Ecumenical Task Force on Women and Religion

The National Organization for Women was created in 1966, the same year the Ecumenical Task Force on Women and Religion was founded.^[2] It was founded by notable Catholic feminist, Dr. Elizabeth Farians. Regarding women in the church, Farians was famous for saying, "It's all right if they come with a cake with their hands, but if they come with an idea in their heads."^[3] In the late 1970s, Georgia Fuller served as the head of the task force.^[4]

In the early years of NOW, the role of religion was emphasized as many activists identified as faith based feminists.^[5] Scholars such as Karen Bojar have emphasized the religion was foundational to the founding of NOW since it was so important to Americans in general.^[6] The task force consisteted not only of Catholics, but Protestants and Jewish women as well.^[7]

Many of the members of the task force, including Farians, supported the Equal Rights Amendment.^{[citation needed]}

The organization lasted from 1966 to the 1970s.^[1] Many local chapters were created including one in Detroit in 1970 and another in Pensacola, Florida.^[8][9]

The archives of the task force are housed as the Schlesinger Library at Harvard College.^[10]

Increasing leadership opportunities for women in religious communities was an important goal for the task force. The group endorsed the right for women to serve as deacons in 1971.^[11] This decision came as a result of the recommendation of 11 theologians.^[11]

One of the most well documented actions of the task force was 1969 protest against a church requirement that women wear hats during service.^[12] During what Elizabeth Farians referred to as the "national unveiling", women took off their head coverings at a church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[12]

• Sister Elizabeth Candon^[13]
• Valerie Elliott^[14]
• Elizabeth Farians
• Georgia Fuller
• Nancy Lee Head^[9]
• Ruth Hoppin^[15]
• Joyce Slayton Mitchell^[16]