National Women's Conference, 1977
Feminists and anti-feminists from across the United States descended on Houston, Texas in November 1977 to offer support or opposition to the National Women’s Conference.
“They should open some of the men’s restrooms to women, since there is hardly anyone here to use them,” suggested a National Women’s Conference delegate. A friend retorted, “Don’t you suggest it, some anti-ERA [Equal Rights Amendment] delegate will start hollering, ‘see I told you so; those ERA folks want unisex toilets!’” From 1977 to now, debates concerning women’s spaces, rights, and liberation have been contentious topics at the heart of American legislation. However, the National Women’s Conference of 1977 is decidedly the event that altered the fabric of American politics. Those present and those who have studied the conference’s outcome largely agree that those four days at the Sam Houston Coliseum were critical for America.
Feminists and anti-feminists from across the United States descended on Houston, Texas, to support or oppose the National Women’s Conference legislative goals that sought equality, equity, and liberation for American women. The conference intended to create and utilize an official platform that supported women’s rights and a progressive political agenda in the following decades. However, due to the multitude of caucuses that flooded the conference, a sea of demands stalled progress and created in-fighting amongst the various groups. From ethnic group caucuses to student-athletes to sex workers and members of Congress, everyone sought a seat at the table to address the institutional inequality of women in all corners of American society.
Feminist scholar Margorie J. Spruill has called the National Women’s Conference “the crest of the ‘second wave’ of American feminism.” The Sam Houston Coliseum hosted a “who’s who” of Democratic, leftist, and radical activists, including Gloria Steinem, Barbara Jordan, Betty Friedan, and Billie Jean King, to influence the advancement of women’s and feminist issues. At the same time, the conference also platformed the notable conservatives Phyllis Schlafly, Representative Bob Dornan, Nellie Gray, and Lottie Beth Hobbs. Schlafly’s impressive rise on the right, underscored by her successful anti-feminist campaigning efforts leading up to and during the conference, drew unexpectedly large crowds of Christian and conservative women. Universally remembered for her bravado and insistence on thanking her husband for “allowing” her to attend the conference, Schlafly became a conservative icon overnight. Like Schlafly, other conservative opponents of progressive women’s legislation surprisingly found their niche at an event previously hailed as one of the most important political conferences for women in the twentieth century. Unfortunately, propaganda ran amuck in the days leading to the conference.
In response to the calls to action, prominent Black journalist Carl T. Rowan denigrated conservatives' so-called “Pro-Family Coalition” rhetoric as divisive “hang-ups” about individuals’ orientation, religion, and political affiliation. Rather than bringing women together to seek a brighter future, the National Women’s Conference left Houston, Texas, awash with contentious politics, pitting women against women, Black against White, straight against gay, and liberal against conservative. The result of the conference, the National Plan of Action, initially determined to influence the trajectory of women’s politics well into the 1990s, fell flat in the face of conservatism. Yet, in a somewhat surprising turn of events, conservative political objectives found success after the conference. Responsible for the rise of anti-woman rhetoric that encapsulated the 1980s and the diminishment of the progress created during the 1960s and 70s, the National Women’s Conference helped birth the “pro-family” movement during the Regan administration. The conference inadvertently brought opposing forces together and cemented the watershed moment that irreparably fractured American politics.
Images
