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CNN Live At Daybreak

Kim Gandy to Become Next National Organization for Women President

Aired July 02, 2001 - 07:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: New leadership is in store for the National Organization for Women. Louisiana lawyer Kim Gandy will replace longtime president Patricia Ireland later this summer.

CNN's Patty Davis takes a look at Ireland's achievements and the challenges Gandy will face in her new role.

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UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It's been our honor to work with you, and we're not letting you go.

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): National Organization for Women, or NOW, president Patricia Ireland began her goodbyes at NOW's annual conference in Philadelphia. Term limits require Ireland to step down in August, after 10 years as the group's leader.

Ireland has been a vocal feminist, promoting women's issues, some controversial, such as abortion rights. She says there is still more to do.

PATRICIA IRELAND, PRESIDENT, NOW: On almost any issue, you could ask me have we done enough, and the answer would have to be no.

DAVIS: Ireland speaks of big gains for women in the past decade: The 1991 civil rights act, giving women the right to jury trials and damages for employment discrimination; the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, to counter domestic violence; and

IRELAND: We've had tremendous breakthroughs in government, for example, in gaining a foothold for women in the Senate, as we reached 13 women out of 100.

DAVIS: Critics say the group under Ireland has lost touch with most women, appealing only to the most liberal, while ignoring the needs of those who choose to stay at home.

CHRISTINA HOFF SOMMERS, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FORUM: She lead it rather away from the mainstream of American women, who could use a women's movement. We need a women's movement that's grounded on good information and basic principles of fairness and common sense. The National Organization for Women is not that movement. DAVIS: NOW's new president, 47-year-old Louisiana lawyer Kim Gandy...

KIM GANDY, PRESIDENT-ELECT, NOW: I am ready for the political battles ahead.

DAVIS: ... says her first priority is to keep abortion legal.

(on camera): As for NOW's future, Gandy says she'll try to expand the group's reach by reaching out to women who don't consider themselves feminist but want equal rights and opportunities just the same.

Patty Davis, CNN, Washington.

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