38 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Concerned Women for America To understand Beverly LaHaye, one must consider the organization she birthed. She formed Concerned Women for America in 1979, claiming she started the grassroots organization in response to the liberal feminist movement she saw taking over the hearts and homes of American women.48 LaHaye notes that in 1978, while watching Barbara Walters interview of Betty Friedan, co-founder of the NOW, Friedan proclaimed, “I [am] speaking for the women of America. I plan to spend the rest of my life seeing that America becomes a humanist nation.”49 Friedan’s vision for America did not resonate with LaHaye. Friedan’s interview motivated LaHaye to form a united group of evangelical women pushing back the feminist agenda. While Friedan’s 1978 interview with Walters sparked the idea for CWA, the genesis of CWA stems from LaHaye’s observation of the 1977 National Women’s Convention celebrating International Women’s Year. After the Houston convention, Gladys Dickelman came to LaHaye, explaining the militant, pro-lesbian, pro-abortion, and anti-family messages of the convention speakers and corporate sponsors. The concentrated, unified effort by the feminist movement “demanding federal intervention into [women’s] lives” spurred LaHaye into action.50 She refused to allow the feminist movement to have the last word. The group that became the CWA organization began small but quickly became a national organization. After the Houston women’s convention, LaHaye and eight friends began meeting in homes for prayer and “coffees,” typical for conservative women’s groups. Their ultimate goal was to hold a rally in San Diego, highlighting the Equal Rights Amendment's inconsistencies and educating women on the real agenda behind the ERA. In 1978, over 1,200 women attended the rally, where LaHaye’s husband was one of the main speakers.51 From January 1979 to January 1980, the CWA grew from 24 to 655 members, and by 1981, two years after its inception, CWA had reached 100,000 members.52 In 1983, LaHaye opened a CWA office in Washington, D.C., with the following message: “The feminists do not represent all women of America. The women of this country are every bit as pluralistic as the men.”53 Finally, in 1985, Beverly moved the CWA headquarters from San Diego, California, to Washington, D.C, becoming an official
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODc4ODgx