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Fifty-One Percent
51%

The Women of NOW

By Jesse King,
Josh Landes
Published March 20, 2025 at 8:00 PM EDT
Jesse King/WAMC
Muriel Fox

On this week’s 51%, we sit down with longtime feminist activist Muriel Fox to chat about how the National Organization for Women got started in the 1960s, and how it fought for many of the rights and opportunities women cherish today. Fox is a public relations executive who co-founded NOW and helped shape it into what it is today. Fox shares how women (and men) fought for equal rights in the 1960s, and how they can continue to fight today. WAMC’s Josh Landes also speaks with North Adams, Massachusetts City Councilor Ashley Shade about what it’s like to be a transgender woman in politics right now.

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Guests: Muriel Fox, co-founder of the National Organization for Women and author of The Women’s Revolution: How We Changed Your Life; Ashley Shade, vice president of the North Adams, Massachusetts city council

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

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Tags
51% Muriel Foxbook
Jesse King
Jesse King is the host of WAMC's national program on women's issues, "51%," and the station's bureau chief in the Hudson Valley. She has also produced episodes of the WAMC podcast "A New York Minute In History."
See stories by Jesse King
Josh Landes
Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
See stories by Josh Landes
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