Eleanor Smeal
Eleanor Smeal is a left-of-center feminist activist who was prominent from the 1970s through the 2000s. As the president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) and later the Fund for Feminist Majority, Smeal pushed for the adoption of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, defended expanding access to abortion and abortion drugs, and supported affirmative action. 1 2
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Career
Eleanor Smeal was one of the major leaders of the American feminist movement from the 1970s onward. In 1968 she joined the local Pittsburgh chapter of the League of Women Voters before joining the more militant National Organization for Women in 1970. She was also involved in local Pittsburgh area politics, working as the secretary and treasurer of the Allegheny County Council for two years. 2
Smeal continued to climb the ranks within NOW, and in 1972, she became the president of the Pennsylvania chapter. She held that position until she became chairperson of the national board and later president in 1977. Biographies note that she was a major force in pushing NOW and the feminist movement to be more forceful and militant with protests and lobbying for feminist causes, especially abortion access and the Equal Rights Amendment. 2 2
She authored the book Why and How Women Will Elect the Next President, which promoted a strategy of women-bloc voting that could be mobilized for left-of-center political aspirations and change. 2
Smeal also pushed for the 1984 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate to be a woman. She was successful and Walter Mondale’s running mate was then-U.S. Representative Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY). Mondale and Ferraro were defeated in the 1984 election by Republican President Ronald Reagan. 2
In 1987, Smeal left NOW and became the president of the Fund for Feminist Majority, another left-of-center feminist activist group that she pushed to continue militant protests pushing abortion and other feminist-oriented legislation, especially concerning economic issues. The fund eventually became the publisher of Ms. Magazine. 1
Political Views
Smeal advanced left-of-center political views. She was an avid promoter of abortion-access and legislation securing the right to abortion. She similarly was a major force in campaigning for the defeated Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution. 1 2 This amendment would have codified absolute equality between the sexes and was opposed by many right-of-center activists, notably Phyllis Schlafly and her Eagle Forum organization. Schlafly argued that the passage of the ERA would have meant that women would be eligible for the military draft and that widows would lose certain Social Security benefits. Ultimately, the self-imposed deadline set by the ERA for passage passed and the amendment was defeated. 3
Smeal was influential in the Democratic Party and campaigned for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone, which it did in 2000, after over a decade of lobbying. 1
Smeal also promoted affirmative action policies. 1
Political Contributions
Eleanor Smeal has made tens of thousands of dollars in political contributions since 2000 to Democratic and left-of-center campaigns, committees, and groups. These include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s various campaigns, former President Barack Obama, Democratic fundraising conduit ActBlue, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), and former Vice President Kamala Harris. 4