The year 2002 marked the 25th anniversary of the historic 1977 National Women’s Conference in Houston.

From Wisconsin Women & the National Plan of Action: “The Houston conference, held in November 1977, was seen as a “coming of age” of the American women’s movement. The historic meeting was mandated by a 1975 Act of Congress which directed the National Commission on the Observance of International Women’s Year to convene it.

“The 1,442 delegates, elected from 56 states and territories, who attended the conference were asked to identify the barriers that prevent women from participating fully and equally in all aspects of national life, to develop recommendations on how to remove those barriers and to establish a timetable for achieving those goals. Roughly 130,000 women participated in making those decisions in state meetings leading up to the national conference.

“Wisconsin is particularly proud to have had the chair of its Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women, Dr. Kathryn Clarenbach, appointed as the deputy director of the office of the National Commission which organized the conference.”

The National Plan of Action consists of 25 resolutions that resulted from this meeting, and are the principles upon which the Wisconsin Women’s Network was founded.

Two articles first published in the March 2001 issue of the Wisconsin Women's Network's newsletter, The Stateswoman by Connie Threinen and Sunshine Hedlund offer their perspectives on the 1977 National Women’s Conference and the 20th Anniversary Conference in 1997 respectively.

Visit the web site of the National Women's History Project for more about women's history.