Released on August 26, 2022

One hundred-two years ago today, (white) women were finally granted the Constitutional right to vote. We now honor this as Women’s Equality Day to commemorate a milestone that catalyzed decades of progress for women. However, it’s disingenuous to celebrate this momentous occasion as equality becomes increasingly more elusive for women as those in power continue to dismantle our rights – in real-time.  

Women today are less equal than they were 50 years ago. The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn half a century of precedent robbed women of our basic right to bodily autonomy, while men still enjoy complete control over their health. The Equal Rights Amendment, which would officially grant women equal rights in the eyes of the law, still languishes in governmental limbo waiting for the National Archivist to certify and publish it. Women are in arguably worse economic shape than we were decades ago after the pandemic forced millions out of the workforce, combined with a widening wage gap, an immeasurable number of hours of unpaid labor at home, and an unstable economy. For women of color –  who were largely excluded from the 19th amendment until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – equality is becoming an increasingly distant goal because of unchecked systemic racism within the institutions that claim to protect them. 

While we have little reason to celebrate Women’s Equality Day today, there’s no reason why it can’t be a joyous occasion in the years to come. The solutions are there, but we need the right leaders with the courage to push them forward and activists like you to hold them accountable.  

The 19th Amendment wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the women who fought and sacrificed to ensure their granddaughters had the same rights as their grandsons. So, what’s it going to take? It’s going to take us.  

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The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the nation’s leading membership-based advocacy group dedicated to defending women’s rights, advancing equality and combating injustice in all aspects of social, political and economic life. Through educating, mobilizing, and convening a vast network of grassroots activists across the country, NOW advocates for national, state and local policies that promote an anti-racist and intersectional feminist agenda. Since its founding in 1966, NOW has been on the frontlines of nearly every major advancement for women’s rights and continues to champion progressive values today. More about NOW’s efforts and resources is available at NOW.org.

Contact: Press Team, press@now.org,

Released on June 24, 2022

WASHINGTON, D.C. — We’ve been ready for this. We knew that with the new conservative majority on the Supreme Court, abortion rights were hanging by a thread. Today, that thread—that lifeline—has been cut.

The Supreme Court’s ruling endangers women and pregnant persons with low-incomes, women and pregnant persons of color, women and pregnant persons living in poverty, and women and pregnant persons from disenfranchised communities. Historically, these communities have faced barriers to reproductive health care and have experienced worse health outcomes because of systemic oppressions in the health care system. Sadly, these barriers and this racial trauma continue in our present-day experience. As clinics close and new restrictions that keep quality, affordable reproductive health care are voted into law, the burden of access is exacerbated.

Dozens of states will now pass or enact the “trigger laws” already signed into law to make abortion illegal. These laws have nothing to do with women’s health and everything to do with political power, and control over women’s bodily autonomy.

But this is only the beginning. Extremists who have pushed for decades to undo abortion rights have announced that they are coming after marriage equality next. And we’ve already seen how determined they are to restrict voting rights and to seize control of how elections are administered. Their attempts to seize control over constitutional rights are boundless.

NOW members have always been ready to fight for women’s lives. We’ve marched, lobbied, organized and worked for feminist candidates at every level. In 2022, we must vote for women’s lives—to keep the feminist majority in the House of Representatives—and elect an abortion rights majority, abortion rights majority in the Senate.

What’s more, we must flip the key Governors’ races and state legislative contests that will determine where abortion rights are protected, and where they are taken away.

NOW members will be active wherever grassroots grow—in our communities, through NOW’s state and local chapters, in every election at every level.

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The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the nation’s leading membership-based advocacy group dedicated to defending women’s rights, advancing equality and combating injustice in all aspects of social, political and economic life. Through educating, mobilizing, and convening a vast network of grassroots activists across the country, NOW advocates for national, state and local policies that promote an anti-racist and intersectional feminist agenda. Since its founding in 1966, NOW has been on the frontlines of nearly every major advancement for women’s rights and continues to champion progressive values today. More about NOW’s efforts and resources is available at NOW.org. 

Contact: Press Team, press@now.org,

Released on May 25, 2022

Today marks the two-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.  However, there has been little movement on police reform since the horrific tragedy. Police still kill Black people at higher rates than other groups and corporations that once proclaimed that Black Lives Matter continues to bolster and fundraise for political candidates who spew racist propaganda.  

Since George Floyd’s murder, Black Americans and other minority groups have grown more fearful of police brutality while legislators have only made empty, symbolic gestures to address this deep-rooted issue.  A Washington Post poll found that although there was an increased focus on police reform directly after Floyd’s murder, 41 percent of Black Americans feel like nothing has changed. 

There is no denying that racism is embedded into our founding institutions and pervasive throughout our society. Racism can no longer be an American value. After many failed attempts in Congress to enshrine a system of accountability, President Biden signed an executive order that will “increase accountability, ban chokeholds, restrict no-knock entries, and more for federal law enforcement officers”. President Biden also called for local officers to integrate his framework.  While this action is an important step forward, it is not a permanent solution and doesn’t address issues within local police forces. Congress needs to step up because the stakes couldn’t be higher.   

When interacting with law enforcement, Black Americans are too frequently presumed guilty and never get a chance to prove their innocence because a police officer could be their judge, jury, and executioner at a traffic stop. In contrast, self-declared white supremacists are given the benefit of the doubt despite perpetrating unimaginable and horrific crimes. Just last week, a racist domestic terrorist slaughtered 10 people at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo.  Prior to the shooting, he actually published his plans to kill Black people in a 180-page manifesto.  

The suspect of this massacre was met with a civilized escalation of force and will be afforded the “luxury” of due process. George Floyd, however, lost his life over a counterfeit $20 bill.  No one should be at risk of losing their life to the people who are sworn to protect them. 

The Washington Post poll also shows that three-quarters of Black Americans worry that they or a loved one will be attacked because of their race, with just 8 percent reporting they are “surprised” by racist attacks. What’s more, 70 percent of Black Americans believe that at least half of white Americans hold white supremacist beliefs, and 66 percent see white supremacy as a bigger problem today than it was five years ago. If you are Black in America, safety is an unfamiliar concept. 

As we remember George Floyd, we must also think of his children, who meant so much to him. They must not continue to grow up in a society that enables racism and dismisses murderous behavior.  NOW members are working hard to dismantle structurally racist and inequitable systems at every level of our society and every street corner in neighborhoods like the one where George Floyd was murdered two years ago. 

As NOW honors his life, many states, cities, and communities across the nation will mark this solemn occasion with tributes, events, and gatherings as part of a Day of Remembrance for George Floyd. NOW members will be participating in these observances as part of our commitment to an antiracist, intersectional feminist agenda -a commitment that is more urgent and essential than ever before.

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The National Organization for Women (NOW) is the nation’s leading membership-based advocacy group dedicated to defending women’s rights, advancing equality and combating injustice in all aspects of social, political and economic life. Through educating, mobilizing, and convening a vast network of grassroots activists across the country, NOW advocates for national, state and local policies that promote an anti-racist and intersectional feminist agenda. Since its founding in 1966, NOW has been on the frontlines of nearly every major advancement for women’s rights and continues to champion progressive values today. More about NOW’s efforts and resources is available at NOW.org. 

Contact: Press Team, press@now.org,