WOMEN'S EQUITY ACTION LEAGUE

WOMEN'S EQUITY ACTION LEAGUE. The Women's Equity Action League (WEAL), founded in Ohio in 1968 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., formed as a spin-off from the National Organization for Women (NOW) by more conservative women wishing to avoid issues such as abortion and sexuality. WEAL focused instead on equal opportunities for women in education and employment. WEAL set up a tax-exempt fund to support lawsuits and to monitor implementation and enforcement of Title IX legislation of the 1972 Education Act Amendments dealing with academic discrimination and economic equity. It also sought to remove gender as a factor in insurance ratings and joined the fight to pass the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. WEAL published WEAL Washington Report, Better Late than Never: Financial Aid for Older Women, and newsletters on issues of concern to women, including executive and legislative actions and court decisions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Evans, Sara M. Personal Politics: The Roots of Womens Liberation in the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.

Freeman, Jo. The Politics of Women's Liberation: A Case Study of an Emerging Social Movement and Its Relation to the Policy Process. New York: McKay, 1975.

Gelb, Joyce, and Marian Lief Palley. Women and Public Policies: Reassessing Gender Politics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1987.

Graham Russell Hodges/H. S.

See also National Organization for Women; Pregnancy Discrimination Act; Women in Public Life, Business, and the Professions.