Join Our Online Events to Celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of Earth Day

Earth Day is every day, and anywhere you are. This year, Earth Day goes digital!

Earth Day Eve Event, April 21^st- Women and the Environment: Is climate change a gender issue?  What are the impacts of environmental conditions on infectious diseases? How can empowering women save the planet from climate collapse?  You’ll be surprised at the answers.

The Global Women’s Caucus will present a virtual panel discussion on climate change and gender, featuring three expert speakers:Alyssa Fischer, a climate and sustainability expert, Dr. Cara Maesano, a scientist and researcher in environmental epidemiology, and Dana Powers, an environmental journalist specializing in renewable energy.  You can view more info and RSVP for the event here, and we look forward to seeing you on the call!

Earth Day Events Marathon, April 22nd: Democrats Abroad Caucuses will stream a 16-hour program to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.  The events will be livestreamed on Zoom and Facebook Live. You can read the full list of events here. Please RSVP.  

Some notable events include:

• A presentation on the New Green Deal and the Greening of the Recovery by Naomi Ages, Team Lead for the GWC Climate Action Team and former senior political strategist with Greenpeace International.
• Presentation by Christiana Figueres, an internationally recognized leader in global climate change, and former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2010-2016.

Climate Change in the Time of Corona: Read the latest blog post from Naomi Ages, a member of our Climate Action Team. In this post, she discusses climate change in the age of the coronavirus, and things that you can do to make an impact.

Go Green, Vote Blue! Climate Action Toolkit: The Global Women's Caucus Climate Action Team created a Climate Action Toolkit that’s full of useful content, from shareable graphics to social media sample posts.  We encourage you to poke around the Toolkit, especially the "Wearables and Shareables" folder, which has online and offline resources you can use all year for Go Green, Vote Blue!

***************************************************************************

Election News Update

Global Presidential Primary Results:  The Global Presidential Primary (GPP) was the most successful ever! We had 39,984 Americans cast their ballot, a 15% rise from 2016.  Bernice Sanders received 57.9% of the abroad vote, while Joe Biden received 22.7% of the vote. Read about the results on our website.

GWC Candidate Information Team - Women To Win: Tricia Zunker (WI-07): The Candidate Information Team is proud to feature women running for office across the country in our “Women to Win” series! 

This week, we're thrilled to share the story of Tricia Zunker as our first candidate in the “Women to Win” series. Tricia is fighting to flip a Red seat Blue by running for the vacant seat in Wisconsin’s 7th district. Tricia is running for Congress to be a voice for the industrious workers and farmers of northwest Wisconsin, and to represent the Ho-Chunk people as Wisconsin’s first Native American Congresswomen. A fierce advocate for education, criminal justice reform, and workers’ rights, Tricia could be the candidate to provide Democrats with traction in a key battleground state. We were grateful for the opportunity to interview Tricia and learn about her story. Read on to find out who Tricia is, what she is fighting for, and how you can support her in the special election on May 12th. Read the full article by Rachel Rappaport.

Voting for the First Time, Across Cultures and Borders: Read an essay and poem by Democrats Abroad member Imaan Patel, who shares her experience voting in the Global Presidential Primary for the first time as an American citizen living in India. Read the essay by clicking here.

***************************************************************************

Reproduction Rights Action Team Update

Republican Governors in four states are preventing women from getting abortions by labelling them elective surgeries that are not necessary!  Learn more about this important issue by reading an article by Reproductive Justice Team Member Claudia Clark.

Activists have been challenging these newly restrictive regulations.  In Texas, the 5th Circuit court upheld a Texas law that allows the state to close abortion clinics during the pandemic as non-essential services. The Court based its decision on a 1905 case that found that Constitutional rights are not absolute; that they may be restricted for the common good. Critics claim that Texas is simply using the crisis to advance its decades-old anti-abortion agenda. The Supreme Court will now hear the case of restricting abortion rights during the global pandemic. To read more about this, click here.

If you want to help us fight for our rights to abortions, please join our Action Team. Contact Global Woman's Caucus - Reproductive Justice Team and let us know of your interest.

*************************************************************************************

Books Abroad Feminist Literature Club - Online Meeting

The Global Women’s Caucus feminist reading group, called Books Abroad Feminist Literature Club, invites you to celebrate Mother’s Day a little differently this year. At our next meeting on Sunday, May 10, 2020, our discussion will focus on acknowledging and respecting a broad variety of experiences with mothers and/or with motherhood. Our reading for this meeting, What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence. It is a collection of essays edited by Michele Filgate that challenges us to push the motherhood ideal off its pedestal and see mothers for what they are - human.

This is an online event, so you must RSVP here to receive the link to join.

*************************************************************************************

ERA Update and Online Event- Legalize Equality  

Despite Virginia becoming the 38^thand last needed state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, it still has not been added to the U.S. Constitution. There are court cases already in play to rectify that, but they could drag on. This means that the results of the November 2020 elections could have an impact on when women will finally have equal rights in the US.

Join us next month for a live discussion on the ERA and the elections.  We will be hosting three screenings of the film Legalize Equality, followed by a discussion on the Equal Rights Amendment and the importance of your vote in November. 

We will offer the event at three different times, so please choose the time and date that work best for you.  You can RSVP for any of these events, or other GWC events, by going to GWC Events.

In solidarity,