THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Sara “Sally” Hacker, Ph.D.

September 25, 1936 – July 24, 1988

“Radical feminism is a philosophy rather than a group.”

Author, sociologist, professor. Helped found NOW chapters in Ames and Des Moines, Iowa, and Houston, Texas with husband Barton Hacker. Headed up NOW’s AT&T Task Force, which studied sex discrimination and presented evidence in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) hearings on the country’s largest private employer. In 1973, a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania approved a consent decree among AT&T and its subsidiaries (the Bell System), the EEOC and others, which included back pay for affected workers, as well as affirmative action and compliance programs. Active member of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, Iowa Women’s Political Caucus, Women’s Equity Action League, and other groups.