New York ? America’s feminist leaders and their critics agree on at least one current political fact: These are daunting times for the women’s movement as it braces for another term of an administration it desperately wanted to topple.

“The next four years are going to be tough, so we must be tougher,” National Organization for Women president Kim Gandy recently told supporters. “Our health, our rights, and our democracy are teetering on the brink.”

NOW and numerous like-minded groups campaigned zealously against President Bush, contending that his economic agenda would inflict disproportionate harm on women and that his potential judicial appointments could jeopardize abortion rights.

To the feminists’ dismay, Bush not only won — but he sharply reduced the Democrats’ “gender gap” edge among women voters. Republicans also increased their majorities in Congress; new GOP senators include several staunch foes of abortion.

Many of the conservative activists and organizations that cheered the GOP triumph — and now claim expanded influence in Washington — are stridently anti-feminist.

However, Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, says the sometimes harsh rhetoric matters less than the legislation and appointments that the Republicans seek to enact.

“The issue isn’t whether they’re mean-spirited or anti-women,” Greenberger said. “What I do see is an administration with policies that are fundamentally out of touch with what women really need.”

Referring collectively to conservative Republican leaders, Gandy said: “They like women just fine — as long as we know our place, which is preferably under a man’s protection.

“Their primary allegiance is to corporations and the wealthy,” she said. “Giving tax breaks to them means the economic burden falls more on women.”

Demonstrators take part in a Sept. 1 rally sponsored by the National Organization for Women in New York's Central Park to express their opposition to the Bush administration's policies.

Bush, of course, can make a strong case that he respects women — his new Cabinet likely will have four — and women have been among his closest advisers.

Among the movement’s biggest worries are that Bush might appoint federal judges who favor outlawing abortion, that family-planning programs will lose funding, and that the president’s proposed changes to Social Security would harm widows and low-income women.

“Social security privatization is a bad deal for women,” said Lisa Maatz, public policy director for the American Association of University Women. “It’s not just a retirement program, it’s a family insurance program that protects a lot of women who earn less then men throughout their lifetime and are less likely to have a pension of their own.”

Looking ahead, feminists say a crucial tasks is drawing women to politics. Though the number of women in Congress increased slightly in the Nov. 2 election, the number of female state legislators has been stagnant for six years at about 22 percent.

“We’re looking for candidates now for 2006, for 2008,” said Llenda Jackson-Leslie of the National Women’s Political Caucus, which tries to encourage progressive women to run for office.