Initiatives, United State of Women, Press Release

Ahead of State of the Union, National Gender Equity Organizations Demand Congress Pass A Female-Focused Agenda

In an open letter to Congress, 52 organizations representing millions of women across the country call for legislation to improve the lives of women and their families

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, 52 national gender equity organizations including United State of Women,  National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Partnership for Women and Families, Black Women’s Roundtable, MomsRising, Supermajority Education Fund, and YWCA USA sent a letter to Congress laying out the current State of Women and calling for passage of legislation that will improve health outcomes for families, open economic opportunities for women, and advance gender and racial equity.

“Women don’t live our lives in silos – we need all of these policies to build a country where women and families can thrive. The President has laid out an agenda to meet the moment with us. It’s up to Congress to deliver. Our movement stands ready to work with our elected officials and champions in Congress to get this agenda passed. Even now in this moment of global crisis, especially now, the women and girls and families of our country need us to succeed and to make the united state of women strong,” the groups wrote.

View the full letter HERE

The letter calls on Congress to pass five policies women need to survive and thrive that have been stymied by partisanship in Congress, including:

  1. Pass the Build Back Better Agenda: Congress must extend the child tax credit and guarantee 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. We need to invest in affordable child care, universal pre-k for all families, expanded home and community-based services, better wages for care workers, and maternal health care. Additionally, we need a long-promised path to citizenship for immigrants.
  2. Protect abortion rights and access:  Pass legislation, including the Women’s Health Protection Act, to protect and expand access to abortion care regardless of where a person lives, how much money they make, or their immigration status. 
  3. Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act: This law is essential to protecting and supporting survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and expanding prevention efforts.
  4. Protect voting rights: Voting rights are a cornerstone of our democracy and a free vote protects all other rights. Our lawmakers must protect every American from the relentless attacks on our right to vote, especially for Black, Brown, Asian American and Pacific Islander, young voters, and voters with disabilities.
  5. Criminal legal reform: To advance racial and gender equity and justice, we need to reimagine public safety and crisis response through investments in non-carceral, non-punitive public health solutions to community, family, and school safety. We must end mass incarceration/mass criminalization, and root out gender, racial, and disability bias from every aspect of the criminal legal system.

The full letter is also available HERE. 

The full list of signatories includes: 

  • 9to5
  • ACCESS Reproductive Justice
  • American Association of People with Disabilities
  • American Association of University Women (AAUW)
  • Black Women’s Roundtable, NCBCP
  • Care In Action
  • Caring Across Generations
  • Change Begins With ME (Indivisible)
  • End Rape On Campus
  • ERA Coalition
  • Esperanza United (Formerly Casa de Esperanza: National Latin@ Network)
  • Feminist Majority Foundation
  • Feminist Women’s Health Center
  • Girls for Gender Equity
  • Institute for Women’s Policy Research
  • In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda
  • Indivisible San Francisco
  • It’s On Us
  • Jewish Women International (JWI)
  • Just Solutions
  • Justice for Migrant Women
  • MomsRising
  • Marshall Plan for Moms
  • Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable
  • NARAL Pro-Choice America
  • National Alliance to End Sexual Violence
  • National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF)
  • National Council of Jewish Women
  • National Crittenton
  • National Domestic Workers Alliance
  • National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice
  • National Network to End Domestic Violence
  • National Organization for Women
  • National Partnership for Women & Families
  • National Urban League
  • Not on Ruth’s Watch
  • NWAAF- Northwest Abortion
  • National Women’s Law Center 
  • Paid Leave for All
  • Planned Parenthood Action Fund
  • Resilience, formerly Rape Victim Advocates
  • Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
  • Supermajority Education Fund
  • The Center for Reproductive Rights
  • UltraViolet
  • United State of Women
  • Vote Run Lead
  • We Demand More Coalition
  • Women Employed
  • Women’s March
  • Women’s Media Center
  • YWCA USA

On March 2nd at 11 am ET, leaders from the gender equity coalition will be hosting a Women’s Response to the State of the Union. Interested reporters can RSVP here.

ABOUT THE UNITED STATE OF WOMEN: 

USOW aims to create a world in which all women and marginalized genders can thrive. Through education, community, and action, USOW amplifies issues at the intersection of gender and racial justice and galvanizes organizations, public figures, and everyday feminists of all genders to drive policy and culture change. Learn more here. 

ABOUT CIVIC NATION:

Civic Nation is a nonpartisan, nonprofit home for changemakers who inspire, educate, and activate people around the issues that will define this generation. Civic Nation empowers and educates individuals, companies, institutions and organizations to drive culture, systems, and policy change, working towards a more inclusive and equitable America. Seven initiatives are a part of the Civic Nation family: When We All Vote, United State of Women, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, End Rape On Campus, It’s On Us, Made to Save and We The Action. Learn more here.

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