Patricia Ireland, American lawyer and activist
Patricia Ireland (born October 19, 1945 in Oak Park, Illinois) is a U.S. administrator and feminist. She served as president of the National Organization for Women from 1991 to 2001 and published an autobiography, What Women Want, in 1996.
As a teen, Ireland attended Valparaiso High School in Valparaiso, Indiana. She obtained a Bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee in 1966 and a J.D. degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1975. She also attended Florida State University College of Law.
Before beginning a career as an attorney, Ireland worked as a flight attendant for Pan Am. After discovering gender-based discrepancies in the treatment of insurance coverage for spouses of employees, Ireland brought a formal complaint and fought for a change in coverage. Her first victory came when the United States Department of Labor ruled in her favor, and she immediately began law school and performing volunteer work for the National Organization for Women. She has advocated extensively for the rights of poor women, gays and lesbians, and African-American women. She has also advocated electing female candidates, and training people to defend clinics from anti-abortion protesters around the United States.
Immediately following Ireland's appointment to president of NOW, questions arose about her sexual orientation. On December 17, 1991 she gave an interview with The Advocate, in which she stated that she was bisexual and had a female companion while remaining married to her second husband.
In 2003, Ireland served for six months as the CEO of the YWCA. In October 2003, Ireland was dismissed after refusing to step down, although YWCA spokespeople denied that conservative pressure was a factor in the decision. Following her dismissal from the YWCA, Ireland was former Senator Carol Moseley Braun's national campaign manager for her brief 2004 presidential bid.