We wanted to take the time today to let you know how proud we are of the work you’ve all been doing as part of a movement for equality. We’ve seen the tireless advocacy led by our Club members and supporters across the U.S. who have been organizing their peers, getting out the vote, and volunteering their time in the weeks and months leading up to the U.S. election. We’ve seen the global advocacy being led by Club members around the world in countries with upcoming parliamentary and Presidential elections.
While there may be uncertainty in the days ahead, we are certain that your advocacy has made a difference and our community of changemakers aren’t slowing down for a minute. As Ruth Bader Ginsburg once said, “Real change, enduring change happens one step at a time.” Together, you’ve all been raising your voices, exercising your right to vote, and continuing to take steps in the fight for equality.
In the U.S., these are just a few of the Clubs and Coalitions leading on civic action:
- Girl Up The Dalles Club, in Oregon, who participated in Chalk the Vote, a local initiative to encouraging voting celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment and the 150th anniversary of the 15th amendment.
- Marriotts Ridge Girl Up Club in Maryland who attended a webinar hosted by the Civics Center to learn about how to organize a voter registration drive and created a presentation to send to eligible voters in their Club and school to encourage their peers to register to vote.
- Girl Up Upstate New York Club Coalition hosted a Get-Out-the-Vote text-banking event which offered guidance to eligible voters on getting a voting plan together. They partnered with the Future HQ to use the mobile app, Outvote to help with their text-banking.
- The Girl Up Pennsylvania Club Coalition hosted a civic engagement summit with featured speakers including a state senator, county commissioner, and two speakers from non-profits centered around women’s issues. As part of the event, they hosted an advocacy training centered around several menstrual equity bills. Thems of the event included women in politics, women’s issues in their community, and how to get involved in politics and civic engagement.
We’ve got your back, and we know you have each other’s.
There is so much happening in the world. COVID-19 is stifling progress made toward equality, making it hard for girls to go to school, stay safe, healthy, and free from violence, and causing women to take on a larger burden of domestic work and care, or to leave the workforce all together. Ongoing systemic racial injustice compounds gender inequality for Black women, indigenous women, and women of color emphasizing further the intersections between racial and socio-economic inequality. Access to health care and reproductive care is on the line for so many women, and the rights of LGBTQ, disabled, and gender non-conforming people are as tenuous as ever.
Thank you for your continued commitment and advocacy. Thank you for creating this supportive community alongside us. We continue to stand with you in your work shaping a future that’s better for girls, and better for all of us.
