Rocked but unbowed: Appleton Area NOW presses on
Irene Strohbeen says that, due to the chaotic and whirlwind nature of Trump’s executive orders – many of which are illegal and are designed to disrupt basic governmental institutions – her chapter is having to be more reactive than proactive.
Irene Strohbeen says the members of the Appleton chapter of the National Organization of Women are reacting, like so many Americans, in a variety of ways to the early weeks of the second Trump administration.
Some are deflated, some despairing, some overwhelmed. Others are eager to get to work, to do something. Among that latter group, most are uncertain just what that something should be.
“We knew after the election we would have to reformulate,” says Strohbeen, the president of the NOW Area Appleton chapter which will hit its first anniversary on April 29. “We had a working title for that first meeting ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’ But we were thinking Kamala Harris is going to be President and a lot of good things are going to happen.
“Well, when it went the other way, we were blown away and it was, ‘So what should we do now?’”
If there was anything good to be taken away from the shock of those November results it was the turnout at that first NOW meeting after the election. More than 250 people showed up, Strohbeen says. It was heartening, she concedes. But it was also indicative of just how concerned people were, especially with how Project 2025 would affect women, among so many other groups.
“Now we’re already seeing that what they’re doing is absolutely the guidebook for Project 2025,” she says. “It’s not good. So our membership has probably doubled from where it was (to more than 150) and we’re getting e-mails from some really activist women who are saying, ‘I want to do something,’ and a lot of these people are marketing and comms people who have had experience with organizations like Indivisible.
“These are the kinds of people we need as leaders and they are finding us.”
Reactive vs. Proactive
Irene Strohbeen, a retired Kimberly Clark R&D Director and former adjunct professor at Lawrence University, recognized the injustices women faced in the corporate world around promotions and equal pay. That was the impetus for her later activism, beginning with the League of Women Voters and the Mid-Day Women’s Alliance, where she served as co-chair of the legislative committee.
But she was lured to NOW because of its commitment to women’s rights issues and, especially, the Equal Rights Amendments.
“The League of Women Voters does great work,” says Strohbeen, who is still an active member. “But their focus is on voting and democracy. And that’s extremely important work obviously but I was feeling a little frustrated that we weren’t making more progress on women’s issues.”
About three years ago she became an at-large member of the national chapter of NOW. When she discovered there were no NOW chapters in Wisconsin, including even a state-wide chapter, Strohbeen, along with Sandi Rohde, Jeanne Roberts and Becca Linekin – she calls them the other “Founding Mothers” – knew it was time to take action. Guided by a mentor from NOW’s Heartland Region the women finally launched in April of last year.
Appleton Area NOW replaces the former Fox Cities Chapter that folded several years back. Strohbeen says the reason there are no other chapters in the state is likely due to the amount of work involved and the various roles and skills that are required to sustain it. She says roles are being filled now by the right people, though the website remains a work in progress. Appleton Area NOW operates as a 501(c)(4) – a non-profit without charitable status.
Any NOW chapter is expected to operate within the national chapter’s strictures – to promote, for instance, the six core issues that include reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, the ERA, racial justice, economic justice and ending violence against women; to hold at least eight meetings a year and to hold at least three actions a year; to file an annual report on the chapter’s efforts.
Beyond that, though, Strohbeen says, the chapter is expected to operate autonomously.
Strohbeen says that, due to the chaotic and whirlwind nature of Trump’s executive orders – many of which are illegal and are designed to disrupt basic governmental institutions – her chapter is having to be more reactive than proactive.
“There’s just so much to react to right now,” she says. “We’re talking at our monthly board meetings about, what is it we need to be doing? The theme is basically, ‘It’s not business as usual right now.’ Do we continue to work on the six core issues? Or do we focus on something that is bolder or more disruptive and feels more like a resistance movement?”
The Ongoing Fight for the ERA
In the meantime NOW is doing what it can locally and has officially endorsed Judge Susan Crawford in the all-important State Supreme Court election on April 1. Strohbeen published a letter to the editor on behalf of Appleton Area NOW in early February touting Crawford’s candidacy against former Attorney General Brad Schimel. The local NOW chapter is allowed to endorse local and judiciary candidates, just not state legislative or federal candidates. Strohbeen says the chapter is planning on a postcard campaign supporting Crawford and will connect its members interested in canvassing with the local Democratic Party.
Strohbeen admits she was disappointed with the Democrats and President Biden for not codifying the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution. The ERA reached the three-fourths threshold when Virginia became the 38th state in 2020 to ratify it. But because of legal challenges – including that the three-fourths threshold wasn’t achieved until after a controversial and questionable deadline – the ERA remains somewhat up in the air. ERA adherents already declare it the 28th amendment and will not be shy about bringing lawsuits that use it. The battle will be shifting to the courts since there's nothing now that Congress or the executive branch can do.
“The ERA is our foundational goal and for the Biden administration to not take action to try to get it published in the Constitution in his four years is disappointing,” she says. Biden did declare the ERA to be a part of the Constitution before he left office, though that has no binding effect. “If it had been published before Jan. 20 a lot of what is coming down the road for us might have been averted. It’s going to haunt us for a long time.”
Taking to the streets matters
So what’s next for the Appleton chapter of NOW? With all the legal injunctions that have been slapped on the Trump administration’s attempts to remake government seemingly outside Constitutional and legal channels, there is talk that resistance to MAGA 2.0 is going to be in the courts, not the streets.
Strohbeen doesn’t necessarily agree, noting that even on an emotional level protesting serves an important purpose.
“Yeah, I personally feel like marching is good for the soul,” she says. “And one of the things we offer now is the materials for people to make their own signs. I didn’t know anything about that or how to attach a sign to a pole during some of my early marches but we show people how to do that and we provide that.
“And it is just really heartening to see a crowd walking across the Oneida bridge with signs they made. It’s the togetherness of the protestors. That is valuable.”
