- Patricia Ireland
Patricia Ireland (born
October 19 ,1945 inOak Park, Illinois ) is a U.S. administrator and feminist. She served as president of theNational Organization for Women , from 1991 to 2001 and published an autobiography, "What Women Want", in 1996.Ireland obtained a Bachelor's degree from the
University of Tennessee in 1966 and a law degree from theUniversity of Miami School of Law in 1975 [cite web |url=http://www.nndb.com/people/690/000024618/ |title=Patricia Ireland at NNDB |accessdate=2007-02-10] .Before becoming an attorney, Ireland worked as a
flight attendant . She began her fight for women's rights in the 1960s when she discovered discrepancies in herinsurance coverage. Her first victory came when theUnited States Department of Labor ruled in her favor, and she started her legal career doing volunteer work for the National Organization for Women.She has advocated extensively for the rights of poor women,
gay s andlesbian s, andAfrica n women. She has also advocated electing female candidates, and training people to defend clinics frompro-life protesters around the United States. OnDecember 17 ,1991 she gave an interview with "The Advocate ", a gay national publication, in which she stated that she had a husband and a female partner, Pat Silverthorn, a longtime activist in the Socialist Workers Party [cite news |first=Greg |last=Louganis |title=Thru the years - a selection of covers from past issues of The Advocate |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_n770/ai_21236432 |publisher=The Advocate |date=1998-10-13 |accessdate=2007-01-23 |quote=I have a companion, and she's very important in my life. ] .Ireland played a significant role in the brief 2004 presidential bid of former Senator
Carol Moseley Braun .In 2003, Ireland served for six months as the
chief executive officer of theYWCA [cite web |url=http://www.ywca.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=djISI6PIKpG&b=1520401&ct=330537 |title=Patricia Ireland Named YWCA CEO |accessdate=2007-01-23 |work=YWCA press release archive ] . In October 2003 Ireland was dimissed after refusing to step down, although YWCA spokespeople denied that conservative pressure was a factor in the decision [cite news |title=Patricia Ireland fired from YWCA |url=http://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid09493.asp |publisher=The Advocate |date=2003-10-22 |accessdate=2007-01-23 ] .References
External links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.