Letter from the Chair
As members of the Global Women’s Caucus, we take this opportunity to celebrate the invaluable contributions of countless women across the nation and within our organization. From Vice President Kamala Harris and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to our esteemed DA Chair, Martha McDevitt-Pugh, and all the many other committed leaders and volunteers of Democrats Abroad, we commend their achievements not only this month but every month.
Women’s History Month traditionally spotlights the accomplishments of well-known female leaders whose names grace our history books and headlines. However, as Democrats Abroad marks its 60th anniversary this year, we recognize that our history is also shaped by the thousands of devoted women who, often in unassuming roles, have tirelessly volunteered their time, efforts and considerable skill, around the clock and around the globe for over half a century!
To these women of Democrats Abroad, who have been instrumental in mobilizing and empowering communities worldwide, playing a pivotal role in moving our country forward we say: Today, we celebrate you! We appreciate you, and we honor you. While the world may never know your names, your contributions are invaluable in advancing the cause of American women. You are making history alongside our more widely recognized sisters, and for that, we express our heartfelt gratitude.
While we’ve made so much progress as a country since the election of Biden-Harris, this month is also a reminder of how much is on the line for American women this November- even for those of us who are living overseas. We know that erosion of women’s reproductive freedom is not just a problem for our stateside sisters. Those of us who are lucky enough to be living in more liberal countries are not out of danger. Patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise worldwide, seeking to strip women of their agency and relegate them to the sidelines of their own lives.
With the threat of another Donald Trump term looming, women’s freedoms, families, and health care are at stake no matter where you live.
Where President Biden is lowering costs and expanding access to health care, Trump wants to raise health care costs and rip away coverage from American women. While President Biden is spurring more jobs and economic opportunities for women, Trump is pushing to give more tax handouts to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations at the expense of working women. As President Biden fights to protect reproductive rights, Donald Trump wants a nationwide abortion ban and brags about dismantling Roe v. Wade and ripping away reproductive freedoms across the country. The contrast couldn’t be clearer, and American women around the globe are watching. We know that the only way to keep building on progress is by sending President Biden and Vice President Harris to the White House again.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have demonstrated unwavering support for American women. Conversely, another Trump term would be catastrophic:
- President Biden prioritizes reducing costs for families, including prescription drugs and groceries, while Trump seeks to raise healthcare expenses and revoke health coverage for millions.
- Trump’s actions against reproductive rights, including overturning Roe v. Wade and advocating for punitive measures against women seeking abortions, threaten the fundamental freedoms of families across the country.
- Under President Biden’s leadership, we’ve witnessed the creation of more job opportunities for women, whereas Trump’s policies favor tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy at the expense of working families.
- While Trump aligns with the gun lobby, promoting more firearms in our communities, President Biden advocates for safer schools and neighborhoods, combating gun violence effectively.
- Trump’s opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment contrasts sharply with Biden’s long standing support for gender equality, urging Congress to recognize ratification and uphold equal rights for all Americans under the law.
As we approach the upcoming election, we, as American women living around the world, recognize that our choices will resonate not only within the United States but will have a profound and lasting impact on women's rights globally.
What we do today will reverberate well into the future, shaping the destiny of generations to come.
In closing, I urge you to join the fight by becoming a volunteer with our caucus. Whatever your interest, skill set, and available time might be, we would be grateful for your help.
You can help to protect the rights of women everywhere by helping us to get the word out to Americans living abroad about what’s happening stateside and by helping us to get out the crucial overseas vote. This is where our power lies. Together, we can overwhelm those who have stolen our rights and rebuild a society that upholds the principles of equality, autonomy, and true justice for all.
In solidarity,
Ann Hesse, Chair DA Global Women’s Caucus
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Event Highlights
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Featured Feminist: Mary Thom
Mary Thom was born in Akron, Ohio. She attended university at Bryn Mawr, where she helped the maids who cleaned the dorms attempt to unionize. During that time, she also became involved in the civil rights and anti-war movements. 
Later, Mary met Gloria Steinem while they were both working on the congressional campaign of Bella Abzug and for twenty years the pair worked together along with a group of other committed women to produce Ms. Magazine. In fact, later in her career, Mary would publish a book on Abzug with another member of that Ms. cohort named Suzanne Levine. Known among readers for the politician rating system she created early in the existence of Ms., Thom never shied away from controversial political topics and often pushed the publication to tackle hot button issues such as abortion and birth control. In April 1987, Ms. Magazine came out with a cover article that was so controversial people were sending letters to the editor months later!
Mary loved to read the letters that the readers of Ms. Magazine wrote during her time as an editor of Ms. Magazine. Mary dubbed these “clicks”, because they showed that something about the content of the magazine clicked inside of women and once noted that one of things that made the publication’s Letters to the Editor page different from any other was the way in which women related their personal stories to the content of the magazine. Sometimes, women would reply to one another. Mary published a book of these communications in 1987 called Letters to Ms. 1972-1987. Mary Thom also wrote a history of the first 25 years of Ms. that preserved the details of the first era of the publication. The names and important roles that everyone played in making a magazine for women, by women are forever documented through the work of a woman not nearly enough people know about. Hopefully, that will change. Until then, is a group picture with Mary Thom.
Mary Thom (bottom row, far right) with many of her early Ms. Magazine colleagues including Gloria Steinem (bottom row, center).
Join us next time as we focus on another feminist of note.
In Closing
Please, vote in the November election. Voting is the only thing that matters.
And it is the only thing that will make a difference in the way women are treated.
VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. It very well may.
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Thank you for reading this issue, and please share with your friends and family.
In solidarity,
The Global Women’s Caucus