By contrast to men's support groups, Women's support groups acted as a catalyst to create enthusiasm for going public. In 1980 the N.O.W. Legal Defense and Education Fund teamed up with the National Association of Women Judges to form a program where the goal was suppose to be to promote equality for women and men in the courts. Under this guise they are seeking to get every state to create commissions on gender bias in the courts. So far most states have completed their reports. Sex discrimination against men has yet to be dealt with in a meaningful way by almost all of them.
Several exceptions exist.
The main difference in presentations was that Equal Rights For Fathers, Iowa, spoke only about divorce issues. NCFM, on the other hand, addressed not only divorce issues, but a whole range of other issues as well. The importance of these commission reports is in establishing an atmosphere for reform and in acting as knowledgeable guidelines in the formulation of future policies. Not all of the commissions have presented honest findings. A case in point is the State of Maryland.