Honoree Profile: Phyllis Nichamoff Segal

Phyllis Nichamoff Segal was a law student in the early 70s when she first became involved in the National Women's Political Caucus. She analyzed the status of women in political parties, documenting the way they were relegated to limited roles.With the help of Martha Griffiths, this research was published in the Congressional Record and helped shape activities of the NWPC.

Segal continued to lead efforts to involve women in political parties. At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, she was involved with the women's caucus and represented women in challenges to delegations from which they were excluded. As a member of the Mikulski Commission (1972-1976), Segal was active in educating women about the delegation-selection process. She was responsible for parliamentary rules at the 1977 International Women's Forum,where she worked closely with Bella Abzug.

In 1977,after a few years practicing law in the private sector, she became the founding Legal Director of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund. There, for the next five years, she worked to build the fund's first legal department, litigating groundbreaking women's rights issues: defining sexual harassment as a legal wrong; setting standards for proving employment discrimination and enforcing Title VII, Title IX, ERA extension and state ERAs.

She was also instrumental in founding LDEF's National Judicial Awareness Program,which trained judges in the ways gender bias undermines fairness in decision-making and court interactions.

In 1982 Segal became a Fellow at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, where she continued to research the subtle discrimination against women through laws and policies that are neutral on their face but in reality adversely affect women. In 1988 she served as an elected trustee of the NOWLDEF, and in 1999 became president of the board. Her feminist activities continue as a trustee of the Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts; in 2006, trustee of the Women's Education and Industrial Union, and chair of the Brady campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which includes the Million Mom March.

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