Syracuse University

Karen L. DeCrow L'72
For Excellence in Advocacy of Civil Liberties and Women's Rights

Karen DeCrow is a nationally recognized attorney, author, and advocate specializing in Constitutional law, gender and age discrimination, and civil liberties. For 42 years, she has devoted countless hours to writing articles, columns, and books on feminist issues and lecturing on reproductive rights. Her law practice primarily uses litigation as a tool for social change. Her lifelong activism and dedication to promoting gender equality has had a profound impact on the lives of women and men, both here and abroad.

DeCrow joined the fledgling National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1967 at a time when the organization was pushing for equal pay for equal work, a concept that appealed to her —an overworked, underpaid employee in the publishing industry. In 1969, she decided to pursue a law degree, and during her first year as an SU law student, she became the first woman to run for mayor of Syracuse, the first woman to run for mayor in New York State, and one of only a handful of women running for office anywhere in the country.

From 1974 to 1977, DeCrow guided NOW as its national president. Under her leadership, efforts to advance gender equality included persuading NASA to recruit women; persuading the EEOC to investigate sex discrimination complaints; pressuring the then three national networks to include women and minorities in front of and behind the camera; and influencing the male Ivy League schools to admit women. In 1988, she co-founded World Woman Watch with Robert Seidenberg, M.D., to urge world leaders not to use religion or culture to mask sex discrimination. And she campaigned tirelessly for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, traveling the country to debate anti-feminist writer Phyllis Schlafly more than 50 times.

DeCrow's many articles and columns have appeared in such prestigious publications as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and USA Today. Among her notable books are The Young Woman's Guide to Liberation (1971), Sexist Justice (1974), and Women Who Marry Houses: Panic and Protest and Agoraphobia (co-authored with Robert Seidenberg, M.D., 1983). According to former New York Times columnist, William Safire, DeCrow was the first person on record to use the phrase "politically correct."

In recognition of her pioneering advocacy for gender equality, DeCrow will enter the ranks of some of the most celebrated women in U.S. history when she is inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame on October 10-11, 2009.