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In the spirit of the United Nations' proclamation that 1975 was the International Women's Year, on January 9, 1974, U.S. President Gerald Ford issued Executive Order 11832 creating a National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year "to promote equality between men and women". Congress approved $5 million in total tax-payer contributions ($ in dollars) for both the state and national conferences〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Houston Articles )〕 as HR 9924 sponsored by Congresswoman Patsy Mink, which President Gerald Ford signed into law. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter chose a new Commission and appointed Congresswoman Bella Abzug to head it. Numerous events were held over the next two years, culminating in the National Women's Conference in November 1977. ==Event== During November 18–21, 1977, 20,000 women descended upon Houston, Texas for the National Women's Conference. The goal was to hammer out a Plan of Action to be presented to the Carter Administration and Congress for consideration and/or adoption. Each of the twenty-six Resolutions on Women's Rights in the Plan was proposed to the attendees and voted upon collectively. The Conference was chaired by Member of Congress Bella Abzug. The opening ceremony speakers included: First Ladies Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford and Lady Bird Johnson, activists Coretta Scott King, Bella Abzug, Betty Friedan, Barbara Jordan, Liz Carpenter, and Jean Stapleton. Maya Angelou read the Declaration of American Women 1977. Heated debates ensued over 26 major topics addressed at the Conference, such as the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), reproductive rights, child care funding, sexual orientation, and the rights of disabled, minority and aging women.〔 At the Conference, there was also a lengthy discussion about disarmament and a series of talks featuring numerous women who had reached impressive levels of responsibility in governmental positions such as chair of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Assistant Secretary for the United States Department of Commerce, and head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Concerning the aforementioned rights of the disabled, minority and aging women, the National Plan of Action included separate sections devoted specifically to several such groups of women based on identity. These separate planks were intended to create a space in which women who fit distinctions such as 'Minority Women' 'Rural Women' and 'Older Women' could address concerns uniquely related to these identities. The 'Minority Women' plank came about as a result of a group of black women who felt that the National Plan of Action initially did not represent black women adequately. Before these women emerged, the Plan of Action included several brief paragraphs pertaining to minority women, the gist of which was simply: discrimination is unacceptable. Finding this to be insufficient, this group of black women traveled to Houston for the Conference and demanded that a separate 'Black Women's Agenda' be included in the Plan of Action. The agenda was renamed the 'Women of Color Agenda' and eventually 'Minority Women' as a result of other women of color's desire to also be afforded separate space in the document to address their unique concerns. The diverse nature of the women who attended the Conference contributed to many debates between individuals and between various groups of women. In Sisters of '77, Jane Hickie commented: "I don't believe that Anglo women had heard directly... those sorts of frustrations from other women who were Mexican American or Puerto Rican American () Latinas ever before.” The Conference thus helped many women achieve a broader intersectional lens through which to view women's issues. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「National Women's Conference」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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