In 1972 the United Nations designated 1975 as International Women's Year (IWY). The objective of IWY was to define a society in which women fully participate in economic, social, and political life, and to devise strategies whereby such societies could develop. Three years later, in June 1975, representatives of 133 nations at the IWY World Conference in Mexico City unanimously adopted a World Plan of Action. This plan provided guidelines for national... action for the next ten years which were designated as the Decade of Women. Through the efforts of women in the federal government, a grant agreement was signed in 1973 to establish the U.S. Center for IWY. The Center's purpose was to publicize IWY throughout the U.S. and stimulate appropriate activities by women's organizations. In 1974 President Richard Nixon designated 1975 as International Women's Year for the United States. A year later, President Gerald Ford established the U.S. National Commission on the Observance of IWY and charged that Commission with promoting the observance of IWY, examining the conditions of life and the status of women in the United States, encouraging the public and private sectors to set objectives to be achieved during IWY, and submitting to the president a report containing its findings and recommendations for future government and non-government action. Following the Mexico City conference, the U.S. Commission began to identify unmet social and economic needs of women in the United States. Committees studied several subjects including the arts and humanities, enforcement of the laws, the media, international interdependence, child development, status of homemakers, women in employment, and women in power. During 1976 the Commission adopted over one-hundred recommendations proposed by these committees, which were compiled into a report entitled "To Form A More Perfect Union ... " Justice For American Women. The report was presented to the president and the public on July 1, 1976. Late in 1975 the U.S. Congress passed Public Law 94-167. This law directed the U.S. Commission on IWY to hold a series of state and territorial meetings, to be followed by a National Women's Conference (NWC), November 18-21, 1977, in Houston, Texas. Congress later appropriated $5 million for these activities. The NWC and state meetings were intended to provide an opportunity for serious public attention to women's concerns. Occurring during the Decade for Women, the state meetings and NWC included an international focus aimed at deepening the understanding of the concerns that bind women in the United States to women in other nations. To plan the state meetings, the U.S. Commission appointed a coordinating committee in each state. The Montana IWY Coordinating Committee held its first meeting in December 1976. The 31-member Committee included people who reflected the variety of characteristics and interests of Montana women as a whole. Montana received $25,000 to help fund the state meeting and related activities. Sue Barlett of Helena was employed to coordinate all of the Montana IWY activities. Mary D. Munger of Helena chaired the Committee and Maxine Johnson of Missoula directed the financial affairs of the Committee. To inform as many Montanans as possible about IWY, five regional meetings were held during March and April 1977. Following the regional meetings, the Coordinating Committee appointed task forces to study the issues identified by the women attending the regional meetings. The task forces presented their studies and proposed recommendations to the Montana state meeting which was held on July 8-10, 1977, in Helena. State meeting participants, more than 1800, voted on all recommendations and elected 14 delegates to carry those recommendations to the NWC in Houston in November 1977.