NOW's leadership in women's movement

The Inquirer's July 3 editorial responds to a sound bite rather than NOW's long-standing policies. The National Organization for Women has six priority issues: equal rights for all women, the elimination of racism, ending violence against women, economic justice, lesbian rights, and reproductive rights.

NOW is the general practitioner of the women's movement. To address societal ailments hurting women and their families, NOW, like a physician, identifies the root of the problem to cure it; we do not believe in the Band-Aid approach. We want to cure the sexism, racism, classism and heterosexism that keep us divided.

The fact that our new president, Kim Gandy, has declared President Bush a target has nothing to do with partisan politics. It has everything to do with issues of critical importance to women and their families.

Bush will have the opportunity to name three or more Supreme Court justices, and this will have an enormous impact on our lives. There is much at stake: reproductive rights, family medical leave, voting rights, public education, employment discrimination, and civil-rights gains of the past 37 years.

NOW does not compromise on the issues we hold near and dear. We are nonpartisan, but the Republican Party has been hijacked by the right wing, which does not recognize women as full citizens with all the rights and privileges of men. During the Clinton administration, NOW challenged many policies, especially those affecting poor women and their families.

The Inquirer editorial mentions the efforts of many women's groups, and I applaud their work. However, NOW fulfills a necessary role - political activism - that other women's organizations often avoid. The need for more women in politics has never been greater. To change policies, we need to become the policymakers.

Barbara Burgos DiTullio

President

Pennsylvania Chapter

National Organization for Women

panow@libertynet.org

The editorial "The wrong target" (Inquirer, July 3) really hit the nail on the head. Kim Gandy, the newly elected president of NOW, is foremost a liberal Democrat who wants to defeat President Bush in 2004 by any means.