BIO
Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, has fought on the frontlines for women’s equality for more than three decades.
In the 1970s, as president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), she spearheaded the drive to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, the largest nationwide grassroots and lobbying campaign in the history of the modern women’s movement. Frequently testifying before Congress, she has played a leading role in helping pass landmark legislation for women’s rights, such as the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Equal Credit Act, Civil Rights Restoration Act, Violence Against Women Act, Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, and Civil Rights Act of 1991.
Smeal also pioneered the use of the Internet as a feminist organizing and research tool by launching the Feminist Majority Foundation Online in 1995.