THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Jane Woodward Elioseff
June 26, 1940 – June 29, 2012
“We want the power of NOW to stay with the local chapters, to stay with grassroots members.” – Jane Elioseff at the 7th National NOW conference in Houston representing NOW Eastern MA Chapter, May 1974.
Writer, educator, psychologist. Advocated for clean air in the Houston and Texas region. Joined Eastern MA NOW in 1972 and was immediately put in charge of the Image of Women in the Media task force. Founder of Women in Counseling and Therapy, an organization of early feminist mental health providers, 1973. Active in organizing and expanding the Green Party in Texas. Served on the Local Advisory Board of KPFT, the Pacifica Network station in Houston, and the Board of Trustees for the Citizens’ Environmental Coalition. Worked on the environmental connections to human rights protection and sustainable economic development. Helped found the Margaret Austin Center.

More About Jane:
- Obituary, Dallas Morning News
- “Why Houston can breathe more freely,” Houston Chronicle, July, 11, 2012
- Margaret Austin Center website
- Cited in Barbara Love’s book, Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, page 133