Abortion rights, women of color, and LGBTQI+ people are under attack. Pledge to join us in fighting for gender justice.
State Playbook for Gender Justice
From abortion bans to laws attacking trans students and prohibiting teaching about racism, sexual orientation, and gender identity/expression, women—especially women of color, LGBTQ people, disabled women and immigrant women—are facing historic attacks that risk setting back progress for gender justice by a generation.
Women still lag far behind in labor force growth compared to men since the pandemic. In the face of rising prices, women are making difficult decisions every day at the grocery store, gas pump, and when paying for other necessities. Women are struggling to find the child care and home care they need to be breadwinners for their families, even as the women—overwhelmingly women of color—who work in child care and home care are paid poverty wages for their essential work.
The bottom line: women’s and girls’ health and safety have been deeply compromised. We are not OK. And we will not silently watch as a generation of gains for women and families are dismantled.
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STATE PLAYBOOK FOR GENDER JUSTICE
State policymakers can and must urgently take action to advance broad-based agendas that would remedy discrimination, ensure accountability, and provide key supports for women and girls. This could include:
Economic Security and Opportunity Agenda
Economic Security and Opportunity for All
An Economic Security and Opportunity Agenda with measures to increase families’ access to affordable, high-quality child care and early education, expand access to comprehensive health coverage, expand and strengthen state unemployment insurance programs…
Click hereHealth Care Access and Equity Agenda
Ensure That All People Can Access the Health Care They Need
A Health Care Access and Equity Agenda with measures to ensure access to health care, guarantee and expand access to abortion, and ensure everyone can access birth control.
Click hereYoung Women and Girls Opportunity Agenda
Promote Opportunity for Young Women and Girls in Your State
A Young Women and Girls Opportunity Agenda with measures to end discriminatory school discipline policies, invest in counselors not criminalization, stop sex harassment and sexual assault in schools…
Click hereWorkplace Gender Justice Agenda
Advance Workplace Gender Justice in Your State
A Workplace Gender Justice Agenda with measures to end discriminatory pay practices, ensure pregnant workers are treated fairly, stop and prevent sex harassment, raise the minimum wage, promote fair work schedules, and stop employers from firing workers…
Click hereStop Sex Harassment Agenda
Stop Sex Harassment in Your State
A Stop Sex Harassment Agenda with measures to stop and prevent workplace sex harassment, prevent sex harassment and sexual assault in schools, end school discipline practices that blame girls for the harassment they experience, ensure patients are protected…
Click hereKeep LGBTQI+ Youth Safe Agenda
Keep LGBTQI+ Youth Safe
A Keep LGBTQI+ Youth Safe Agenda with measures to teach affirming and accurate curricula, address harassment and violence against LGBTQI+ youth in schools, end unfair school discipline, protect against “sex testing” in school sports…
Click hereResource Collection
State Policy Briefs
Our state policy elements include strengthening equal pay laws, ensuring fair treatment of pregnant workers, increasing access to birth control and abortion, and strengthening protections against sexual harassment in the workplace.
Click hereThe National Women’s Law Center can help you craft a legislative agenda for women and girls that is specifically tailored to your state.
The National Women’s Law Center can:
- Provide research to identify specific needs or gaps in policies;
- Assist in crafting legislation;
- Provide state level data analysis;
- Help connect you with other advocates, legislators, and experts;
- Create supporting resources, including:
- Social media support;
- Talking points; and
- Fact sheets.
If you are interested in pursuing a policy agenda to promote policies that will support women and girls in your state, please contact Andrea Johnson, Director of State Policy, Cross-Cutting Initiatives at the National Women’s Law Center by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 202-588-5180.
Pathway To Gender Justice
For nearly five decades, the National Women’s Law Center has been on the forefront of championing policies and laws that help women and girls achieve their fullest potential throughout their lives and in all sectors. In the beginning, we fought to expand possibilities for women, girls, and families through legal battles and policy fights and now we anchor advocacy for women, girls, and families in the era of #MeToo and #TIMESUP. In the face of Trump’s unrelenting attacks, we have honed our formidable legal, policy, and cultural organizing expertise on the local, state, and national levels to serve on the frontlines of gender justice and to protect and advance our communities’ needs in the upcoming 2020 presidential election. Our goal is to drive a national conversation that will ensure positive change in 2021 for women, girls, and families.