Feminist organizations - Essay Example

The feminist organization that was chosen for purposes of this brief response is that of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Although this isone of the better known/national groups that is represented in each and every one of the 50 states, it is useful to analyze due to the fact that it has a very definitive level of focus and integrates with a great many actions/projects, and political efforts around the nation. In seeking to understand the group to a better extent, it is necessary to integrate with an understanding of their goals, mission statement, political orientation, and actions.

Accordingly, the following brief analysis will make an inventory of each of these aspects as a function of further delineating and defining the National Organization for Women. Firstly, the website which was analyzed denoted that fact that the ultimate goal of the group was to take immediate action for the equality of women. Although this is specifically tied to the manner in which women’s issues and women’s rights are exhibited within the United States, the group also seeks to effect change in various regions around the globe on behalf of women and their needs/rights.

The mission statement itself further seeks to hone the areas of focus that NOW seeks to integrate with. Accordingly, the mission statement is as follows, “the purpose of NOW is to take action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities thereof in truly equal partnership with men” (NOW 1). Similarly, with regards to the political orientation of the group, the website itself promotes the understanding that the group is specifically interested in engaging in actions that promote women’s rights, feminism, anti-racism, ending homophobia, promoting LGBT rights, and promoting reproductive rights.

As might be easily inferred, the group generally promotes a more liberal interpretation of the political paradigm; siding more often than not with liberal and progressive elements within the United States and typically aligning with the Democratic party. However, with that being said, it must also be understood that NOW does not promote any one single political party; rather, their interests are supra-political and the group only sides with more progressive and liberal ideologies due to the fact that these most specifically represent the goals and ends that the group is trying to effect.

With such a constraining level of missions and values, the group is invariably at odds with conservative fundamentalists of every stripe due to the fact that these groups invariably take a very non-progressive or enlightened view of the right of a woman to chart her own path. Invariably, due to the very hostile reception that NOW has received from many elements within the United States, it is typically exhibited as the penultimate feminist organization and “at fault” for a litany of moral ills that has befallen the previously moral United States; or so its detractors are quick to point out.

Regardless of this, the organization continues to make great strides towards promoting women’s needs, rights, and values throughout the world. Work Cited"National Organization for Women." National Organization for Women (NOW). N.p., 2 Oct. 2013. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. .