The National Women's Conference of 1977

Suggested Teaching Instructions

More than 20,000 people—including First Lady Rosalynn Carter, former First Ladies Lady Bird Johnson and Betty Ford, Coretta Scott King, and Susan B. Anthony II (the suffragist’s grandniece)—attended the First National Women's Conference in Houston, Texas, in 1977. The torch was passed to a new wave of women reformers at the ambitious conference. Over 2,000 delegates recommended to Congress and the President how to advance women’s rights. Delegates adopted a 26-plank national plan, addressing issues such as career interests, rights for minority women, and the Equal Rights Amendment. The outcome was a National Plan of Action for women’s rights, inclusive of women of color.

The conference adopted resolutions furthering reproductive freedom and equality for gay women, marking the culmination of the radical feminist movement. The planks for sexual freedom elicited conflicting emotions as a rising conservative faction took particular issue with abortion and "lesbianism." While these conservative women were the minority at the conference, their "pro-family" movement gained political power throughout the 1980s. 

Ratification of the the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was also a major goal of the National Women's Conference. First introduced in 1923 by Susan B. Anthony’s nephew, Congressman Daniel R. Anthony, and drafted by Alice Paul and Crystal Eastman, leaders in the fight for women’s rights, the ERA was introduced in Congress as a way to end discrimination against women.

This amendment was reintroduced at every subsequent session of Congress for 49 years. Supporters believed it would provide full equality for women; opponents considered it unnecessary, and some believed it destructive of the family.

In 1972 the amendment passed both houses of Congress. In 1978, with the deadline fast approaching, and the ERA lacking the required number of state ratifications, Congress extended the time limit to June 30, 1982 (viewed as a major achievement of the National Women's Conference). However, by the time the extended deadline arrived, the ERA had only been ratified by 35 states - three states short of the three-fourths required for ratification of constitutional amendments.