Feminist Majority Foundation
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The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) is a feminist non-profit organization dedicated to "women's equality, reproductive health and non-violence"[1]. The name, Feminist Majority, comes from a 1986 Newsweek/Gallup public opinion poll in which 56% of women self-identified as feminists. President and founder Eleanor Smeal chose this name as a way to raise public consciousness that feminists are the majority.
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[edit] History and structure
The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) was founded in 1987 by Eleanor Smeal, who served three terms with the National Organization for Women before founding the FMF. The FMF, an IRS 501(c)3 tax deductible, non-profit organization, is a research and education organization, and the publisher of Ms. magazine. The organization has offices in Washington, DC and Los Angeles, California.
FMF became the publisher of Ms. magazine in 2001. Co-founded in 1972 by political activist and feminist Gloria Steinem, Ms. produces articles on the conditions of women in the United States and abroad. Ms. covered the situation of women in Afghanistan before the US invasion, as well as the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito amidst the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and contributed to pressure surrounding the resignation of former congressman Tom DeLay.
The FMF has several campaigns and programs that deal with issues they categorize as "women’s health" and "reproductive rights" domestically and abroad. They include the National Clinic Access Project, Campaign for Women's Health and Mifepristone, Choices Campus Leadership Program (College and University Women), Global Reproductive Rights Campaign, Campaign for Afghan Women and Girls, Emergency Contraception Initiative, National Center for Women and Policing, Education Equity Program, and Rock for Choice.
[edit] Mission statement
The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF), founded in 1987, is the nation’s largest feminist research and action organization dedicated to women's equality, reproductive rights and health, and non-violence. Led by FMF President Eleanor Smeal, our programs focus on advancing the legal, social and political equality of women with men, countering the backlash to women's advancement, and recruiting and training young feminists to encourage future leadership for the feminist movement. To carry out these aims, FMF engages in research and public policy development, public education programs, grassroots organizing projects, leadership training and development programs. As we are committed to winning equality for women worldwide, all of our work incorporates a global focus.
Its sister organization, the Feminist Majority (formerly Fund for the Feminist Majority), a 501(c)4 organization, focuses on empowering women in public policy-making as well as gender balance in elective and appointive offices.
[edit] Stand on women's issues
- The FMF promotes equality between women and men, girls and boys and supports constitutional and statutory measures to gain full equality locally, statewide, nationally, and globally.
- The FMF supports safe, legal and accessible abortion, contraception, and family planning, including Medicaid funding and access for minors.
- The FMF is dedicated to achieving civil rights for all people, including affirmative action programs for women and people of color.
- The FMF supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights.
- The FMF does not permit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender, race, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, religion, ethnicity, age, marital status, national origin, size, or disability.
- The FMF promotes non-violence and works to eliminate violence against women.
- The FMF encourages programs directed at the preservation of the environment, clean air and water, the elimination of smog, toxic and hazardous waste, chemical and nuclear weaponry.
- The FMF supports workers’ collective bargaining, pay equity, and the end of sweatshops.
[edit] Accomplishments
- In 2006, FMF worked to defeat an anti-affirmative action ballot measure in Michigan, and to pass a ballot initiative in South Dakota to repeal a state abortion ban.
- In 2004, the Feminist Majority was one of five principal organizers of the March for Women's Lives, which brought more than 1.15 million women and men to Washington, DC in support of reproductive rights[2]
- In 2002, the Feminist Majority founded the Feminist Majority PAC, a political action committee that supports feminist candidates at the federal level.
- The Feminist Majority helped defeat two anti-abortion ballot measures in Oregon with campus organizing drives, and speaking tours featuring Bill and Karen Bell, parents of Becky Bell.
- In 1996 and 2000, the Feminist Majority Foundation held national Feminist Expos, drawing thousands of feminists to Washington, DC (1996) and Baltimore (2000) to learn from and speak with accomplished feminist leaders. Feminist Expo ’96 was attended by some 3,000 feminists, despite a blizzard. In 2000, over 6,000 feminists of all ages from throughout the United States and the world took part in Feminist Expo 2000 for Women’s Empowerment, to ignite the feminist movement for the 21st century, including delegations from 45 countries and 170 colleges and universities. Participants included FMF President Eleanor Smeal, Ms. co-founder Gloria Steinem, author bell hooks, Roe v. Wade Attorney Sarah Weddington, author Betty Friedan (1921-2006), FMF Board Member and United Farm Workers co-founder and FMF board member Dolores Huerta, former Congresswoman Bella Abzug (1920-1998), and former Senator and Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun.
- In 1992, FMF secured support for the state Equal Rights Amendment in Iowa; and to counter an anti-affirmative action ballot measure in California in 1996.
- The Feminist Majority was also a key organizer of the 1992 March for Women's Lives, which was at that time, with 750,000 participants, the largest march in DC’s history.
- During 1989 to 1992, the FMF conducted the Feminization of Power campaign, recruiting an unprecedented numbers of women to run for public office, resulting in doubling women’s representation in Congress in 1992 (the Year of the Woman)
- The Feminist Majority joined with the music group L7 to launch Rock for Choice in 1991, a series of concerts organized in dozens of cities over the past 15 years across the United States and Canada featuring popular artists such as Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers,Salt-N-Pepa, No Doubt, the Offspring, Fugazi, Liz Phair, Bikini Kill, Joan Osborne, Rage Against the Machine, the Foo Fighters,Sarah McLachlan, Rancid, Melissa Etheridge, the Bangles, Joan Jett, Stone Temple Pilots, Paula Cole, Iggy Pop and many others.
[edit] Legislative success
The Feminist Majority has also been a leader in legislative victories for women, including amending the Civil Rights Act to provide for monetary damages to women who win sexual harassment and sex discrimination lawsuits in court in 1991, winning passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 and the Violence Against Women Act and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 1994, passing the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban in 1996, and restoring Title IX in 1988 and then successfully defending Title IX in 2003 against Bush Administration attempts to weaken the landmark federal law, among others. The Feminist Majority continues advocating for U.S. ratification of the United Nations Women’s Rights Treaty (CEDAW, the Convention to End all forms of Discrimination Against Women) and the International Criminal Court.
