• Advocates high levels of spending for social welfare programs
• Advocates race and gender preferences for minorities and women in business and academia

The National Council of Women's Organizations (NCWO) is a tax-exempt entity which describes itself as a "nonpartisan, nonprofit umbrella organization of groups that collectively represent over ten million women across the United States." It is composed of nearly 200 member organizations that collaborate through grassroots activism to advance leftist agendas. Among its member groups are 9 to 5: National Association of Working Women; the Center for Reproductive Rights; the Center for Women Policy Studies; Code Pink; Catholics for a Free Choice; the Feminist Majority Foundation; the League of Women Voters; the Ms. Foundation for Women; the NARAL Pro-Choice America; the National Committee on Pay Equity; the National Abortion Federation; the National Council for Research on Women, the National Organization for Women; the National Women's Law Center; Women's Policy, Inc.; Planned Parenthood; Veteran Feminists of America; Women's Action for New Directions; Women's Policy; the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; and the YWCA.

NCWO is chaired by Martha Burk, who is also President of the Center for Advancement of Public Policy. The NCWO steering committee includes, among others, Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Viewing the United States as a nation rife with injustice against girls and women, NCWO characterizes its policy agenda as one that aims to develop "a society free from the inequality, oppression, and discrimination that face women and girls from a variety of backgrounds and experiences." To achieve these ends, NCWO advocates higher taxes.

Specifically, NCWO seeks to direct taxpayer dollars to financing such items as "paid family leave"; "child care for all"; "fully-funded universal pre-kindergarten, full-day kindergarten, after-school, summer care programs, and other programs stressing early childhood education"; access to a college education and job training "for all who want it throughout one's lifespan"; "expanded education and training programs for welfare recipients and other low-wage workers, teens, single parents, and displaced homemakers"; "enhanced support to women entrepreneurs, particularly those operating small businesses"; a government-controlled healthcare system to provide universal care for all people throughout their lives -- "including mental health, family planning, substance abuse treatment, prescription drugs, long-term care, and HIV/AIDS services"; universal access to taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand and contraceptives; and "expanded funding for health research that addresses gender-based biological differences and those diseases or health conditions that disproportionately affect women and girls."

NCWO seeks to extend government oversight also into the realm of child-rearing by pushing for the "assignment of economic value to unpaid care giving" for mothers -- credits that would apply toward their Social Security benefits later in life.

Condemning what it calls the "occupational segregation that marginalizes women into low-paying jobs," NCWO advocates a higher minimum wage (or a "living wage") and "pay equity" policies. The latter are intended to remedy a status quo where, according to NCWO, women earn 28 percent less than men for doing the same work.

A member organization of the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE), NCWO advocates race- and gender-based preferences for minorities and women in business and academia.

Ascribing to discrimination the fact that women and minorities are numerically "underrepresented" in certain lucrative professions, NCWO calls for "equal educational opportunity for people of color and women in science, math, technology, and other nontraditional fields that lead to high-wage-high-skill employment."

In recent years, NCWO has received funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ms. Foundation for Women.