Concerned Women for America

Concerned Women for America

Concerned Women for America's logo
Formation	1979
Membership	500,000
CEO and President	Penny Young Nance
Website	concernedwomen.org

Concerned Women for America (CWA) is a socially conservativeChristian non-profit women's activist group in the United States. Headquartered in Washington D.C., the CWA is heavily involved in many social and political movements, through which it aims to support and incorporate Christian ideology. Although the group is primarily led by women for women, it welcomes men who support its beliefs and efforts as well.

The group was founded in San Diego, California in 1979 by Beverly LaHaye, wife of Timothy LaHaye, an evangelical Christian minister and author of Battle for the Mind, as well as coauthor of the Left Behind series. Recognized as a 501(c)(3) public policy women’s organization, the CWA aims to develop more "responsible citizens" through the promotion of Christian ideologies within society and politics.

The CWA identifies itself as an amalgam of "policy experts and...activists[s]" whose anti-feminist approach to politics bolsters its mission to "protect and promote Biblical values among all citizens."

As with other religious conservative organizations that arose following the 1960s, Conservative Women for America is part of a movement known as the New Christian Right. Organized in reaction to the establishment of its liberal counterpart, the National Organization for Women; the growing dispute over traditional gender roles; and the rising discussion of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), the CWA set out to "fight policies that it believe[d] [to] disrupt traditional gender roles and norms." Fueling its formation, an interview between Barbara Walters and Betty Friedan, a prominent feminist activist, gained public attention in 1978 regarding women's issues. In the interview, Friedan claimed to speak as a women's group for American women. Beverly LaHaye did not believe that Betty Friedan was speaking for the majority of women because feminist views were, according to LaHaye, anti-God and anti-family. In regards to the interview, LaHaye stated that she was convinced Friedan’s goal was a "misguided attempt to dismantle the bedrock of American culture: the family," and that she believed Christian women were not included in discussions of women's rights. In this regard, the "concern" that the CWA had behind the name of the group was in response to the worries that feminism would "ruin" America. Such fears and opposition to much of the Democratic party's ideology during this era led Beverly LaHaye to host a series of conventions and rallies in San Diego, resulting in Concerned Women for America's formation. As a result, the CWA became known as "the largest women's organization of the Christian Right during the 1980s and 1990s."