Letter from the Editor
There are less than 50 days until Election Day, and the most important thing that you can do to make an impact is to request your ballot NOW at www.votefromabroad.org before it’s too late. And to ensure that your ballot is counted, also complete a Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot (FWAB), the back-up ballot for Americans who live overseas. Here’s how: www.democratsabroad.org/fwab
For Americans overseas, November is NOW, so please do request your ballot, expect to receive it around September 19th, send it back immediately, and also complete an FWAB.
This month’s GWC newsletter is packed with great content, everything from an update on some of the great events we will be having, information about some more great Democratic women candidates, several essays about Kamala Harris and her historic nomination for Vice President, and essays about parenting and schooling during the pandemic.
We hope that you enjoy this edition, and most importantly, that you VOTE.
WOMEN’S CAUCUS EVENTS
September 20th, 8:00 am EDT: Books Abroad Read Rebecca Traister’s “Good and Mad.”
The September meeting of the GWC Books Abroad feminist reading group is on Sunday, September 20th! Will you be there?
We will be discussing “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger” by Rebecca Traister. Published in 2018, the book surveys the history of women’s political rage, telling the story of how it influences the rise of women to political power.
This pick is especially timely in the wake of Kamala Harris becoming the first Black woman on the Democratic ticket for Vice President four years after Hillary Clinton's historic presidential defeat.
Rebecca Traister is a columnist at New York Magazine and a contributing editor at Elle who writes about women and politics, and a frequent commentator on TV news.
This is an online event. Please RSVP here
September 22nd at 12pm EDT: Women to Win Forum Candidate Forum
We are less than 2 months away from November 3, 2020. Democratic women running for Congress this November need your support more than ever!
Join the Global Women’s Caucus for a “Women to Win” Candidate Forum on September 22. These Democrats will speak about their priorities for governing, what brought them into the political arena and the state of the races in their districts - and take your questions.
This event will feature Patricia Ackerman (Nevada 02), Teresa Leger Fernandez (New Mexico 03), Desiree Tims (Ohio 10) and Hiral Tipirneni (Arizona 06). They need our help to advance crucial Democratic priorities such as immigration reform, climate action, addressing economic inequality, and of course, access to healthcare.
CANDIDATE ACTION TEAM AND POLITICAL NEWS
Candidate Information Team - Women to Win and Candidate Forum
By Kaitlynn Newcomb
The Candidate Information Team is excited to announce two upcoming virtual events in September and October!
First, on September 22nd, we will be joined by an impressive panel of women running for office. Desiree Timms (OH-10), Patricia Ackerman (NV-02), Teresa Leger Fernandez (NM-03), and Hiral Tipirneni (AZ-06) will be taking time to speak with DA members and answering your questions during our virtual Women to Win forum. Second, October 6th will host another virtual panel event chock-full of candidates eager to hear from Democrats living abroad and. An email will run shortly with detailed information on the events so save the dates!
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Women on the Ticket: The Past, the Present, and the Future
By Sabrina Jacobs
If Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris wanted to find other women in the sea of men who have been Vice Presidential nominees, she wouldn’t have to look back very far history.
The first woman to run for Vice President was Democrat Geraldine Ferraro, who ran alongside former Vice President Walter Mondale in 1984. Ferraro was a former teacher, a lawyer, and Congresswomen from New York’s 9th District. Although slightly inexperienced, her spirited personality and often times blunt remarks were seen as a major asset to the already trailing Mondale campaign.
After her nomination, Mondale went from being down 16 points to nearly even with Republican challenger Ronald Reagan. Famously, when asked by Mississippi state Agriculture Commissioner Jim Buck Ross if she could bake muffins, she responded, “Sure, can you?” Although Mondale and Ferraro failed to win the White House, the choice was historic and a major step for women in politics. During her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, she said, “There are no doors we cannot unlock. We will place no limits on achievement. If we can do this, we can do anything.”
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Kamala Harris & The Meat Industry
By Grace D
According to an article published by the Huffington Post in August, while speaking at a “Farmers & Ranchers For Trump” event, Vice President Mike Pence vowed that he would protect America’s consumption of red meat. Pence took aim at U.S. Senator Kamala Harris when he claimed that she wanted to reduce the amount of red meat Americans could consume. The statement brought the crowd to a roaring “boo.” However, Pence quickly promised that as long as he and President Donald Trump remained in power, Americans could continue to consume as much red meat as they want.
So, is Harris actually trying to take our burgers away?
ERA UPDATE
Vote for Equality
By Shari Temple
When you cast your vote for the November election, please Vote for Equality. The best chance that we have for the Equal Rights Amendment to become part of the US Constitution is to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. The success of the ERA whether decided in the legislature or in the courts depends on having pro-Equality candidates in office. Please Vote for Equality!
STATE OF THE AMERICAN WOMAN PROJECT
Parenting And Its Impact on Women During a Pandemic: Working Mothers are Carrying the Burden of the Pandemic
By Stayce Camparo
Since March 11, 2020, when the WHO announced the novel coronavirus as a global pandemic, mothers have been disproportionally impacted as they’ve strived to balance work and childcare.
The pandemic’s influence on gender inequalities has not only highlighted that women, who represent a larger part of the healthcare workforce, are at greater risk for contracting Covid-19, but are also experiencing abuse due to vulnerabilities and inequalities in the household at higher rates than men. Moreover, when schools and daycares closed due to stay-at-home mandates, mothers were found to experience yet another negative side-effect of the pandemic: a greater share of the household responsibility and emotional labor as compared to their male partners. Burnout and mental health issues that arise from the overwhelm and pressure of full-time work and childcare is being reported in the media, but what initiatives and policies are being offered to mitigate it?
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American Women: Back to School, Differences in the US vs. Europe
By Samantha Borzi-Hedges
In the U.S., back to school season generally conjures up thoughts of school shopping, sports tryouts, and a sigh relief for parents. But as with all things, COVID-19 has changed the back to school season, too, with school shopping in masks or online for a new tablet rather than crayons and notebooks.
Sports in many areas are canceled indefinitely. And parents, rather than breathing a sigh of relief, are more stressed than ever as they try to figure out how to work while educating their children from home-- with the burden most often falling on women. While American parents wrestled with the prospect of in person, hybrid, or virtual learning (decisions t often reversed days later to virtual only studying), European kids have largely returned to the classroom in person.
In much of Europe, students are assigned “bubbles” or “cohorts” to ensure limited contact, and schools have instituted staggered start and pick up times to ensure parents are not congregating in large groups during these times. Some countries hired more teachers to allow for smaller class sizes or opened more areas (outdoors, libraries, gyms, etc.) as classrooms to allow students to spread out. Hygiene measures are in place and localities have contingency plans for local outbreaks.
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My Most Important Act as a Mother, Citizen, and Woman
By Stayce Camparo
I had my first child in 2016, just two weeks after Donald Trump was elected into the White House. This event changed me as a parent, and hardened my already firm beliefs of raising children who would be empathic, open-minded, and tolerant.
As a budding developmental psychologist, I am very aware of the scientifically supported ways to raise a prosocial child. A secure parent-child attachment is the first step towards a child’s understanding of the world as a trusting and good place. As Nature intended, the many ways of building security far exceed those that impede it. Along those lines, whether or not the child enters daycare, participates in playdates throughout the week, or has siblings has less to do with prosocial outcomes as with what is ultimately modeled and valued by the caregivers themselves. Therefore, my husband and I make it a priority to talk about inclusion, tolerance, and model those behaviors as best as we can for our children.
IN OTHER NEWS
Request Your Absentee Ballot!
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And while you’re there, check out their State Voting Guide to find your local election information and stay on top of deadlines and submission rules for this year’s elections.
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Registering to vote now is the number one thing you can do to help save our democracy. Please do it today!
Thank you for reading our GWC Newsletter, and as always, stay tuned to our Facebook page for the latest news.
In solidarity,
Global Women's Caucus