Ireland, Patricia

Feminist activist, lawyer, and former president of the National Organization for Women, Patricia Ireland was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on October 19, 1945, the daughter of Joan Filipek and James Ireland. She received a BA from the University of Tennessee in 1966 and a JD from the University of Miami Law School in 1975. She worked as a flight attendant for Pan Am from 1967 to 1975, where she successfully challenged an employee health insurance plan that did not cover spouses of employees equally. Following her graduation from law school, she practiced corporate and commercial law at a Miami law firm while also taking on legal cases for women's rights and working for Dade County NOW as pro-bono legal counsel. In 1980, she was elected as a representative to the National NOW Board and in 1983 she became chair of Florida NOW's lesbian rights task force and a member of the internal structure review committee. In 1985, she managed Eleanor Smeal's successful campaign for the NOW presidency and chaired the national NOW by-laws committee. In spring 1987, Ireland was elected executive vice-president and national treasurer of NOW. In 1989, she developed NOW's Project Stand Up for Women, an initiative to defend women's access to abortion, and worked as the national coordinator. She continued this work after her election as president in December 1991.

Early in her presidency, Ireland led NOW in organizing the March for Women's Lives and initiated the Elect Women for Change campaign to bring a record number of women to political office. She also worked to forge links with other social justice and civil rights groups and was the prime architect of NOW's Global Feminist Program. Her tenure as president ended in 2001 but she continued to be involved with NOW in other capacities. Starting in April 2003 she worked briefly as the Chief Executive Officer of the Young Women's Christian Association and in 2005 she returned to Miami to practice labor law.

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