Gender identity is one of the most important aspects of every human’s life. Different organizations take very different stands on the question of gender identity, according to their values and political affiliations. In this essay, two such organizations are compared: a feminist union, National Organization for Women, and Christian-centric Concerned Women for America.
National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women, or NOW, emerged at the dawn of the feminist trend. Betty Freidan, the founder of the organization, was the first to realize that vigorous marketing and respectability can be an effective tool for increasing the influence of feminism. She turned the women’s movement into a powerful lobby. In 1966, Freidan created the National Organization for Women. The name was specially chosen so that its English abbreviation – NOW – held its own meaning.
The new organization immediately announced its goal to represent all women in America. Today, the organization includes 500,000 women who are active and well-versed in law. According to the organization’s website (About 2021 p. 1), “NOW’s purpose is to to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect the equal rights of all women and girls in all aspects of life”. The organization opposes racial discrimination, harassment of LGBTQ+ people and violence against women.
NOW does not depend on foundations, grants or federal support – it operates on the membership and volunteer contributions, as well as personal donations. A young, proactive woman, possibly single, with a strong position on gender inequalities and a need to make change could most likely be a member of the organization. As opposing to her, a conservative, older woman, a presumed wife and a mother, who stands against abortion, sex education and LGBTQIA rights, would least likely join NOW.
NOW has a number of several running agendas, one of them declaring the need to take action in protecting and promoting the reproductive rights. The website provides a list of relevant study resources regarding the matter: for example, information of transgender health, abortion, barriers of sex education and many others. NOW stands for pro-choice approach to the reproductive health and promotion of sex education.
Concerned Women for America
The organization got its start in 1978 in San-Diego, California, its founder being Beverly LaHaye, a wife of a Baptist pastor. The struggle of the state against Christian educational institutions, ignorance towards the interests of women with conservative positions, the prevalence of abortion were the problems LaHaye opposed to in her fight.
Concerned Women for America calls itself the largest women’s social and political organization that promotes biblical principles. Unfortunately, there is no information on the amount of members in it. The organization if funded by individual, group and organizational donations, such as Koch Industries.
Ironically, LaHaye herself described the emergence of the organization as the opposition to Betty Freidan’s feminist movement, which declared that feminism would free America’s enslaved women, and that Freidan will become their voice. Moreover, in 1982, Concerned Women for America founded the Beverly LaHaye Institute. Both CWA and the Institute concentrated their efforts on tackling health care reforms, same-sex marriage, abortion, and “potentially restricting free speech” laws on hatred.
A most likely member of Concerned Women for America is a conservative white woman, a supporter of Republican Party and a dedicated Christian, married and with children, who strongly opposes reproductive rights and feminism. Thus, a least likely member of such organization are young, left-oriented, atheistic woman, presumably without children, a supporter of Democrats and equality.
Concerned Women for America declare 7 core issues, which proclaim a pro-life approach, opposition to same-sex marriages, secular education and other biblical values. The organization states on its website (What We Do 2020 p. 1) that “there’s a cultural battle raging across this country and CWA is on the frontline protecting those values through prayer and action”. The website offers a very wide assortment of resources: a blog, a number of downloadable publications, gospel statements and others. The organization also attempts to educate concerned people on the biblical values regarding gender and sexual orientation.
Gender Issues
One of the key issues of NOW is the equality for LGBTQ+ society, especially, transgender people. According to the organization’s website (LGBTQ Rights 2021 p. 1), “NOW is committed to fighting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in all areas, including employment, housing, public accommodations, health services, child custody, and military policies”. NOW’s main argument is that transgender rights are human rights, and the gender-based discrimination potentially causes harm to that part of society.
Concerned Women for America takes a very different stand on the issue. One of the organization’s current agendas is the opposition against transgenderism. The website (Erasing Women 2021 pp. 2) claims that “unscientific attempt to address discrimination by elevating protections on the basis of “gender identity” is a direct threat against every woman in America”. CWA sees transgenderism as a violation of biblical values and God’s law, proclaiming that it defies the biological concept of men and women.
Legislation Related to the Issue
The issue of transgender rights in the USA was always a difficult one. Walch et al. (2020) states that “transgender individuals comprise a vulnerable group that faces significant barriers in accessing equitable health care despite the current protections that exist surrounding a person’s gender identity” (p. 306). The Equality Act, which has passed on 23th of February, 2021, is related heavily to the issue. Clark and Virani (2021) state that “employing deontological and consequentialist reasoning, we conclude that granting trans youth with decisional capacity and the legal authority to consent to hormone therapy is ethically justified” (p. 162). Nevertheless, the Republicans and CWA still claim that their main concern is the wellbeing of the children. At the same time, NOW takes a clear stand on the issue as well, protecting transgender rights to proper healthcare.
Gender as a Construct and a Key Concern of both Organizations
NOW sees gender as a spectrum, agreeing to the concept of queer theory, which proclaims that sexual identity is not determined by biological sex. Martos et al. (2017) state that “ongoing debates within feminist studies and theory resulted in the development of a queer theory that legitimized transgender identities” (p. 5). For this organization, gender identity is not a concern – it is one of the aspects where discrimination is still high and therefore, it needs to be fought for.
At the same time, CWA considers gender identification and transgenderism as one of the biggest threats to the American society. The organization proclaims the biological imperative of sex, defending the religious point that God created a man and a woman primarily for reproduction. In CWA’s opinion, transgenderism poses a violation of biblical norms and opposes the “true” woman identity, as well as deconstructs the traditional concept of marriage.
Websites
Both organizations have well-developed and designed websites serving the same purpose – attracting and educating their members. NWA’s site agenda is primarily to briefly demonstrate all of the current campaigns, as well as the ways for the visitors to help – and encourage them to do so. The organization tries to make its site to appeal to people’s indignation towards the matters of inequality and injustice to create a strong connection to the viewer. CWA’ site is constructed similarly: the site briefly describes 7 core values of the organization and the current campaigns on the run. However, it also uses emotionally colored pictures which are supposed to appeal to the viewer on a deeper level that NOW’s site could. The agenda of the site is clear – it emphasizes Christian values for each case, providing citations from Bible, and calls the Christians to grow aggravated with the liberal and feminist views.
Which Side am I on
Personally, I support NOW’s point of view. Human rights have to be distributed equally in the society, and the promotion of such equality is strongly needed. Moreover, I am also far from religion, so Christian view on the matters of gender and feminism is quite alien to me. Even if I were uncertain, I would still choose NOW, because it promotes equality, liberty and justice, while CWA strives to forbid, cancel and eradicate the opinions that do not correspond with their religious values.
Conclusion
The continuous back-and-forth play of public policies and agendas regarding gender equality exhausts the community. The existence of organizations such as CWA shows that a considerable part of society still does not support justice for LGBTQIA community. The solution to protection the rights of all people is to apply consistent approach to human rights and do not exclude any group – such as NOW does. Moreover, Call et al. (2021) claim that “understanding the intersection of multiple minority identities can help providers address potential barriers to care to mitigate the health disparities in the population”. It is obvious that transgender people do not fully benefit from their basic rights. Therefore, it is necessary to support the organization that promote equality and reproductive rights to all parts of society, and NOW should be among these organizations.
References
Call, D. C., Challa, M., & Telingator, C. J. (2021). Providing Affirmative Care to Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth: Disparities, Interventions, and Outcomes. Current Psychiatry Reports, 23(6).
Clark, B. A., & Virani, A. (2021). This Wasn’t a Split-Second Decision”: An Empirical Ethical Analysis of Transgender Youth Capacity, Rights, and Authority to Consent to Hormone Therapy. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 18(1), 151–164.
Concerned Women for America. (2020). What We Do. Concerned Women for America. Web.
Concerned Women for America. (2021). Erasing Women. Concerned Women for America.
Martos, A. J., Wilson, P. A., & Meyer, I. H. (2017). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) health services in the United States: Origins, evolution, and contemporary landscape. PLOS ONE, 12(7).
National Organization for Women. (2021). About. National Organization for Women.
National Organization for Women. (2021). LGBTQ Rights. National Organization for Women.
Walch, A., Davidge-Pitts, C., Safer, J. D., Lopez, X., Tangpricha, V., & Iwamoto, S. J. (2020). Proper Care of Transgender and Gender Diverse Persons in the Setting of Proposed Discrimination: A Policy Perspective*. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 106(2), 305–308.