A look at the Jews of the women's revolution

As a progressive American, I’m pained when media identify “Left” with anti-Zionism and “Right” with support for Israel. I try to remind people that most Jews are political progressives and most of us are also Zionists. This season, while making the rounds in promotion events for my new book, I seize every opportunity to remind progressives how much they owe to Jewish activists. My shining example is feminism. American Jews helped to change life forever for half the world’s population – women.

I tell stories of Jewish achievement in The Women’s Revolution: How We Changed Your Life, which New Village Press released on June 18, 2024. Jews played a major role in feminism’s still-incomplete victory – after thousands of years – in abolishing accepted pronouncements such as “We don’t hire women.” “We don’t rent to women.” “We don’t admit women.” “We don’t give credit cards to women.” “We won’t promote her because women can’t be bosses.” “We won’t promote her because she’s bossy and un-feminine.” “A woman would be taking a man’s place in that job (or school or business or political party).” In the past, until our revolution, women and girls lived a second-class existence. We Jews helped to change that.

Our worldwide feminist revolution suddenly accelerated with the birth of the National Organization for Women (NOW) on October 29, 1966. I was a co-founder; but the founder was another Jewish woman, Betty Friedan. The Jerusalem Report carried my story about Betty’s 100th birthday in its January 25, 2021 issue.

Below are featured some two dozen Jewish women (and one Jewish man) who helped to create our women’s revolution. They mobilized countless other Americans (many of them Jews) who abolished injustices in their own specific community or company or university or labor union or profession. Whatever made your grandmother angry, American feminists fought to change it. The list below is incomplete. Other Jewish feminists could be added, too.

Two dozen Jewish women (and one man) who helped create the women's revolution

One participant estimated that 12-13 percent of NOW’s founders were Jewish – though we can’t be sure about the religion of people nowadays. Our foremost hero was the proudly Jewish Betty Friedan. In 1963, Betty’s book The Feminine Mystique awakened millions of educated women everywhere to the need for equal partnership with men. Betty served as NOW’s president in our first four years. She gave our organization its name, its inspiring Statement of Purpose (read it on the NOW website!), its strategies, its ferocious energy. With a cohort of other leaders (including Black feminists), she generated our rapid expansion from “an elite cadre” to a force of hundreds of thousands of dedicated activists.

BELLA ABZUG wears her trademark large hat during a discussion with fellow activist Jane Fonda in 1995, at a function celebrating 20 years since the establishment of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). (credit: REUTERS)

You realize how much we accomplished under Betty’s leadership when you’re reminded that employment ads once said “Help Wanted Male” and “Help Wanted Female.” And women in 1966 comprised only four percent of America’s lawyers, seven percent of its doctors, and one percent of its federal judges. Look around and see how much we’ve changed things.

My list of Jewish American feminists doesn’t include Gloria Steinem, whose father was Jewish, because she does not identify with any religion, and her mother wasn’t Jewish. However, I do include Alicia Garza, founder of Black Lives Matter, who converted to Judaism. And, of course, I kvell about Bella Abzug. Bella, in addition to founding the National Women’s Political Caucus with Betty and Gloria (and non-Jewish activists such as Shirley Chisholm), introduced the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which passed Congress in 1974. In her six years in the US Congress, she co-authored 20 bills for the benefit of women; and she led the way for laws supporting the environment, peace, and LGBTQ Americans. In 1977, Bella headed the historic National Women’s Conference in Houston, and then led the National Advisory Conference for Women to implement its recommendations.

We cannot overlook Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who became a celebrated feminist icon with her opinions as a justice of our Supreme Court. In her early days, as director of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, Ruth scored five trail-blazing victories for women by proving to the Supreme Court that men suffer, too, when the two genders are treated differently.

High on my list is a Jewish-American man, Phineas Indritz, a key member of our NOW Lawyers Committee. Phineas helped pass the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. He also won a court victory overturning a law that burdened convicted women with longer prison sentences than men (Pennsylvania and several other states claimed that women take longer to rehabilitate than men). While I’m mentioning Jewish American men in our movement, I salute Lawrence Lader, primary founder of the National Association to Repeal Abortion Laws (known today as NARAL Pro-Choice America).

Sonia Pressman Fuentes, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission attorney who abetted our early lawsuits and served as an invaluable adviser, deserves recognition. Sonia and I are, I believe, the only major members of NOW’s founding conference who are still alive.

The feminist movement taught us to avoid false modesty, so I include myself in this list as a NOW co-founder. As NOW’s publicity director, I introduced our new movement to the media of the world. I also acted as Betty Friedan’s lieutenant. In later years, I was national chair of NOW, founder and president of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund (now called Legal Momentum), and founder of NOW’s New York chapter. I now chair Veteran Feminists of America. I tell my story in my new book.

Heather Booth founded Jane, the abortion referral service that helped over 11,000 women obtain abortions in the days before Roe v. Wade. She founded the Midwest Academy that trains activists to organize. She has led numerous organizations advancing women’s liberation. Today, Heather heads Outreach to Progressives for President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign.

Dr. Bernice Sandler helped win enforcement of Title IX, promoting equal opportunity in education for women and girls. She sued 250 colleges and universities to end their patterns of sex discrimination.

Barbara Seaman co-founded the Women’s Health Network, and through her book The Doctor’s Case against the Pill forced the pharmaceutical industry to reduce unsafe levels of estrogen in birth control pills.

Elinor Guggenheimer fought early for childcare and founded the National Day Care and Child Development Council in 1958. In 1973, she founded the Women’s Forum of New York (later birthing the International Women’s Forum), linking preeminent women into a powerful network.

Karen DeCrow served as the fourth president of NOW from 1974 to 1977. An attorney, she led militant actions against restaurants and bars that excluded women.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin was a founding editor of Ms. Magazine and author of 12 acclaimed books. She still fights effectively for feminism and social justice.

Dr. Gerda Lerner established the academic field of women’s history. She was active in the founding years of NOW’s New York chapter.

Dr. Eleanor Pam, president of Veteran Feminists of America, led major campaigns to overcome gender discrimination and violence against women. She spearheaded the victorious sex discrimination lawsuit against the City University of New York that served as a model for feminist class action suits in colleges across the country.

Attorney Lynn Hecht Schafran chairs the National Judicial Education Program (NJEP) of Legal Momentum. NJEP educates judges, lawyers, and other professionals in the judicial system about issues affecting women, and teaches them how to avoid gender bias in the courts.

Sheila Tobias wrote Overcoming Math Anxiety and other books promoting feminist causes. She was an early teacher of women’s studies and was a prominent force in Veteran Feminists of America.

Joyce Miller was president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women for 15 years and pioneered in organizing union feminists.

Susan Brownmiller wrote the trailblazing Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape and other feminist books and is a vociferous radical feminist today. In 1970, she coordinated the feminist sit-in at the Ladies Home Journal, and in 1979 she co-founded Women Against Pornography

Andrea Dworkin led the movement that analyzed pornography from a feminist perspective. She wrote eleven books and organized radical feminists against “men’s sexual violence against women.”

Shulamith Firestone in 1970 wrote The Dialectics of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution. Known as “the firebrand” of the movement, she co-founded half a dozen radical feminist organizations through the years.

Naomi Weisstein was the neuroscientist whose 1967 essay “Kinder, Kirsche, Kuche” launched the discipline of the psychology of women. A popular performer, she founded the first all-women band.

Alix Kates Shulman in 1975 wrote the best-selling Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen, “the first important novel to emerge from the women’s liberation movement.” Her 1969 article “A Marriage Agreement” sparked continuing controversy on the division of housework and childcare between women and men. Her feminist actions include public speak-outs and conferences on violence against women, abortion, marriage, beauty standards, and other feminist issues.

Marilyn Salzmann Webb is a prominent author and journalist active in feminist causes. She co-founded early consciousness raising groups in 1966 and 1967. In 1970, she co-founded Off Our Backs, an early feminist newspaper.

Blu Greenberg, who divides her time between Israel and the United States, has led the movement to link feminism with Judaism. Her books include On Women and Judaism: A View from Tradition. She founded the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance and issued the oft-quoted statement, “When there’s a rabbinic will, there’s a halachic way.”

Lily Rivlin is a journalist, author, and filmmaker who has highlighted women’s issues. Her films include documentaries on Heather Booth and on Jewish feminist issues.

Nancy Kaufman served as CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women from 2011 to 2019. She served two decades as executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Boston.

Gina Glantz chairs the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. In 2014, she founded GenderAvenger.com, a nonprofit organization that advances the political power of women.

Joyce Antler, Vivian Rothstein, and Amy Kesselman are influential writers, educators, and organizers for the feminist advancement of women.

Let’s not forget that three-fourths of the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective were Jewish. In 1969, they published the world-changing Women and Their Bodies. Their original 136-page booklet about women’s sexuality cost 35 cents. In 1971, the title was changed to Our Bodies, Ourselves. In its various editions, the book has sold over four million copies in 33 languages.

Why did so many American Jews advance the feminist revolution? Our tradition of social justice and tikkun olam surely deserves some of the credit. At a time when feminism is more essential than ever before, we Jews can hold our heads high.■