise their rape laws to have "graduated penalties depend on the amount of coercion, apply assault by or upon both sexes, include all types of sexual assault".[23] The creation of rape centers to help survivors and provide survivor compensation, would make it more accessible for those that have been hurt by rape to get help. In order to make it financially easier on married women that attempt to file a rape accusation against their spouse, the definition of rape should be broadened to include marital rape. Additionally, the government should provide programs to schools to help prevent rape and try to stop this issue from being as prevalent in future generations.

Reproductive Freedom

The convention argued that women should have reproductive freedom and be able to have private facilities relating to reproductive freedom. Sex-education should be in schools to educate teens to promote STD awareness and hopefully lessen teenage unplanned pregnancies. Also, the convention determined that promoting the backing of Roe v Wade, family planning, and Medicaid payment use for abortion[24] would be in the best interests of everyone.

Rural Women

Rural women should have the same rights as rural men, as well as establish a rural education policy. The convention was centered around eliminating female discrimination in mostly all debates and planks.

Sexual Orientation

The discussion on this plank was centered around how there should be no discrimination on women's sexual orientation. This topic was intensely debated at the conference before it was eventually passed; never before had this topic been talked about at any event of this size.[24]

Statistics

The government should collect data on the basis of sex in the workplace, its impact on jobs, and its effect on women in the workplace so that the information acquired can be studied and improved to help future generations of women.

Welfare

"The Federal and State governments should assume a role in focusing on welfare and poverty as major women's issues"[23] "Improve social security and retirement systems, raise minimum wage, provide child care and focus on welfare and poverty as major women's issues".[24]

Continuing Committee of the Conference

Required an establishment of a Committee to assemble a second conference so the progression towards female equality could continue to grow.

Education reform

Although the Equal Rights Amendment was a significant stride towards demanding the reforms called for in the National Plan of Action, the states ultimately failed to ratify it, and therefore it did not pass into law. Even so, its momentum produced significant ripple effects on the many facets of society that the National Plan of Action sought to change. One such facet is education. Mostly attributed to the outspoken efforts of Betty Friedan, reforms in education policy and enforcement became notably prominent.[20]

Other prominent organizers for education reform from women present at the conference were:

Patricia Alberjerg Graham, a representative of the National Institute of Education, who advocated for holding the federal government accountable to efforts that reduce inequality in educational opportunities.[25]

Eileen Shanahan, the assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the Health, Education and Welfare Department during the Carter administration, who advocated for an emphasis on the ways in which funds are allocated for government programs in education.[25]

Beth Abramowitz, Assistant Director of the Domestic Council Policy Staff during the Carter administration, who proposed an increase in funds for women involved in higher education and academia.[25]

Mary F. Berry, Assistant Secretary of Education, who emphasized the potential of the recent Title IX efforts to increase educational opportunities and to assist women to pursue higher education.[25]