Patricia Ireland (born 1945) served as president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) from 1991 to 2001.

She wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, “I began [this book] for the same reasons as the rest of the work I do: to speak to women and men who support women’s rights, to share my experiences, to strategize ways to get around the pitfalls an over the obstacles we all face… and, I always hope, to spur some of my audience to action. When I began writing, I saw this book as another form of media… This would be another vehicle, I thought, for discussing politics---another organizing project aimed at fighting for the things women want. But like anything I’ve done that was really worth doing, this project has proved more difficult---and more satisfying---than I could have imagined. Before I could write about what women want, friends and colleagues said, didn’t I have to look at my own life and answer what I wanted? I resisted, but slowly I realized they were right. I did have to answer a lot of questions myself. What had led me down this path of feminist politics in the first place? … After all, I haven’t exactly traveled an ordinary road to political life… So I want to review and celebrate with you the gains we’ve made in just my lifetime alone… and to remind ourselves about all that remains to be done.”

She recalls of her time as a stewardess, “Our jobs were always at risk. And it wasn’t as if there were scores of great employment options for women in those days. Many women, myself included, viewed sexual harassment as the price of admission into the workplace. Since I felt powerless to stop it, I simply resigned myself to paying the entrance fee. If this was what it took to have the economic independence denied to our mothers and grandmothers, so be it.” (Pg. 41) When her husband’s wisdom teeth became impacted, she recounts, “Imagine my surprise upon being told that Pan Am’s insurance didn’t cover my husband, even though it covered fellow employees’ wives. This was like a splash of ice water across my face. If I’d been a man, my family would have been protected. Because I was a woman, my family was not.” (Pg. 56)

She notes, “Consciousness is a funny thing: Once you become conscious, you can’t just regress. In fact, the opposite happens: You find yourself becoming conscious of more and more. And consciousness is the predecessor of transformation.” (Pg. 75)

She says about the approaching 1982 deadline for the ratification of the ERA, “A leader needs always to hold out hope for success, but I knew we had to make our plans in the face of reality. I had wanted to shake people out of any illusion that the ERA would be ratified without ALL of us making a very major commitment to it, and becoming intensely involved in electoral politics. During the final, intense year of the ERA Countdown Campaign I began to learn how to be honest about reality while still inspiring others.” (Pg. 131-132)

She observes, “The ability to control our own fertility gives women choice and timing, as well as improved overall health. And it’s also given us the ability to enter spheres of endeavor other than motherhood. Birth control and abortion contradict the notion of woman-as-chattel or woman-as-childbearer---and nothing else. If we can control our reproduction, we can control our lives.” (Pg. 166) Later, she adds, “I, too, had had an illegal abortion. And by speaking openly about it, by telling the world that I was not ashamed of it, I could finally begin to decide for myself what was right and wrong without any outside moral censure. In the context of my own life and my own spiritual beliefs, the fact remained that I had made the right decision to have that abortion, and it was the right decision, now, to speak of it.” (Pg. 171)

Of the article in ‘The Advocate’ after she became President of NOW, she explains, “I wanted to give our activists every opportunity to prepare themselves for the firestorm of controversy and political backlash that would ensue. Alas. The Advocate would up releasing advance copies of the interview … a week before our [NOW] board meeting. This blew my plans for alerting the NOW community in advance… I had never really been ‘in’ any closet. It’s just that before I became national president of NOW, my personal life wasn’t news… What I told The Advocate… was this: I have a husband, and he is very important in my life. I also have a companion, and she is very important in my life, too. Most of the interviews that followed were spent trying to explain why I would not claim the label ‘lesbian’ or ‘bisexual’ or any other label to describe my sexuality.” (Pg. 220-221)

She laments, “For every person who comes to a chapter meeting or speech despite antigay comments from family and peers, I wonder how many have been scared away. Homophobia is effectively used to keep women in line regardless of our sexual orientation.” (Pg. 230)

She exclaims, “[In 1992] Alan Dixon… may have been shocked when he woke one spring morning to find that Carol Moseley-Braun had pulled his Senate seat out from under him, cut it was no surprise to the NOW activists who’d campaigned for her. The power of ordinary women doesn’t often show itself so blatantly---or so overwhelmingly. But when it does, it’s awesome.” (Pg. 249)

In the final chapter, she summarizes, “From a feminist perspective, I see power as the freedom to set my own agenda---and I want to extend the same to other women. I can say that I have more real power in my personal and political lives because I have taken control of my life and begun to go after what I want for myself and other women. But I believe we can do all that from whatever position we’re in. And I also believe that if insiders and outsiders can learn to work more effectively together, all women will be empowered one day.” (Pg. 275)

This book will be of keen interest to anyone studying the “Second Wave” of the women’s movement, or who want to know more about the National Organization for Women.

Patricia Ireland (born 1945) served as president of the National Organization for Women (NOW) from 1991 to 2001.

She wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, “I began [this book] for the same reasons as the rest of the work I do: to speak to women and men who support women’s rights, to share my experiences, to strategize ways to get around the pitfalls an over the obstacles we all face… and, I always hope, to spur some of my audience to action. When I began writing, I saw this book as another form of media… This would be another vehicle, I thought, for discussing politics---another organizing project aimed at fighting for the things women want. But like anything I’ve done that was really worth doing, this project has proved more difficult---and more satisfying---than I could have imagined. Before I could write about what women want, friends and colleagues said, didn’t I have to look at my own life and answer what I wanted? I resisted, but slowly I realized they were right. I did have to answer a lot of questions myself. What had led me down this path of feminist politics in the first place? … After all, I haven’t exactly traveled an ordinary road to political life… So I want to review and celebrate with you the gains we’ve made in just my lifetime alone… and to remind ourselves about all that remains to be done.”

She recalls of her time as a stewardess, “Our jobs were always at risk. And it wasn’t as if there were scores of great employment options for women in those days. Many women, myself included, viewed sexual harassment as the price of admission into the workplace. Since I felt powerless to stop it, I simply resigned myself to paying the entrance fee. If this was what it took to have the economic independence denied to our mothers and grandmothers, so be it.” (Pg. 41) When her husband’s wisdom teeth became impacted, she recounts, “Imagine my surprise upon being told that Pan Am’s insurance didn’t cover my husband, even though it covered fellow employees’ wives. This was like a splash of ice water across my face. If I’d been a man, my family would have been protected. Because I was a woman, my family was not.” (Pg. 56)

She notes, “Consciousness is a funny thing: Once you become conscious, you can’t just regress. In fact, the opposite happens: You find yourself becoming conscious of more and more. And consciousness is the predecessor of transformation.” (Pg. 75)

She says about the approaching 1982 deadline for the ratification of the ERA, “A leader needs always to hold out hope for success, but I knew we had to make our plans in the face of reality. I had wanted to shake people out of any illusion that the ERA would be ratified without ALL of us making a very major commitment to it, and becoming intensely involved in electoral politics. During the final, intense year of the ERA Countdown Campaign I began to learn how to be honest about reality while still inspiring others.” (Pg. 131-132)

She observes, “The ability to control our own fertility gives women choice and timing, as well as improved overall health. And it’s also given us the ability to enter spheres of endeavor other than motherhood. Birth control and abortion contradict the notion of woman-as-chattel or woman-as-childbearer---and nothing else. If we can control our reproduction, we can control our lives.” (Pg. 166) Later, she adds, “I, too, had had an illegal abortion. And by speaking openly about it, by telling the world that I was not ashamed of it, I could finally begin to decide for myself what was right and wrong without any outside moral censure. In the context of my own life and my own spiritual beliefs, the fact remained that I had made the right decision to have that abortion, and it was the right decision, now, to speak of it.” (Pg. 171)

Of the article in ‘The Advocate’ after she became President of NOW, she explains, “I wanted to give our activists every opportunity to prepare themselves for the firestorm of controversy and political backlash that would ensue. Alas. The Advocate would up releasing advance copies of the interview … a week before our [NOW] board meeting. This blew my plans for alerting the NOW community in advance… I had never really been ‘in’ any closet. It’s just that before I became national president of NOW, my personal life wasn’t news… What I told The Advocate… was this: I have a husband, and he is very important in my life. I also have a companion, and she is very important in my life, too. Most of the interviews that followed were spent trying to explain why I would not claim the label ‘lesbian’ or ‘bisexual’ or any other label to describe my sexuality.” (Pg. 220-221)

She laments, “For every person who comes to a chapter meeting or speech despite antigay comments from family and peers, I wonder how many have been scared away. Homophobia is effectively used to keep women in line regardless of our sexual orientation.” (Pg. 230)

She exclaims, “[In 1992] Alan Dixon… may have been shocked when he woke one spring morning to find that Carol Moseley-Braun had pulled his Senate seat out from under him, cut it was no surprise to the NOW activists who’d campaigned for her. The power of ordinary women doesn’t often show itself so blatantly---or so overwhelmingly. But when it does, it’s awesome.” (Pg. 249)

In the final chapter, she summarizes, “From a feminist perspective, I see power as the freedom to set my own agenda---and I want to extend the same to other women. I can say that I have more real power in my personal and political lives because I have taken control of my life and begun to go after what I want for myself and other women. But I believe we can do all that from whatever position we’re in. And I also believe that if insiders and outsiders can learn to work more effectively together, all women will be empowered one day.” (Pg. 275)

This book will be of keen interest to anyone studying the “Second Wave” of the women’s movement, or who want to know more about the National Organization for Women.

I thought i'd find out what it was i wanted, so i decided to read this book. I must confess the title annoyed me somewhat for starters (not a good thing), but as i read along, i warmed up to the author. Her tone is quite even and matter-of-fact, even at times when she had the right to be outraged. She brought up the fact that it wasn't that long ago that women were blatantly discriminated in the workplace. Her episode with PanAm and dental coverage for her husband happened not even 30 years ago!
Like all memoirs, it is virtually impossible not to toot your own horn a bit, but Ireland keeps her horn subtlety muted, with only occasional shining references to her achievements.
Once she became president of NOW, she had to move from FL to DC. As it happens so often, dislocation is bad for relationships, and Ireland, married, soon became involved with someone else. This episode also proved to me that people can fool themselves into believing whatever is convenient, and that intelligence has nothing to do with it. How could she possibly have two intimate relationships and justify the validity of both? Can you imagine a man coming up with the same logic? He would be chastised by women all over the globe! Patricia Ireland as a de-facto bigamist disappointed me.

She gives the point of view from a woman with no morals, or values. She feels anything goes in this world with no accountability even to ourselves. If we are devoid of emotion and love then she is someone to believe in. In the long run she actually causes pain and depression to women for the emptiness they will experience through their lives. I guess this book is about a women that is immature in true human emotion and love for mankind . I guess we are such a me society that someone has to give that opinion.