In the spirit of the United Nations' proclamation that 1975 was the International Women's Year

International Women's Year

International Women's Year was the name given to 1975 by the United Nations. Since that year March 8 has been celebrated as International Women's Day, and the United Nations Decade for Women, from 1976–1985, was also established.-International:...

, on January 9, 1974, U.S. President Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

 issued Executive Order 11832 creating a National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year "to promote equality between men and women". In 1977 President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 chose a new Commission and appointed Congresswoman Bella Abzug

Bella Abzug

Bella Savitsky Abzug was an American lawyer, Congresswoman, social activist and a leader of the Women's Movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus...

 to head it. Numerous events were held over the next two years, culminating in the National Women's Conference in November 1977.

Event

During November 18-21, 1977, twenty-thousand women descended upon Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 for the National Women's Conference. 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.

The opening ceremony speakers included: First Ladies Rosalynn Carter

Rosalynn Carter

Eleanor Rosalynn Carter is the wife of the former President of the United States Jimmy Carter and in that capacity served as the First Lady of the United States from 1977 to 1981. As First Lady and after, she has been a leading advocate for numerous causes, perhaps most prominently for mental...

, Betty Ford

Betty Ford

Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford , better known as Betty Ford, was First Lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977 during the presidency of her husband Gerald Ford...

 and Lady Bird Johnson

Lady Bird Johnson

Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson was First Lady of the United States from 1963 to 1969 during the presidency of her husband Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for beautification of the nation's cities and highways and conservation of natural resources and made that...

, activists Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King

Coretta Scott King was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader. The widow of Martin Luther King, Jr., Coretta Scott King helped lead the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s.Mrs...

, Bella Abzug

Bella Abzug

Bella Savitsky Abzug was an American lawyer, Congresswoman, social activist and a leader of the Women's Movement. In 1971, Abzug joined other leading feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan to found the National Women's Political Caucus...

, Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan was an American writer, activist, and feminist.A leading figure in the Women's Movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the "second wave" of American feminism in the twentieth century...

, Barbara Jordan

Barbara Jordan

Barbara Charline Jordan was an American politician who was both a product and a leader, of the Civil Rights movement. She was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction and the first southern black female elected to the United States House of Representatives...

, Liz Carpenter

Liz Carpenter

Mary Elizabeth "Liz" Sutherland Carpenter was a writer, feminist, former reporter, media advisor, speechwriter, political humorist, and public relations expert....

, and Jean Stapleton. Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...

 read the declaration of intent.

Heated debates ensued over issues like the Equal Rights Amendment

Equal Rights Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...

, reproductive rights, child care funding, sexual orientation, and the rights of disabled, minority and aging women. There was also a lengthy discussion about disarmament and a series of talks featuring numerous women who had reached impressive levels of responsibility in governmental positions such as chair of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is an independent federal law enforcement agency that enforces laws against workplace discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual's race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, perceived intelligence,...

 (EEOC), Assistant Secretary for the United States Department of Commerce

United States Department of Commerce

The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903...

, and head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Outcome

"The National Plan of Action was submitted to the president and Congress in March 1978, and 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 postconference achievement, despite the final failure of the amendment in 1982." Under political pressure, President Carter fired Abzug from the Commission. No further action was taken by the Administration or Congress on the Plan.

External resources

1977 National Women's Conference: A Question of Choices. A production of KERA-TV, Dallas/Fort Worth. Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collections. University of Georgia Libraries.

The Center for the Historical Study of Women and Gender. Binghamton University, New York. "How Did the National Women's Conference in Houston in 1977 Shape a Feminist Agenda for the Future?" http://womhist.alexanderstreet.com/dp59/doclist.htm

Daily Breakthrough. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. (Published daily during the National Women’s Conference, Nov. 18-20, 1977.)

Feminists in politics: a panel analysis of the First National Women's Conference. By Alice S. Rossi. http://books.google.com/books?id=6j0qAAAAYAAJ&source=gbs_ViewAPI

Handbook of Texas. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/NN/pwngq.html

Diana Mara Henry Photography (Photos from the conference.) http://www.dianamarahenry.com/

National Women's Conference, 1977, Audiotape collection (T-88). Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch01249

JoFreeman.com (Photos from the conference.) http://uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/jofreeman/photos/IWY1977.html

Ann J. Lane, National Women’s Conference in Houston interviews (T-66). Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. http://hollis.harvard.edu/?itemid=|library/m/aleph|011530970

Marjorie Randal National Women's Conference Collection, Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/uhwarc/00018/warc-00018.html

National Women's Conference Records, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries. http://specialcollections.vassar.edu/findingaids/national_womens_conference.html

The Spirit of Women: Sisters of '77. http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/sistersof77/