The National Organization for Women (NOW ) is an organization for the defense of women's rights. Its approach prioritizes achieving economic equality and rights equality. The organization has also been active in the fight for the right to abortion, reproductive freedom, against racism and intolerance in defense of the LGBTQIA community.
One example of the kind of discrimination successfully ended by efforts of NOW is unequal access to public places. The Oak Room was a bar and a restaurant in the Plaza Hotel in New York City that only received men during weekdays (monday through Friday) until 1969, when NOW members organized a protest. Similarly, women were not allowed to enter McSorley Irish Tavern in New York city until August 10, 1970, after NOW's lawyers filed a case of discrimination against the bar in the District Court and won. The bar was forced to admit women and the bathroom became unisex.
