Veteran Feminists of America

Aileen Hernandez

Contact Aileen: Aileenfem@aol.com

Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioners (EEOC) were appointed to oversee enforcement of the Civil Rights Act. Aileen Hernandez, a future president of NOW, was the only woman appointed to the Commission. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. was named chair. (1965)

The founding conference of NOW was held in Washington, D.C. Betty Friedan was elected president and Kay Clarenbach, chair of the board. Aileen Hernandez (subject to her consent-she was not present), executive vice president; Richard Graham, vice president; and Caroline Davis, secretary-treasurer. (10/29-30/66)

NOW held simultaneous demonstrations at EEOC field offices across the country. The demonstration sites included New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, and Atlanta, and emphasized the EEOC's failure to end sex-segregated job advertising. Demonstrators in San Francisco ( photo in FC) included national NOW Treasurer Inka O'Hanrahan, Vice President Aileen Hernandez, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. (12/14/67)

Aileen Hernandez was elected President and Wilma Scott Heide, chair of the Board, at NOW's Fourth National Conference in Des Plaines, IL. During a two-hour "farewell address," retiring president Betty Friedan called for a "Women's Strike for Equality" on August 26-a surprise proposal to other national officers sitting on the dais, including the incoming president, Hernandez. NOW Membership 3033; NOW Annual Budget $38,000. (03/20/70)

Author: Hernandez, Aileen C., The Women's Movement: 1965-1975, paper for the Symposium on the Tenth Anniversary of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, sponsored by Rutgers University Law School, (November 28-29, 1975).

Forum 1998: Aileen Clarke Hernandez, President and Founder, Aileen C. Hemandez Associates; Second President of National Organization for Women; Chair, California Women's Agenda


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