The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) welcomes you to a quick trip through history with a snapshot of how we’ve been turning anger into action for 50 years.
Since 1972, NWLC has given a voice to women’s rage—turning hurried whispers into desperate shouts, and finally, into a rallying cry for justice and change. Our leadership has fueled a vision—and solutions—for laws, policies, and a societal culture that center gender justice values.
 After Roe v. Wade, reproductive rights become a cornerstone of our organization.
The Center is established as a project of the Center for Law and Social Policy to secure and advance legal rights and protections for women in the courts, in Congress and in the states.
Congress creates the Child Support Enforcement Program to provide new legal remedies, which the Center plays a central role in expanding in 1984, 1988, 1993, 1996, and 1998.
NWLC works to protect vulnerable women and women in low-paid jobs from testing and involuntary sterilization.
Women Working in Construction v. Marshall is filed, and in 1978 the Center wins a court order requiring government-enforced, nationwide goals for hiring women in federally funded construction.
NWLC fights for enforcement of Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools or federally funded programming.
NWLC sues the Department of Labor and spurs Congress’ passage of the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.
The Supreme Court adopts the Center’s friend-of-the-court arguments in Califano v. Westcott, establishing that AFDC must be available for two-parent families with unemployed mothers, not just those with unemployed fathers.
