The National Organization for Women (NOW) set up a Task Force on Legal and Political Rights at the time of its formation, in 1966. Legal and political rights have always been a significant part of feminism. In fact, most aspects of the Women’s Liberation Movement are remembered as being in some way related to legal or political rights. This may be why feminists of the 1960s and 1970s popularized the slogan “the personal is political.”
The Task Force on Legal and Political Rights had a broad focus and a lot of work to do. NOW’s Statement of Purpose declared “that the power of American law, and the protection guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution to the civil rights of all individuals, must be effectively applied and enforced to isolate and remove patterns of sex discrimination.”
Over the next decade, the Supreme Court struck down many laws that treated women unequally, such as laws in several states that prohibited women from serving on juries. NOW worked to lobby legislators on behalf of women’s equality. The organization also helped women who were facing discrimination to fight their legal battles.
In 1970, NOW established the Legal Defense and Education Fund as a separate non-profit entity which used law and public policy to work for women’s legal and political rights. Throughout the 1970s, NOW engaged in the struggle to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, a battle that continues today.