For October, we will be reading and discussing The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss. This is part of a Swiss-wide DACH celebration for the 19th amendment ratification. We are encouraging members from around the country to join and are extremely excited to announce that Elaine Weiss will be joining our meeting!

Interested in participating but haven't read the book? We have a supply of both versions of the book available for CHF 15. Please contact vice-chair@democrats.ch if you would like to obtain a copy!

Additional information about this (and future) event(s) can be found here.

The October meeting will be held via Zoom. If you are not already on the Geneva Book Club mailing list, please send Sam an email letting him know you would like to be included.

Add to your Google Calendar.

Scroll down and click on the dates below to RSVP and get connection details and reminders.

Did you know every eligible American living abroad can vote in U.S. elections this year? 

Do you have questions about how to vote? Click the chat bubble at the bottom of this screen and we can help you find the answers. 

But we get it. Sometimes you just want to speak to live person. 

Starting July 26th, join us any Sunday(24hrs), Tuesday, Thursday & Friday (noon-4pm) till November U.S. Eastern time to talk to a volunteer LIVE on Zoom about questions you have about voting from abroad.

How is it done on Zoom? You'll come into the main room and be paired 1:1 with a volunteer into a breakout room to ensure privacy and that you can get all your questions answered. It couldn't be easier. 

More information: The easiest way to request your ballot is at VoteFromAbroad.org. It takes just a few minutes to complete and send in your form to the US state where you last lived. The website will guide you step by step. In most cases it’s pretty simple. But if you’re new to voting abroad, or if you haven’t done it in a while, you may have additional questions. That’s why we’ll be here every Sunday until election day to help.

If you can’t make the 'office hours', you can always email us at helpdesk@votefromabroad.org or send in your question through our online help bubble, and a volunteer will get back to you.

Here is a handy website to convert the time zone to yours wherever you are in the world.

CLICK ON A DATE TO GET SPECIFIC CONNECTION DETAILS & REMINDERS:

Sunday's: 24hrs (U.S. Eastern Time)
October 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th
November 1st

Tuesday: 6-10pm CEST Hosted by DA France (12-4pm U.S. Eastern)
October 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th
November 3rd

Thursday: 6-10pm CEST Hosted by DA United Kingdom (12-4pm U.S. Eastern)
October 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th

Friday: 6-10pm CEST Hosted by DA Italy & DA Mexico (12-4pm U.S. Eastern)
October 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th

Join Marie Newman and Ben Hardin

on June 14, 2020 at 11:00am Eastern Daylight Time, 5:00pm Paris Time, 11:00pm HKT

We CAN make the difference, but we need YOUR help. Donations large or small will help us win in 2020. [Mobile device users, please scroll down to donate!]

Following Marie Newman's big win in the Democratic primary of Illinois's 3rd congressional district, the Youth Caucus's Quyen Nguyen, Kaitlyn Min, Alex Rehbinder, and the Women's Caucus's Ann Hesse will speak to both her and her campaign manager, Ben Hardin! 

And while you are doing that, consider joining Marie in supporting our voter mobilization efforts with a $10 donation (or more!).

Donations are made to Democrats Abroad (Democratic Party Committee Abroad) and not to any candidate for Federal Office.

Donations to Democrats Abroad are not tax-deductible.

During the last Democratic debate, Senator Amy Klobuchar argued that women are held to a higher standard in politics than their male counterparts – or everyone would be able to cite their favorite female president of the United States.

While no country has had enough female heads of state to enable a real choice of ‘favorite’ (only a handful of countries have surpassed two), progress towards such a debate is slowly ramping up abroad. In 2018, 26 out of more than 190 countries or territories were ruled by women; this represents less than 15% but is nonetheless a historic high.[1]  

Looking beyond the presidential or prime ministerial seat, the forecast remains cloudy on a global scale but is getting brighter. As of February 2019, only 3 countries had reached equal gender representation in one of their houses of parliament, but 50 single or lower houses around the world were composed of at least 30% women.[2] Though the merits of critical mass theory – which posits that women must reach 30% representation in a political body before being able to affect meaningful policy change – have been debated,[3] crossing that threshold is, at the very least, a symbolic win given the role the theory has played in advocating for women’s participation in politics.

The Global Women's Caucus writes articles about the State of the American Women.  New ones are posted on a periodic basis.

New content:

GWC Celebrates Black History Month

Disparities in Healthcare Access for American Women of Color

Click on the below links to read earlier articles:

Women in the US Military

Party call: Gender parity in politics

Women in US Politics: Looking back to look ahead

On April 12, 2019, the DAUK Film Committee and the DAUK Women’s Caucus screened the documentary "RBG: A Progressive Icon in these Troubled Times” in London. “Super Diva” is on Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s sweatshirt at her weekly routine in this lively biography. And “Super Diva’ she is to the young students attending her recent public appearances. The term is well-earned as we hear family, friends and colleagues talk of RBG’s impressive legal acumen, tireless work ethic, quiet determination, and successful strategies to advance gender equality in the United States.

We see her 1992 Senate nomination hearing outlining some of the many cases pursued while a law professor and general counsel of the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, winning five of the six gender discrimination case before the Supreme Court. It is shocking to remember that, in 1959, despite graduating first in her law school class, she was turned down NY law firms and denied a Supreme Court clerkship because she was a woman.

There are amusing vignettes from her private life: opera, travel and a supportive husband who famously promoted her Supreme Court nomination. But what shines through is her dedication to the law and her mode of overcoming sexism: “Be a lady and be independent.” And the Justice continues as a “rock star” with her independent thinking in eloquent dissents in today’s Supreme Court.

It was an excellent film and we would highly recommend it. RBG is now available on iTunes!

Watch the trailer

Highlights of the March 8 events in Oslo

There is an irony in the fact that Norway, which is ranked as the second most female friendly nation (2018 ranking*1), is so dedicated to the International Women’s Day. Have they not already achieved equality? The strong engagement is a good barometer for Norway’s general commitment to support women’s rights. The laws here do support women both in the workplace and home. Norway, traditionally a farming nation, recognized the contributions of farmer wives, decades ago, by giving them the status of a regular workers, entitled them to increased social security and workman’s benefits. Now girls are taken over farms since the law on inheritance has changed, favoring the first-born child, replacing the first born “male” as the heir. The law now also states that all corporate boards must be minimum 40% female; however, women tend not to rise as rapidly as men on the corporate ladder. A major newspaper recently reported that more men are going into female dominated vocations, such as nursing and teaching, and a larger percentage of women now seek higher education than men.