THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Gene Cohen Boyer
July 11, 1925 – August 19, 2003
“Get in by the rules, play by the rules and then, change the rules.”
Founder (charter member) National Organization for Women, 1966. NOW National Board Member, 1968-1970. NOW National Treasurer, 1970. President, NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. Founded Wisconsin NOW, National Women’s Conference Committee, Jewish Women’s Coalition. President, National Women’s Conference Center (NWCC).
Photo 1. Catherine Conroy (left) named Woman of the Year by the Milwaukee chapter of NOW. With her (left to right) are Kathryn Clarenbach, Mary Jean Collins and Gene Boyer. Milwaukee Journal, July 9, 1978. Photo 2. Mary Jean Tully, Gene Boyer and Mary Jean Collins discussing strategy in 1980s.
More About Gene:
- National Organization for Women, Honoring Our Founders and Pioneers
- Wisconsin Women Making History – Gene Cohen Boyer (womeninwisconsin.org)
- Wisconsin’s Feminist Leaders and the National Organization for Women
- “Step by Step: Building a Feminist Movement 1941-1977,” a film by Joyce Follet, 1998.
- Veteran Feminists of America
- Muriel Fox inducts Gene Boyer into the VFA Hall of Fame, The Unfinished Business of the Women’s Movement, Chicago, IL 2004
- U.S. Senator Herb Kohl introduces and honors Gene Boyer, Salute to Pioneer Feminists, May 1994, Sewall Belmont House in Washington, DC, home of the National Women’s Party.
- Gene’s remarks, Salute to Catherine East at Seventh Regiment Armory, New York City, May 1993
- Archives
- Gene Boyer papers, 1925-2002 – Catalog – UW-Madison Libraries (wisc.edu)
- Gene Boyer Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society Archives
- Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
- Cited in Barbara Love’s book, Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, page 54