[8] Before the Opening Ceremonies of the Conference, there was a relay of important women who brought a torch from Seneca Falls, New York to Houston, Texas.

Seneca Falls was the location of the seminal women's rights convention in 1848, and this relay took place over 51 days to show and recognize the link between these two historical conferences.

This relay was put together by multiple organizations, including the Road Runners of America, and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Those taking part in the relay wore easily recognizable bright blue T-shirts with the words "Women on the Move" written on them.

[11][12] At the conference, there was also a lengthy discussion about nuclear disarmament and a series of talks featuring women who had reached important positions of responsibility in government such as chair of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Assistant Secretary for the United States Department of Commerce, and head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

On the other side of Houston, at the Astrodome, almost fifteen thousand conservative women under the leadership of Phyllis Schlafly held their own counter-conference in which they vowed to uphold traditional pro-family values.

Equality was an important theme throughout this conference and this plank brought to light the significance of women finally being able to achieve the same privileges as men.

Another issue in this department was that women were having a difficult time obtaining art grants, whereas their male counterparts were finding success in this area.

A common theme in society was violence against women, which because of its prevalence and importance, earned its own plank at the conference for discussion.

The conference determined that the government should provide support, funds, and protective services to help prevent child abuse and assist those affected by it.

[24] Everyone at the conference was in agreement that due to the prevalence of this important issue in society, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act needed to be passed immediately.

The conference discussions led to the decision that disabled women should be able to have the right to education and employment, take care of their children, and be protected from discrimination.

In order for young women to have more influential role models to inspire them to benefit future generations, there needed to be more female leadership in education.

The prejudice that women belonged at home and not in an office was old-fashioned and the discussions at this conference helped to open people's eyes to the importance of aiming higher in the job arena.

Another aspect of this plank the conference deemed important was low-cost reproductive health services as well as research into the effects of women's contraception.

These topics were reviewed by the convention and ultimately ended up deciding that homemakers should have access to social security because a difficult economic situation would arise from a divorce or death of a spouse.

Additionally, the government should provide programs to schools to help prevent rape and try to stop this issue from being as prevalent in future generations.

"The Federal and State governments should assume a role in focusing on welfare and poverty as major women's issues"[23] "Improve social security and retirement systems, raise minimum wage, provide child care and focus on welfare and poverty as major women's issues".

Although the Equal Rights Amendment was a significant stride towards demanding the reforms called for in the National Plan of Action, the states ultimately failed to ratify it, and therefore it did not pass into law.

"[27] Of significant importance to Latina attendees were the discussions revolving around deportations of mothers of American-born children and rights for migrant farm workers.

Vera Brown Starr, a member of the Yavapai-Apache Nation and Lorraine White, a Quechan-Pueblo woman of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation, were especially gratified that the resolution against discrimination included language regarding removal of Native American children from their homes and tribes.

[31] Betty Ford took the office of First Lady in 1974 following the resignation of President Richard Nixon, and would spend the rest of her term pushing for greater rights for women.

[35] She was from Olivia, Minnesota and called herself a “Christian feminist.”[36][37] She was an example of the intersection and controversy between traditional Catholic values and the women's liberation movement.

The plank also included the support of abortion and pregnancy-related care being available to all women as well as encouraging organizations to hold the government responsible for maintaining these principles.

The delegates also called for the requirement of consent for all sterilization procedures, concomitant to Department of Health, Education and Welfare's April 1974 regulations.

Though one of the goals of the plank was to ensure the availability of safe and legal abortions, it encompassed a wide variety of concepts that the delegates also recognized as necessary for reproductive freedom.

Sterilization abuse was an issue that gained attention in the 1970s and activists called on the women's movement to incorporate the concept into their fight.

The plank read "Federal, State, and local governing bodies should take whatever steps necessary to remove existing barriers to family planning services for all teenagers who request them.

The debates have become a focal point of the political and legal sphere, with members of Congress deliberating on government funding allocated to the organization.

[clarification needed] This sentiment is echoed in Adrienne Rich's Claiming an Education, where she writes, One of the devastating weaknesses of university learning, of the store of knowledge and opinion that has been handed down through academic training, has been its almost total erasure of women's experience and thought from the curriculum, and its exclusion of women as members of the academic community.