Legal Pioneer Who Sparked the Modern Feminist Movement Dies at 97

The landscape of gender equality in the United States shifted dramatically over the past half-century, and the recent passing of Sonia Pressman Fuentes at age 97 marks the loss of one of its foundational architects. Long before women's rights became a mainstream legal field, Fuentes was breaking barriers as a pioneering attorney. Her most enduring legacy, however, stems from a pivotal dialogue with famed activist Betty Friedan. It was during this exchange that Fuentes proposed the idea of a dedicated advocacy group, a conceptual seed that ultimately blossomed into the National Organization for Women (NOW). Founded in the 1960s, NOW would go on to become the vanguard of the second-wave feminist movement, fighting for workplace equality, reproductive rights, and the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. Fuentes’s death represents not just the loss of a legal trailblazer, but the closing of a chapter on an era of grassroots activism that reshaped American law and society.