| Formation | 1970 (founded as the NOW)[1] |
|---|---|
| Founder | Muriel Fox[2] |
| Type | Non-profit |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
Legal Momentum, founded in 1970, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the nation's first and longest-serving legal advocacy group for women in the United States. Betty Friedan and Muriel Fox were its co-founders and Muriel Fox is an ongoing leader of the organization.[2] Carol Baldwin Moody became President and CEO in April 2018. The organization, founded as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund,[3] became Legal Momentum in 2004. Legal Momentum is a multi-issue organization[4] dedicated to advancing women’s rights and gender equality, particularly in the areas of equal education opportunities; fairness in the courts; ending all forms of gender-based violence; workplace equality and economic empowerment. The organization employs three main strategies: impact litigation, policy advocacy, and educational initiatives. It is headquartered in New York City.[5][6][7]
Legal Momentum pursues precedent-setting litigation to define and defend women’s rights. It brings cases of national significance to the field of women's rights and contributes amicus ("friend of the court") briefs in cases dealing with issues central to its mission in four main categories: Fairness in the Courts, Violence Against Women and Girls, Workplace Equality and Economic Empowerment, and Equal Education Opportunities. Notable cases include United Steelworkers v. Weber, amicus in Grove City College v. Bell, NOW v. Terry, Robinson v. Jacksonville Shipyards, Inc., Saenz v. Roe, Faragher v. Boca Raton, Wedow and Kline v. City of Kansas City, and Florida Abolitionist and Jane Doe v. Backpage.com et al..
The Syms Legal Momentum Gender Equality Helpline is a free, national resource that provides information, assistance, and referrals for anyone facing gender discrimination. Each year, Legal Momentum fields hundreds of inquiries directing people to the appropriate resources and next steps for their individual circumstance and provides legal representation in a small number of potentially high-impact cases.
Legal Momentum leads advocacy efforts on a range of policy solutions aimed at responding to and eradicating gender discrimination and achieving gender equality.
Beginning in 1991, Legal Momentum worked closely with then-Senator Biden to draft and pass the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), focused on domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. Since 1994, VAWA has provided billions of dollars for victim services, education for justice system professionals and prevention programs aimed at ending gender-based violence.
To pass VAWA, Legal Momentum organized the National Task Force on the Violence Against Women Act which has evolved into the large and diverse National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. Legal Momentum is a leading member of this task force that focuses on strengthening VAWA through subsequent reauthorizations.
Legal Momentum also authored the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which protects those seeking reproductive health services from physical violence and intimidation at the clinic door.
Beginning in 2017, Legal Momentum—observing a rapidly growing form of gender-based violence and a gap in laws across the country to address it—led advocacy leading to laws in 16 states and D.C. to close loopholes that allowed for technology-facilitated sextortion offenders to escape accountability.
A statement by 16 women's rights organizations including Legal Momentum, the National Women's Law Center, the National Women's Political Caucus, Girls, Inc., End Rape on Campus, Equal Rights Advocates, the American Association of University Women, and the Women's Sports Foundation said that, "as organizations that fight every day for equal opportunities for all women and girls, we speak from experience and expertise when we say that nondiscrimination protections for transgender people—including women and girls who are transgender—are not at odds with women’s equality or well-being, but advance them" and that "we support laws and policies that protect transgender people from discrimination, including in participation in sports, and reject the suggestion that cisgender women and girls benefit from the exclusion of women and girls who happen to be transgender."[18]
The National Judicial Education Program (NJEP), founded in 1980, creates, presents and publishes a range of curricula and articles grounded in legal, social, and neuroscience research used to educate the judiciary about gender bias and how it can undermine fairness in our justice system. NJEP’s curricula include Understanding Sexual Violence: the Judicial Response to Stranger and Nonstranger Rape and Sexual Assault, and a web course, Intimate Partner Sexual Abuse: Adjudicating the Hidden Dimension of Domestic Violence Cases, available free at www.njep-ipsacourse.org.
Legal Momentum’s Rights Now! peer education program works with youth, especially young women of color, by developing their knowledge and leadership on issues of gender-based violence and discrimination, and empowering them to carry that knowledge back into their communities to teach others.
Legal Momentum’s Women Valued leads legislative advocacy and know-your-rights educational initiatives focused on safeguarding the rights of groups who have long been underserved by our laws, including women of color, immigrant women, victims of gender-based violence, and the disproportionate number of women relegated to low-wage work.
In 2004, the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund rebranded to Legal Momentum, a more succinct, mission-centric name that reflects the evolution and ongoing work of the organization.[19]