issues would distract attention from more pressing needs in
developing countries; others were concerned that women's programs
would impose Western values. A number of staff members were
interested in such programs but felt unprepared to explore
grant-making opportunities without additional female staff.
Subsequently, the New York international staff established a
committee to investigate grant-making opportunities, and the
division assigned a "circuit-riding" program officer to help the
overseas offices develop women-specific grants.
National
Affairs
Women's
programs in the National Affairs Division were built around one
central priority: improving the economic security of disadvantaged
women, particularly low-income and minority women. Although
strategies varied according to the targeted groups of women and
their economic circumstances, one broad strategy was, and remains,
a crucial component of U.S. grant making: working for changes in
the law and enforcement of women's legal rights.
By the 1970s
major laws to end sex discrimination in employment had been passed
in the United States. For example, Congress passed the Equal Pay
Act in 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act one year later.
Translating the legislated ideal into reality, however, proved to
be elusive. Women in the U.S. labor force were, and still are,
concentrated in a few traditionally female occupations, earning, on
average, 60¢ for every dollar that men earn. For minority
women, economic disadvantage was particularly acute. Inadequate
enforcement of the law and contradictory court opinions helped
perpetuate the wage gap. Achieving fair, consistent standards and
results would require sustained advocacy.
Much of the
initial Foundation work in women's programming stressed litigation
and advocacy to secure equal rights. In the early 1970s several
organizations and public-interest law firms handled sex
discrimination cases, winning major victories in the courts.
Challenging discrimination in employment, health services,
education, credit, and property rights, these groups sought
constitutional interpretations that would render sex a suspect
classification. The Foundation, following its tradition of support
for minority civil rights, backed litigation on behalf of women
with grants to the ACLU Women's Rights Project, the NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund's Minority Women's Employment Program,
the Mexican American