Muriel Fox joined nearly 50 women in co-founding NOW in 1966, and served as the main lieutenant of president Betty Friedan in its early years. She also started the organization's New York chapter and served as its publicist, having already climbed the ladder at a large public relations agency during a time when women were still held back in many fields. Last year, Fox released a memoir about her time in NOW. The Women's Revolution highlights some of the biggest contributors to the movement.
Now 97, Fox is still advocating for women's rights from her retirement community at the Kendal on Hudson, where she and other residents have been sending postcards in support of Susan Crawford, the Democrat-supported candidate for state Supreme Court in Wisconsin. WAMC Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Jesse King spoke with Fox about her book, her approach to activism, and her outlook on the second Trump Administration.
Why did you want to write The Women's Revolution?
It's so important, I feel more important than ever now, in today's political climate, that people understand you can make a difference. It's not easy. It takes struggle, and you make mistakes. But at the same time, we did change the world. And despite the problems today, the world's never going to go back to the way it was in 1966. When NOW was founded, at that time the newspaper ads said, "Help wanted: male," and "Help wanted: female." Women were only four percent of America's lawyers, only seven percent of America's doctors, and only one percent of America's judges. It was just considered routine that a woman really lived only to raise a family and to support her husband and children, and that this would give her great satisfaction. And then Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique, and proved to women all over the world — 50 million bought her book — that you can have another life, also. It's all part of life to accomplish, to realize what you want to do, what you can do, and to be a partner with men. We weren't opponents, never were opponents with men. But we've always been partners, and equal partnership has worked out for everybody: for our sons and grandsons and our daughters and granddaughters.
You helped co-found the National Organization for Women.
Right, I'm very proud of that.
How did it actually come together back then? What was the work of putting this organization together?
Well, there was a conference in June [of 1966] in Washington of the state commissions on the status of women. And a group of women got together in Betty Friedan's hotel room, and they had certain requirements. They said if [the commissions] did not meet those requirements, they were going to start an organization. And they did. And then that summer, I was one of many people who was in Betty Friedan's rolodex, and I received a form letter saying they'd started this organization. And I immediately wrote her and said, "Give me 200 application blanks. I'll send them to all of my friends in American Women in Radio and Television (Today, the Alliance for Women in Media)." And she asked me — I was vice president of the world's largest public relations agency, Carl Beyer & Associates — she asked me if I would do the public relations. I said, "Well, I have a job that's 60 hours a week, I have two children, but I'll do what I can." And so I did help with the public relations, and then on October 29, 1966, really, the women's revolution began with the founding of NOW.
And we were serious. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was not being enforced in regards to sex discrimination, and we were going to make sure that the government enforced the Civil Rights Act for women. And everything changed. We had task forces, we listed everything that we needed, that we wanted — especially jobs. Jobs was number one. But also the image of women, and healthcare, every facet of life. And it really began to change very, very quickly. We couldn't believe how quickly it changed, and I think that's because it was so long overdue, and we were part of the Civil Rights Movement, which was moving for equality for everyone.
What did the work of making this change happen look like? What do we need to make change, is what I'm trying to get at. What worked for you guys, at least?
As I say in the final words of my book, the word now is politics: politics, politics, politics. We've got to be elected. Every time someone comes up to me now and says they like my book, I say, "Good. Run for office." Whether it's local, county, chief, school board or library board, or the state legislature, we've got to get feminists — women and men who believes in equality — we have to get them elected. I did a lot of research for my book, and I realized, frankly, we had a Democratic Congress: Senate and House of Representatives. I'm not sure we could have succeeded so easily if we had not succeeded in politics.
What did you make of the November presidential election, and where we are right now?
I have to say, I never expected it. I was so sure [then-Vice President Kamala Harris] would win. And I think a lot of the problem is my field, communications. People are not getting the news today. People used to listen to the news on the radio at 6 o'clock, and then maybe watch it on television. They'd get the daily newspaper. I ask people today, "How do you get your news?" And they get it almost indirectly, scattershot, from social media or podcasts — but they're also getting a lot of lies. And this upsets me so much. I don't know the answer, completely. How do we make sure people get the news, that people get the truth? We have to work for this, and this is a job for you young people now. How can we make sure people get accurate, correct information?
We've got the government opposing affirmative action and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. What advice do you have for people trying to push against these actions?
I think we need allies. We have to work together. And frankly, our own feminist movement would have gotten even further if we hadn't had so many fights. We fought terribly. I think we succeeded because it almost seemed like a religious crusade for us — but in a religion, you always believe that nobody else is as pure as you are, so we fought with each other over our differences. And we have to understand now: we don't have to agree on everything, but we have to have allies. We have to have coalitions. We have to work together. And if we do, we'll succeed. And if we don't, I don't know what's going to happen to the world. I'm very worried today.
This conversation is part of our coverage for Women's History Month. How do you hope people look back on the National Organization for Women in that particular period of the second wave feminist movement?
Well, I hope people will understand we changed history, that it could be done. People used to say to us, "Well, that's the way it's always been." But it doesn't have to remain that way: we did change history. And I'm very proud that Women's History Month has made a big difference, also, in helping people understand what you can do. And I hope my book is helping young people, especially young people, understand that they can make a difference. I'm very pleased at Kendal on Hudson at how many people come up to me and say, "Well, I read the book and I loved it — and I want three copies for my grandchildren, or my nieces or my nephews." So that they will understand what we went through. People don't believe that the ads used to say, "Help wanted: male, Help wanted: female." Or that women were denied credit cards. Or women couldn't get a mortgage without a man signing for it. People today can't understand, "Really, was that true?" We had to fight for that. But we won.
So I hope people understand that you can win if you fight, but you have to work together. And NOW is still strong. I just did a book party at NOW headquarters in New York City, and I was happy to see so many young people there, and so many men. They were enthusiastic, and they weren't giving up. They're angry. Frankly, I think we lost the election because our opponents were angry. Maybe they were angrier than we were. Maybe we were too confident. But whatever it is, we have to turn that anger into fighting productively together.
