# Feminist Caucus of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party _The DFL Feminist Caucus, organized within Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in April 1973 — its founding, its thirteen principles and endorsement rule, its lobbying and the appointments it pressed for, its conflicts inside the party, and what the record does and does not establish about it_ | Feminist Caucus of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party | | |---|---| | Also known as | DFL Feminist Caucus (DFLFC) | | Founded | April 1973 | | Founders | Koryne Horbal and four, five or six other women, by differing accounts | | Precursor | the 1971 DFL commission report "Women in the DFL: Present but Powerless" | | Principles | thirteen, including support for *Roe v. Wade* and "economic justice for women at home and in the work force" | | Endorsement rule | endorsed only candidates who supported all its principles | | Records | Minnesota Historical Society, 1972–2004 | | Status | described in 2018 as "an active organization" | | Parent articles | [[DFL Feminists]] · [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]] · [[How Minnesota Got Here]] | | Counterpart | [[GOP Feminist Caucus]] | The **Feminist Caucus of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party**, known as the DFL Feminist Caucus, was formed in April 1973 by Koryne Horbal and other women active in the party. The Minnesota Historical Society describes it as "a feminist caucus formed within the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in 1973" whose purposes were "to broaden women's representation in the party structure, to support feminist public policy, and to encourage women to seek political office."[^1] The state's historical encyclopedia states that "It was the first party-affiliated caucus in the US."[^2] This article is a child of [[DFL Feminists]], which treats the DFL officials and legislators of the period, and of [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]], the instrument ledger of the [[How Minnesota Got Here]] series. Its Republican counterpart, the [[GOP Feminist Caucus]], was founded two months later.[^2][^3] The caucus held no public office; its record is one of organizing, endorsing and lobbying, documented in its archive and in the encyclopedia's account.[^1][^2] ## Founding In 1971 a commission led by the party's state chair, Koryne Horbal, issued "Women in the DFL: Present but Powerless", which urged the founding of women's caucuses.[^2] The encyclopedia's current text states that in April 1973 "frustration with the DFL Women's Caucus led Horbal and five other" women to form the caucus, and names Mary Pattock Bremer, Cynthia Kitlinski, Yvette Oldendorf, Jeri Rasmussen and Peggy Specktor; its 2018 text, reprinted in 2024, names six, adding Mary Peek, and attributes the break also to frustration with the nonpartisan [[Minnesota Women's Political Caucus]].[^2][^4] A 2017 Pioneer Press obituary reprinted by the *Brainerd Dispatch* states that "Horbal and four other women founded the DFL Feminist Caucus in 1973."[^5] The caucus's own archive holds a tenth-anniversary file of about 1983 that "Includes material on founding mothers Koryne Horbal, Cynthia Kitlinski, Yvette Oldendorf, Mary Pattock Bremer, Jeri Rasmussen, and Peggy Specktor", the six named in the encyclopedia's current text.[^1][^2] The women's groups the founders left appear in the party's own records. The DFL State Central Committee's records include a subject file on "Women's rights, 1967-1972" with materials from the Minnesota Women's Political Caucus, the DFL Women's Caucus and the DFL Women's Federation, and the Women's Federation's files include a folder titled "Feminist Caucus, 1970-1974."[^6] Horbal's papers hold "Survey returns to DFL Women's Caucus, 1971" and the executive summary of the 1971 commission report.[^7] A 2006 *Congressional Record* tribute to Horbal also names the report.[^8] Pattock, quoted in a 2017 profile of Horbal, recalled: "We started the DFL Feminist Caucus and elected Koryne as our chair", and "We were the first feminist caucus within a political party in the nation."[^9] The caucus's records include a "Charter membership conference, 1973", bylaws and policies from 1973, and executive-council minutes from 1973 onward.[^1] ## Principles and endorsements The encyclopedia states that the caucus "supported thirteen principles," including support for *Roe v. Wade* and "economic justice for women at home and in the work force," and that "The caucus only endorsed candidates who actively supported all of its principles."[^2] Its archive describes legislative activity on "the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion, education funding, gun control, veterans hiring preference, and the allocation of social service resources benefitting women and children."[^1] In 1974 Horbal delivered the first "Feminist State of the State" address, which the current encyclopedia text says was "written by Mary Pattock"; Pattock recalled that the district's congressman, Donald Fraser, entered it in the *Congressional Record*.[^2][^9] The archive's candidate files include "Candidate screening and endorsement" records from 1996 to 2001 and, for the caucus's Minneapolis chapter, a "Candidate screening committee, 1991-1995" and "School board candidate screening, 1999."[^1] ## Lobbying and appointments The encyclopedia credits the caucus with three results in the 1970s. "In 1977 it helped lobby for the passage of a bill guaranteeing rights to displaced homemakers"; lobbying by its executive committee "helped secure Governor Rudy Perpich's appointment of Rosalie Wahl as the first woman on the state's Supreme Court"; and "in 1979 the caucus secured funding of $3 million to create Minnesota's first battered women's shelter."[^2] The session laws and court records bear on each. The encyclopedia does not name the 1977 bill; that year's chapter 428, approved June 2, 1977, is titled in part as "establishing pilot programs" for battered women's shelters and "authorizing counseling and training services for displaced homemakers", and the caucus's archive has a file of "Homemaker bills, circa 1974."[^10][^1] The State Law Library records that "In 1977, Governor Rudy Perpich appointed Wahl Associate Justice", and MPR's archive holds a report of her swearing-in on October 3, 1977.[^11][^12] For 1979, the Legislative Reference Library's timeline records a public-safety act that "appropriated $2.9 million for an expanded shelter program and advocacy services for women and children"; the encyclopedia's "first battered women's shelter" conflicts with the 1974 opening of a shelter by Women's Advocates in St. Paul and with the 1977 act's pilot shelters.[^13][^14] The archive holds "Correspondence with the governor, 1973-1978."[^1] ## Inside the party The encyclopedia states that as the caucus grew "it became a controversial force within Minnesota politics and the DFL."[^2] At the Minnesota Women's Meeting in St. Cloud in June 1977, held under the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, whose members President Carter had appointed that March, the caucus's members argued with anti-abortion delegates; the encyclopedia states that the arguments "prompted negative backlash directed at Perpich and Secretary Growe."[^2][^15][^16] The finding aid for the meeting's records states that it "was entirely open" and that staff estimated seventy to eighty percent of those attending "held strongly feminist views."[^15] In 1978 the caucus "failed to prevent the passage of a bill, sponsored by DFL legislators Ray Kempe and Florian Chemielewski, that cut off funding for abortion services to poor women."[^2] In 1980 a caucus member, Claire Rumpel, became the party's state chair.[^2] The caucus supported Secretary of State Joan Growe's 1984 campaign for the U.S. Senate, in which she was the DFL's endorsed candidate, and [[Arvonne Fraser]]'s 1986 bid for lieutenant governor on St. Paul Mayor George Latimer's ticket; both lost.[^2][^17] Fraser's papers list her that year as "DFL Candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota", and she recalled in 2001 that "Latimer asked me to run for lieutenant governor".[^18][^19] The encyclopedia concludes that "the DFLFC had secured a prominent place in determining the DFL's candidates and party platform."[^2] ## Later years The encyclopedia records the caucus's support for the mayoral candidacies of Sharon Sayles Belton in Minneapolis and of Marlene Johnson and Sandy Pappas in St. Paul, and states that Minneapolis's 1991 domestic-partnership ordinance "was attributed by city council member Brian Coyle to a 1989 attitudes survey conducted by the DFLFC."[^2] The Minnesota Historical Society's records run to 2004, and Horbal's own papers include a folder titled "DFL Feminist Caucus, 1986."[^1][^7] The 2018 encyclopedia text stated that "As of 2018, it remains an active organization."[^4] ## Record and readings **Reading one.** On the reading set out in [[DFL Feminists]], the caucus is the organizing center of the instruments: its endorsement rule screened candidates against all thirteen principles, its lobbying reached employment questions including veterans' hiring preference, and its members and allies held the offices that wrote and administered pay equity, the women's council and open appointments.[^2][^1][^20] **Reading two.** On the other reading, the caucus was a contested faction: it lost the 1978 abortion-funding fight to DFL legislators, its candidates for the Senate and lieutenant governor lost, and the state's office on women records that the 1982 pay-equity act passed "with little opposition" and was "signed by Republican Governor Al Quie".[^2][^21][^22] Neither reading is supported by a claim that the caucus's founding documents state a purpose of preventing repeal or limit its endorsements to DFL candidates; the encyclopedia states only that it endorsed candidates who supported all its principles.[^2][^1] ## Open items 1. **The thirteen principles.** Their full text is in the caucus's archive and was not read.[^1] 2. **Founders.** The encyclopedia's two texts and the 2017 obituary give six, seven and five founders in all; the caucus's tenth-anniversary file names six.[^2][^4][^5][^1] 3. **The 1979 shelter funding.** The encyclopedia's $3 million for "Minnesota's first battered women's shelter" is closest to the $2.9 million the 1979 act appropriated for an expanded program; the 1979 session law itself was not read.[^2][^13] 5. **The Women's Federation folder.** The DFL records' "Feminist Caucus, 1970-1974" folder begins before the April 1973 founding; its contents were not read.[^6] 4. **The *Congressional Record* entry.** The 1974 address's entry in the *Record*, as Pattock recalled it, was not located.[^9] ## See also - [[DFL Feminists]] — parent article - [[GOP Feminist Caucus]] · [[Minnesota Women's Political Caucus]] · [[Koryne Kaneski Horbal]] · [[Arvonne Fraser]] - [[At Issue - Minnesota's Feminist Regime]] · [[How Minnesota Got Here]] - [[Joan Growe]] · [[Rosalie E. Wahl]] · [[Rudy Perpich]] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Historical Society, *DFL Feminist Caucus: An Inventory of Its Records* (records 1972–2004) — abstract and scope: a caucus formed in 1973 "to broaden women's representation in the party structure"; legislative activity on the ERA, abortion, veterans hiring preference and other issues; correspondence with the governor. https://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00173.xml [^2]: Cory Haala, "DFL Feminist Caucus," MNopedia (Minnesota Historical Society; first published Apr. 23, 2018, modified Apr. 22, 2025) — the 1971 report; April 1973 founding; principles and endorsement rule; members; lobbying; conflicts within the DFL; 1980s candidacies. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/dfl-feminist-caucus [^3]: Minnesota Historical Society, *GOP Feminist Caucus of Minnesota: An Inventory of Its Records* (finding aid 00828, encoded 2011) — records 1971–2000; historical note on the 1973 founding and the 1975 and 1986 renamings; the four planks; administrative and subject files, including "DFL feminists" and the Women's Political Caucus. https://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00828.xml [^4]: MinnPost (MNopedia partnership), "The formation of the DFL Party Feminist Caucus" (March 2024) — the 2018 MNopedia text naming six co-founders besides Horbal, frustration with both the DFL Women's Caucus and the MWPC, and "As of 2018, it remains an active organization." https://www.minnpost.com/mnopedia/2024/03/the-formation-of-the-dfl-party-feminist-caucus/ [^5]: Brainerd Dispatch, "Feminist pioneer Horbal dead at 80" (May 2017) — "Horbal and four other women founded the DFL Feminist Caucus in 1973"; her party and U.N. roles. https://www.brainerddispatch.com/news/feminist-pioneer-horbal-dead-at-80 [^6]: Minnesota Historical Society, Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party: An Inventory of Its State Central Committee Records (finding aid 00586; 1943–1998) — satellite-organization files, including Women's Political Caucus records of 1971–1976 and a DFL Women's Federation folder on the Feminist Caucus, 1970–1974; a women's-rights subject file; and a newsletter of State Chairwoman Betty Kane, 1964–1968. http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00586.html [^7]: Minnesota Historical Society, "Koryne Horbal papers" (finding aid 01243; records 1962–2009) — abstract describing her as a founding member of the DFL Feminist Caucus, U.S. representative on the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women and former DFL chairwoman; folder list. https://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/01243.xml [^8]: Congressional Record, vol. 152, Extensions of Remarks, p. E426 (Mar. 28, 2006) — tribute to Koryne Horbal: DFL state chairwoman, caucus founder, "Present but Powerless", four years as U.S. representative to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. https://www.govinfo.gov/link/crec/152/E/426 [^9]: Gail Olson, "Koryne Horbal: A life of activism", Northeaster (June 12, 2017) — Carter's 1977 U.N. appointment; "She served for nine years as DFL State Co-chairwoman"; co-founded the caucus in 1973; never held elected office; died May 15, 2017. https://www.mynortheaster.com/news/koryne-horbal-a-life-of-activism/ [^10]: Laws of Minnesota 1977, ch. 428 (S.F. 124), approved June 2, 1977 — pilot shelter and support programs for battered women; community education; data collection; displaced homemakers. Office of the Revisor of Statutes. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1977/0/428 [^11]: Minnesota State Law Library, "Biography – Rosalie E. Wahl, Associate Justice 1977-1994" — born Aug. 27, 1924; appointed by Perpich in 1977, the first woman on the Minnesota Supreme Court; reelected 1978, 1984 and 1990; retired 1994; died July 22, 2013. https://mncourts.libguides.com/wahl [^12]: MPR archive, "Swearing-in of Associate Justice Rosalie Wahl to Minnesota Supreme Court" (Oct. 3, 1977) — John Merli's report on the swearing-in. https://archive.mpr.org/stories/1977/10/03/swearingin-of-associate-justice-rosalie-wahl-to-minnesota-supreme-court [^13]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Women's Legislative Timeline, "1977 - Battered Women/Domestic Violence" — first state funding of shelters (cited as ch. 425); authors Kahn and Lewis; Women's Advocates; the Duluth project (1981); the Minneapolis arrest study. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/womenstimeline/details?recid=26 [^14]: MNopedia (Minnesota Historical Society), "Women's Advocates" — St. Paul group formed after 1971 meetings; in 1974 bought and renovated a Grand Avenue house as a shelter and crisis-line headquarters for victim-survivors of domestic abuse. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/group/women-s-advocates [^15]: Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota Women's Meeting records (finding aid 00724; 1974–1978) — historical note on the St. Cloud meeting of June 2–5, 1977, held under the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, its open attendance and staff estimates of participants' views; election of delegates to the Houston conference. https://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00724.xml [^16]: The American Presidency Project, "National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year, 1975 Appointment of Members and Presiding Officer of the Commission" (March 1977) — members, including Horbal as chair of the DNC Women's Caucus and Democratic National Committeewoman. https://presidency.ucsb.edu/node/243434 [^17]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Legislators Past & Present, record of Joan Ruth Growe — House 1973–74; Secretary of State Jan. 6, 1975 – Jan. 3, 1999; first woman elected statewide without prior appointment; DFL-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate, 1984. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=10219 [^18]: Minnesota Historical Society, "Arvonne S. Fraser papers" (finding aid 00034; 1921–2015, bulk 1970–1999, 85 boxes) — biographical chronology of her DFL, WEAL, White House, USAID, U.N. and Humphrey Institute positions, her 1986 candidacy and her death in 2018; scope note on women's organizations and policy. https://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00034.xml [^19]: University of Minnesota Sesquicentennial Diversity Project, *Interview with Arvonne Fraser*, by Ann M. Pflaum (Jan. 4, 2001), University Digital Conservancy transcript — her account of WEAL and Title IX, the 1977 search for women appointees, the USAID office, the Humphrey Institute from the fall of 1981, the women's-rights treaty project, the 1986 ticket and the U.N. commission in 1993–1994. https://conservancy.umn.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/0716a521-24c6-4082-b9db-c985133a1f8c/content [^20]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, "Leadership History" of the Council, Commission and Office on the Economic Status of Women — chairs and vice-chairs by term (Berglin 1976–1983; later chairs of both parties) and directors (Rothchild 1976–1983; Breen; Cushman; Brenengen). https://www.lrl.mn.gov/webcontent/lrl/womenstimeline/leadershipOESW.pdf [^21]: Legislative Office on the Economic Status of Women, *Pay Equity: The Minnesota Experience*, 6th ed. (Dec. 2015; posted Feb. 2016) — the 1981 task force; the 1982 act's chief authors Berglin and Simoneau; bipartisan support; the 1984 local act, penalties and the 2003 reporting moratorium. https://mn.gov/mmb-stat/pay-equity/Pay_Equity-The%20Minnesota%20Experience.pdf [^22]: Laws of Minnesota 1982, ch. 634 (H.F. 2005), approved March 23, 1982 — the State Government Pay Equity Act: § 43A.01, subd. 3; definitions of balanced, female-dominated and male-dominated classes; comparability of the value of the work. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1982/0/634/