“In these next few months, we’re going to have to fight like our future depends on it, because it does,” said Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a call, which introduced the United Day of Women and invited women across the country to join the movement.
“We need your passion and your creativity and as so many have eloquently said, your activism more than ever,” Richards added.
The United State of Women has declared December 3, 2016, the United Day of Women, which aims to activate people across the country to join them for a movement. This day of action is a national effort to channel grassroots energy by connecting people directly with the organizations on the front lines of protecting progress in women’s issues – ranging from reproductive rights to racial justice to gender equity and economic empowerment.
“We’ve seen a lot of people looking for ways to get involved and we wanted to give them a venue to connect directly with opportunities to join the movement,” explained the team behind United State of Women, an initiative of Civic Nation that was launched earlier this year in order to work in partnership with the White House Council on Women and Girls to convene the first annual United States of Women Summit.
“The United Day of Women is really about bringing people together in their communities to have discussions about the work that needs to get done and then getting connected with activists already doing the work on the ground,” they added.
On December 3rd, the organization hosted a call that was led by Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards, Black Lives Matter Activist Brittany Packnett, CEO and Founder of MomsRising Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Maria Teresa Kumar, President and CEO of Voto Latino, and special guests Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen from the White House Council on Women and Girls.
The call connected attendees directly to tools, resources and grassroots organizing tactics from movement leaders. At the end of the call, speakers asked for groups to continue discussions at the more than 300 events nationwide, as well as online at #UnitedDayOfWomen.
“Everyone can be a leader in their community and we want the United Day of Women to serve as a first step toward turning passion into action,” said Taylor Barnes, the Director of The United State of Women, in a press release. “We hope people will come together to engage with their communities through local organizing.”
“We hope that the #UnitedDayofWomen is only the beginning,” their team told DIVERGE. “We hope that it serves as inspiration for people to continue to take action and organize in their communities through next December and beyond.”
The call ended with a simple request: Take action.
For more information, visit http://www.theunitedstateofwomen.org/action.
For those who missed the call, here is a brief summary of what the speakers discussed:
Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Obama and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls:
“When I think of the arc of the moral universe and the progress we have made over last years, its hard to talk about it without tearing but part of the reason we have been so successful is because we understand how important civic engagement is.
These are not top down solutions; these are solutions that have come from each and every one of you so I thank you for the passion and commitment that we share to ensure that every young girl in our country grows up able to achieve her dreams, compete on a even playing field, know with pride that she can reach for the stars. That’s what this has been about since day one and this is the work that we are asking you to continue as we pass the baton on.”
CEO and Founder of MomsRising Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner:
“Across the country some of the people in our nation are mourning Trump’s victory, some are celebrating, some are organizing, and many are coming together from multiple perspectives on the election, all in the same family but no matter what place you are in, you cannot avoid talk of the election. It’s important to remember and never forget that the hateful rhetoric that dominated this election cycle fermented a deep fear among many women and their families,’ people of color, Muslims, Jews and people of other faiths, the LGBTQ plus community and disabled communities and created tension within many families. This fear is warranted.
In fact, more than 900 hate crimes that happened since the election. This division is hurting our hearts, its hurting our families, its hurting our economy, and it’s hurting our democracy. It’s time for each of us to step forward to help make sure that everyone in our nation has the opportunity to thrive, to protect people and the economy, to stand up that to sexism, racism and xenophobia and no matter what, we can’t give up.”
Maria Teresa Kumar, President and CEO of Voto Latino
“More than 16 million Americans live in a mixed status family and there are 750,000 immigrants in this who currently have work permits and deportation protections’ because of DACA, and now their futures are more uncertain than ever.
We must also recognize that 2016 was the first general election we had since the gutting of the voting rights act and it led to fewer polling places and less time to vote in certain states. This decision affected more than 15 million Latinos this year, many of which in the 2016 election faced stricter voter identification, inadequate language assistance and less early voting locations. There were 860 fewer polling places in the United States than in 2012. 200 of those were in North Carolina alone, Florida saw the vanishing of polling booths on campuses throughout the state. In fact, 40 percent of Latinos indicated some sort of difficulty in casting a vote or registering to vote this election.
The president-elect’s chief strategist has suggested that property owners should only be the ones allowed to vote. This would significantly impact communities of color and young populations. The home ownership rate among Black Americans is only 41 percent and among the Latino Americans is 45 percent. This would disproportionally enfranchise younger Americans and people for color so the fight for the voting rights act is more important now than ever.”
Black Lives Matter Activist Brittany Packnett:
“When I think of the power of women, I often think about the example in the words for Audrey Lorde, who was an activist, a writer and a poet, and one of my favorite quotes from her is “If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crushed in to other peoples fantasies for me and eaten alive.”
This is the kind of leadership that continues to inspire me and so many of us- there is nothing we can’t do together. It’s important that as we win, we do it our way, defining ourselves for ourselves and as we strive together, it is critical that we recognize the wealth of our diversity, the various perspectives, experiences and assets that all different kinds of women bring that make us stronger in every area from politics to business to activism.
As a woman of color, I know that standing up, speaking the truth and leading unapologetically is risky. Perhaps more risky today than ever before but everything we are doing is risky and the time is always right for truth. As an activist, I recognize that this is the time for us to be standing up for what is right and to never slow down in the fight for justice.”
Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards:
“We have seen that since the election and the few days following the election, we had a 900 percent increase in women coming and looking for access to birth control and particularly long acting methods of birth out of a concern that they might lose the rights that President Obama has assured for them.
That, I fear is what we’re dealing with now, the incredible legacy of Barack Obama and what he and his administration did for women is absolutely at stake. Our motto at Planned Parenthood is “Care, no matter what.” We have stood defiant for a century and we are not backing down now.
This is our moment. I believe America is at a crossroads and what we do in the next few days and months and years ahead, is not just going to determine what happens next, its going to define who we are as a nation. I think it’s never been more important to fight to stand up for women, women’s rights, reproductive rights, and for the future of the country. In these next few months, we’re going to have to fight with our future depends on it, because it does. We need your passion and your creativity and as so many have eloquently said, your activism more than ever.”
Tina Tchen from the White House Council on Women and Girls:
“One of the things that I have been so proud to be a part of through our work at the Council of Women and Girls and the White House is our work on violence against women. One of the breakthroughs that our administration achieved was the “Dear Colleges” letters that was issued with the Vice President and Arne Duncan.
It made it clear to colleges and universities and other schools that receive federal funds that those schools must have programs that address and condemn sexual assaults on campuses, or else they are violation of Section 9, the federal statute that bans sex discrimination at federally funded schools. After that, what was amazing was the young students who took that letter and put it into action and started to hold their schools accountable for how they were treating rape victim survivors, how they were treating alleged perpetrators, how they were addressing bystander intervention and training on college campuses.
Because we know and its been validated now by repeated surveys that 1 in 5 young people will experience sexual assault during the four years they are in college, is a shocking epidemic that we have to address.
“Its on us”- a campaign where we have activists on 500 college campuses across the country that are taking action through it to make it clear that its on all of us, on young men, on young women, on athletes, on band leaders, on student governments to address sexual assault and stand with survivors and that work will continue and we are encouraging that no matter what happens in Washington.”
