Women's Action Alliance
Encyclopedia
The Women's Action Alliance was a feminist
organization in the United States
, founded during the Women's Movmement of the 1960s
and 1970s
. It was founded by Gloria Steinem
, the noted journalist, activist, and feminist leader. Upon its founding the Women's Action Alliance announced to the press its mission: "to assist women working on practical, local action projects; projects that attack the special problems of social dependence, discrimination, and limited life alternatives they face because they are women". The founders noted that the group was the "natural result of the success of the Women's Movement to date," now that both women and men had begun to see "depth and destructiveness of sex-role conditioning". By marshaling their considerable access to expertise in many fields, the founding members of the WAA sought to serve the "large numbers of women who want to change their lot in life." It made many contributions to the Women's Movement and to American women, including helping to open the first battered women's shelters.
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
organization in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, founded during the Women's Movmement of the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
and 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
. It was founded by Gloria Steinem
Gloria Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader of, and media spokeswoman for, the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s and 1970s...
, the noted journalist, activist, and feminist leader. Upon its founding the Women's Action Alliance announced to the press its mission: "to assist women working on practical, local action projects; projects that attack the special problems of social dependence, discrimination, and limited life alternatives they face because they are women". The founders noted that the group was the "natural result of the success of the Women's Movement to date," now that both women and men had begun to see "depth and destructiveness of sex-role conditioning". By marshaling their considerable access to expertise in many fields, the founding members of the WAA sought to serve the "large numbers of women who want to change their lot in life." It made many contributions to the Women's Movement and to American women, including helping to open the first battered women's shelters.