As their suffragist sisters did before them, more than 700 NOW activists marched through the streets of Columbus, Ohio, and vowed to defeat the enemies of women's rights using the right to vote won 75 years ago. NOW President Patricia Ireland urged participants to emulate their foresisters' courage and determination. Ireland told the enthusiastic crowd at the July 22 rally on the Ohio Statehouse lawn. All of our rights hang in the balance, and we must organize, organize, organize and use our power at the ballot box in 1996 to defeat the politicians and right-wingers who would like nothing more than to turn back the clock 75 years.
Affirmative action is under attack.
Welfare cuts threaten to rip away the safety net for women and children. Violence Against Women Act funding is threatened at a time when women are bleeding and frightened in the middle of the night with no where to go because shelters aren't being adequately funded. The rights we have spent decades gaining could be yanked away by those who are threatened by our equality. A large number of young feminists and many first-time national conference attendees carried the mobilization fervor into workshops, issues hearings and plenaries. Topics ranged from defending affirmative action to fighting the Christian right and conservative threats, chapter building and promoting lesbian and gay rights.