<P> The Black Panther Party experienced significant problems in several chapters with sexism and gender oppression, particularly in the Oakland chapter where cases of sexual harassment and gender division were common . When Oakland Panthers arrived to bolster the New York City Panther chapter after twenty one New York leaders were incarcerated, they displayed such chauvinistic attitudes towards New York Panther women that they had to be fended off at gunpoint . Some Party leaders thought the fight for gender equality was a threat to men and a distraction from the struggle for racial equality . </P> <P> In response, the Chicago and New York chapters, among others, established equal gender rights as a priority and tried to eradicate sexist attitudes . </P> <P> By the time the Black Panther Party disbanded, official policy was to reprimand men who violated the rules of gender equality . </P> <P> In the beginning, recruiting women was not at the forefront to Huey Newton's and Bobby Seale's minds . In an interview with Seale, he stated that Newton targeted "brothers who had been pimping, brothers who had been peddling dope, brothers who ain't gonna take no shit, brothers who had been fighting the pigs". Also, they didn't realize that women could help the fight until one came into an interest meeting asking about "female leadership ." Regina Jennings recalls that many men in leadership positions had an "unchecked" sexism problem and her task was to "lift the bedroom out of their minds ." She even remembers overhearing a conversation between some Panthers when were was being recruited: "Some concluded that the FBI sent me, but the captain assured them with salty good humor that,' She's too stupid to be from the FBI .' He thought my cover and my comments too honest, too loud, and too ridiculous to be serious ." She recalls her days in Oakland, California as a teenager looking for something to do to add purpose to her life and to her community . She grew up around police brutality, so it was nothing new . Her goal in joining was "smashing racism" because she viewed herself as Black before she was a women . In her community, that identity is what she felt held her back the most . </P>

What led to the formation of the black panther party