Patricia Ireland

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.

Ireland obtained a Bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee in 1966 and a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1975.

Before becoming an attorney, Ireland worked as a flight attendant. She began her fight for women's rights in the 1960s when she discovered discrepancies in her insurance coverage. Her first victory came when the United States Department of Labor ruled in her favor, and she started her legal career doing volunteer work for the National Organization for Women.

She has advocated extensively for the rights of poor women, gays and lesbians, and African women. She has also advocated electing female candidates, and training people to defend clinics from disruptive anti-abortion protesters around the United States. On December 17, 1991 she gave an interview with The Advocate, a gay national publication, in which she stated that she had a husband and a female partner, Pat Silverthorn, a longtime activist in the Socialist Workers Party.

Ireland played a significant role in the brief 2000 presidential bid of former Senator Carol Moseley Braun.

In 2003, Ireland served briefly as the chief executive officer of the YWCA. In October 2003 Ireland was dimissed, although YWCA spokespeople denied that conservative pressure was a factor in the decision.