Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ninety-nine years ago we finally saw the end of men’s denial of women’s fundamental right to vote. Through 150 years of organizing, protesting and perseverance suffragists broke the unjust constraints on women’s constitutional rights as citizens.

As we near the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote being enshrined in the constitution, we look forward to an exciting year of public speeches, rallies and marches that honor suffragists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and Alice Paul. We also honor the later accomplishments of civil rights leaders like Fannie Lou Hamer who worked tirelessly to ensure that women of color and Native American women had full access to the ballot box.

We also look to the future and see that we face some of the same obstacles in our decades-long struggle to finally ratify the Equal Rights Amendment that the suffragists once faced. In fact, we hear echoes of the same arguments used against the right to vote now used against the ERA. But like the suffragists, we will persevere. There is no doubt that 2020 will be the year that we celebrate both the centennial of the right to vote and finally securing full equality for women in the U.S. Constitution.

Learn more information about the history of the women’s suffrage movement here.

Discover events happening around the country in honor of Women’s Equality Day 2019 and 2020 here.

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745

Statement by NOW Vice President Christian F. Nunes:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eight months is a long time — it’s a full year of college, nearly a full pregnancy, and even an entire sports season. It also marks how much longer Black women must work to be paid what White men received the previous year.   

Black Women’s Equal Pay Day is critical because it forces us to consider the unique social and economic experiences of Black women in America and takes our attention off averages. The wage gap Black women face is rooted not only in patriarchal attitudes toward women’s work, but historic injustices that denied social and economic uplift to African American communities, the effects of which are still unremedied today.  

In 2018, Black women were paid only 89 percent of the wages Black men received and only 65.3 percent of the wages White men received, while White women took home 81.5 percent White men’s wages. Placing all of these specific statistics together creates a much more nuanced and accurate understanding of the economic oppression that Black women face.   

We simply cannot talk about equal pay for Black women without considering both sexism and white supremacy, and by looking past averages, we can recognize that both the patriarchy and white supremacy must be dismantled to bring economic justice to Black women. This means we must ensure that women of color are able to access the same economic advantages and opportunities as White people, to correct historic inequalities, in our continued advocacy for Black women’s pay equality. 

Our activism is only stronger for taking an intersectional approach to understanding issues like the gender wage gap, and today is a monument to that fact. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745

Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

08.21.2019

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Donald Trump’s nomination of anti-abortion lawyer Sarah Pitlyk to a federal judgeship in St. Louis is another brick in his judicial wall around abortion.  He is packing the federal bench with young, ultraconservative zealots who are committed to weakening or reversing abortion rights. 

Sarah Pitlyk is the special counsel to the Thomas More Society, an anti-gay and anti-Muslim group started by Domino’s Pizza founder Thomas Monaghan that is known for bringing an unsuccessful lawsuit against Planned Parenthood to “require it to declare a link between abortion and breast cancer,” and a failed defense of a Pennsylvania school district’s argument that “federal law recommended that students learn alternatives to evolution such as the teaching of intelligent design.” 

Now, Donald Trump wants to elevate that twisted reasoning to the federal bench.  He’s picked not only someone in the mold of Brett Kavanaugh, but an anti-abortion zealot who clerked for Brett Kavanaugh when he was an appeals court judge. 

Sarah Pitlyk will go from being one of the most prominent lawyers in the anti-abortion ranks to one of the most powerful anti-abortion judges in the country if the Senate approves this nomination.  NOW calls on the Senate to reject Sarah Pitlyk and stand up to Donald Trump’s anti-abortion court packing scheme. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745

Statement from NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals must stop the Trump Administration from building chains around Planned Parenthood.  They want to padlock the truth about reproductive health care from people who are without insurance or who struggle to make ends meet by imposing a politically contrived gag rule on providers like Planned Parenthood.

Donald Trump is a misogynist bully, and he wants his government to reflect his image.  That’s why he’s directed HHS to force Title X grantees to withhold information about abortion care and give patients information about prenatal care instead. 

Conservatives love to malign the “nanny state,” but this is just one example of how Donald Trump is turning government into a bad babysitter.  They want to take away our choices and punish us out of malice—but we won’t let them treat us this way. 

NOW stands in solidarity with Planned Parenthood in opposing the gag rule. We call on the Senate to advance a spending bill that incorporates protective language around Title X. We must ensure millions of people can continue to access these vital health care services. 

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745

WASHINGTON, D.C. — There’s the bottom of the barrel, and then there’s Steve King. 

The Congressman from Iowa, who defended white supremacy, has now come out with a defense of rape and incest.   

It’s beyond obvious that Steve King has to resign his seat in politics, apologize to the people of Iowa and find something to do that doesn’t involve thinking, talking or being with other people. 

But Steve King isn’t the only Republican who repeats—or retweets—offensive, ignorant sexist and racist views.  His idiotic statements are part of a spectrum of intolerance, hate speech and bigotry that the House Republican Conference enables through its silence. This language damages the work being done to change our culture to one that respects women as equals and listens to their truths, their stories, their bodies. 

NOW calls on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to require House Republicans to attend gender and racial bias training conducted by independent experts and trainers.  

NOW would be happy to provide some recommendations.   

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202-570-4745