Letter from the Editor
This March, we are commemorating the brave and diverse women who’ve carved out a space for the female voice. We will be looking to the past, as well as focusing on the issues and stories of today, to continue the progression of equality and justice for women all over the world.
Join us for our speaker series events, a month-long campaign of informational material for you to brush up on your knowledge of women’s history, and two events-in-a-box. This issue has updates on our various action campaigns as well as reports on current events. Scroll down to see our featured artist, L.A. based Andrea Bowers, to commemorate WHM, and take our February Newsletter quiz!
We hope you enjoy this edition, and we hope to see you at our events!
Stayce Camparo, Communications Co-Chair Global Women’s Caucus
GWC EVENTS
International Women’s Day: Making History with Kathy Spillar
RSVP here
The Women’s History Living Library
The Global Women’s Caucus has curated its own Women’s History Month Living Library, full of resources and tools for you to share with your organization, group, and caucus including a social media toolkit. Check back often to see updates!
- How much do you know about women’s history? Take the quiz and share your results or experience on our social media with the #learningwomenshistory.
- My Country2 facilitates conversations comparing the history of women’s movements and the state of women’s rights in the U.S. versus the country where you live.
Check our Events Page to RSVP
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Visit our Events page for a full list of events, including chapter events.
Issues & Actions Team Updates
- The Climate Action Team launched its Meatless Monday recipe exchange, which you can follow here. We're looking forward to the March 19th Global Climate Strike that the DA Global Youth Caucus is organizing, and to following up Women's History Month with some Earth Day action in April.
- ERA Action Team is partnering with VoteEquality! We are committed to making the ERA our 28th Amendment, but as it stands, equality can easily be rescinded by another president. Join us by going to www.democratsabroad.org/ERA.
- The ERA Action Team is gathering stories from members about why equality in the Constitution is important to you. Stories will be sent to our congressional allies. Head to our ERA Stories page and add your story. You can also make a video and send in the link!
- In response to an outpouring of exciting and interesting book recommendations, Books Abroad, The GWC’s Feminist Reading Group, would like to invite you to vote on our next read! The book with the most votes will be read in honor of Women’s History Month (though we will not meet in March). Stay tuned for the winning choice and for the date of our next discussion!
- The Global Women’s Caucus launches Instagram! Follow us @dawomenscaucus
Complete the Volunteer Interest Form to join our teams.
News
Paid Family Leave is a Necessity for all Americans
By: Salli Swartz
Many, if not most of us, live in countries where paid leave for maternity/paternity, and illness is provided by national law. That the United States remains the only industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee any type of paid family leave at the national level is a major failure of our Federal Government.
Women’s History Month - Environmental Defenders
By: Naomi Ages
In honor of Women’s History Month, the Climate Action Team highlights a few women around the world who have been doing the hard, often dangerous work of environmental protection and seeking environmental justice.
The State of American Women: The Impact of the Raise the Wage Act (Part I of a two-part Series)
By: Rebecca Petras
The earning gap is a simple way to measure and communicate the glaring issues faced by women in the workforce. One of the main reasons for the gap is that women make up the majority of minimum wage earners.
GWC Supports Effort to End Culture of Rape, Silence in U.S. Military
By: Denise Roig
Two Democratic congresswomen – New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and California Representative Jackie Speier – are expected to introduce hard-hitting proposals in the Senate and the House to decisively end sexual assault and other sex crimes in the U.S.
Women’s History Month has its Own History
By: Kathy Tullos
Discover how Women's History Week became Women's History Month and continues to evolve both in form and narrative.
About Ms.
by: Katherine Spillar
Executive Editor of Ms. Magazine and our Guest Speaker for International Women’s Day
When Ms. was launched as a “one-shot” sample insert in New York magazine in December 1971, few realized it would become the landmark institution in both women’s rights and American journalism that it is today. Ms. was the first national magazine to make feminist voices audible, feminist journalism tenable and a feminist worldview available to the public.
Essay: What Virginia Woolf can Teach Us About Practicing Wisdom this WHM
By: Stayce Camparo
Women’s History Month is a time to get lost, ask many questions, and open up to what we don’t yet know.
We are launching a special series called #MyStoryGWC to bring awareness to the experiences of Americans living abroad. Whether it be with the healthcare system, having a baby or raising children, taxes, education, or policing, these (sometimes controversial) issues have relevance in the lives of Americans Abroad and we want to know your story. Stay tuned for the launch through our social media. Follow us on Facebook or Instagram to hear more!
Did you read the GWC February Newsletter?
Take the quiz to test your knowledge.
Andrea Bowers
I’m a Feminist. What’s Your Superpower? (Excelsior!. Leonard Raven-Hill, 1910. Punch Magazine), 2018
Acrylic marker on cardboard
84 1/2 x 97 3/4 x 5 1/2 in (214.6 x 248.3 x 14 cm)
In Closing
In order to honor the women who have paved the road we now walk on, we must continue their fight. Our path forward, though carpeted with broken shards, is still, in many places, covered by glass ceilings. Consider joining our caucus to take up the necessary and good work for our daughters. Become a member of the Global Women’s Caucus to receive newsletters and events, or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Our website is constantly being updated with news and actions to get you and your family involved in the campaign for women.
Thank you for reading this issue, and please share with your friends and family.
In solidarity,
Global Women’s Caucus