National Organization for Women - Union County Chapter Records

NOW is an acronym for the National Organization for Women. It was estab1ished in 1966 and the 300 charter members elected Betty Friedan its first president. Its goal was to take "action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all the privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men." This comes from NO W's Statement of Purpose which was adopted at its Organizational Conference held October 29, 1966. The complete Statement is contained in this collection. Among the issues which NOW sought to address were the legalization of abortion, passage of the ERA, lesbian rights, equal pay for equal work, federal support of day care, domestic violence and rape, and the removal of sexual stereotyping. State and local chapters sprang up across the nation.

During the late 1960's, possibly early 1970, a chapter was established in Union County, New Jersey. Among the founders were Jean Ambrose, Betsy Brown, Gloria DiAddato, Myra Terry and Mimi Gladstone. Ms. Gladstone served as the first president. Debra Matrick joined after the founding but was one of the early chapter presidents. She served in office from 1972-73. This collection contains, specifically, the papers amassed during Debra Matrick's first term in office. Her second term was some years later but those records are not part of this collection.

During the 1972-73 years Union County NOW was actively involved in campaigns to remove sexual stereotyping in ads. They conducted a study of 800 toys, their packaging and related advertising. The conclusions overwhelmingly reached were that boys were shown as the participants while girls were depicted as the observers. Also, girls were shown in traditional Female roles: teacher, ballerina, mother, while boys had the more action oriented jobs: doctor, fireman, policeman. Union County NOW then proceeded to embark on a letter writing campaign to various toy companies with some positive results. Documentation of these activities can be found in this collection.

In 1982 the Union County Chapter merged with the Westfield Chapter which retained its town name as part of the chapter name. The chapter has been relatively inactive in recent years but is currently attempting to revitalize and reactivate itself. It has dropped Westfield from its name and is once again the Union County Chapter of NOW.