Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON – We observe International Women’s Day on March 8, paying tribute to women’s achievements and the ongoing campaign for equality. Although women of the world may be separated by language, geography, and culture, we are united in activism and energy.

NOW celebrates the women who are making a global difference and inspiring us here in the U.S.

Women like the “Feminist Five” in China—five women who were imprisoned for 37 days for planning to distribute information about gender equality and sexual harassment to mark International Women’s Day.  Their persecution showed the world that there is an organic, grassroots women’s movement in China and led to the emergence of the #MeToo movement in that country.

Women like Nadia Murad, a joint winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, human rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery at the hands of ISIS in Iraq. Following her escape, she became an advocate for the Yazidi minority in Iraq and for the cause of refugees’ and women’s rights. “My story, told honestly and matter-of-factly, is the best weapon I have against terrorism,” Nadia says.  “More than anything else, I said, I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine.”

And women like those in India, who held the largest public gathering of women for the cause of gender equality this past New Year’s Day.  As NPR reported, “… somewhere between 3.5 million and 5 million women lined up on National Highway 66, a long stretch of road that runs along the country’s western coast. The ‘wall’ stretched out 385 miles.”

As one woman wrote in response on Twitter, “The era of women folding hands and submitting to patriarchy is beginning to end from here. They will throw their fists on the air and demand for their rights. Women’s wall is just a beginning, a baby step of the impending cultural revolution. #WomensWall”

On International Women’s Day, these are the examples that lift up women here in the U.S. and around the world. Their struggle is our struggle, their cause is our cause, and their courage is our courage. We will not fail them, and we will not fail each other.

Read more by Elena Mieszczanski, Government Intern

This International Women’s Day NOW Celebrates Activists at Home and Abroad

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NOW Press, press@now.org, 202-628-8669

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON – The National Organization for Women (NOW) strongly opposes the nomination of Shannon Goessling, who is unqualified to head the Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) in the Department of Justice (DOJ). If confirmed, Goessling would bring detrimental – and even dangerous – views on domestic violence and firearms. We urge senators to oppose this nominee and to insist that an experienced and knowledgeable candidate for the OVW position be considered.

Goessling claims that she worked on pro-bono domestic violence cases for 13 years as a lawyer in Georgia, though court records for Superior Court, Cobb County, indicate that she only worked on one custody modification case during that time. Her only other experience around violence against women is a 7-month stint, twenty years ago, as Director of the Crimes Against Women and Children Prosecution Unit, when she worked for the Assistant District Attorney for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit.

In her 11-year tenure as Executive Director and Chief Legal Counsel at the conservative Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), Goessling advanced anti-gun control, anti-LGBTQ, anti-racial justice, and anti-immigrant cases. Because survivors of domestic and sexual violence also include racial, LGBTQIA and immigrant communities, understanding the challenges these groups face are integral to the job.

Most alarming is the fact that Goessling claims that widespread gun ownership would protect women, though many experts agree that there is a clear link between domestic violence and gun violence. An amicus brief that Southeastern Legal Foundation submitted in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 asserted that widespread gun ownership is means of defense for women, reflective of a long-running campaign of the National Rifle Association. It is an ongoing tragedy that an average of 760 persons are killed with guns by intimate partners each year and more than 80 percent of victims are women. Nearly a thousand women each year are murdered by an intimate partner.

Goessling’s advocacy of socially conservative positions could negatively impact domestic violence and sexual assault survivors, especially those views on immigrants and LGBTQIA persons, child protective services in domestic violence and child support cases, and sexual assault victims.  

The director of OVW is responsible for making critical decisions for 25 key community grant programs totaling $450 million (in 2017), directed at services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.  Funds go to law enforcement, shelters, tribal authorities, campus programs, transitional housing, legal assistance for victims, training and technical assistance as well as formula grant programs for state, territorial and tribal domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions.

NOW strongly opposes the nomination of Goessling to this integral office, and urges the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose her confirmation.

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NOW Press, press@now.org, 202-628-8669

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON – Every workplace should be safe from sexual harassment and abuse—but for too long, Congress has failed to protect the rights of employees to report this behavior without fear of retribution.  

That’s about to change. The Ending the Monopoly of Power Over Workplace harassment through Education and Reporting (EMPOWER) Act has been introduced by Representatives Lois Frankel (D-FL), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), John Katko (R-NY), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and Lauren Underwood (D-IL), along with 49 bipartisan co-sponsors.

The EMPOWER Act will protect employees from workplace harassment and make it less dangerous for survivors to come forward. The bill would outlaw non-disparagement and non-disclosure agreements in employee contracts, require public companies to disclose settlements, establish a confidential tip-line for reporting, and reform the tax code to ensure survivors aren’t penalized.

NOW endorsed the EMPOWER ACT in the last Congress and we are proud to do so again. We are equally proud of Rep. Frankel and her colleagues for working so diligently to ensure transparency, accountability, fairness, and justice for all workers. NOW members will work with the new Congress to pass the EMPOWER Act and demand the Senate do the same.

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NOW Press, press@now.org, 202-628-8669

WASHINGTON – The National Organization for Women (NOW) strongly condemns the Trump administration for their inhumane immigration and detention policies that have allowed thousands of migrant children to suffer from sexual abuse. Detaining children and separating them from their families is already traumatic enough, but the extent of these numerous sexual abuse allegations is terrifying, immoral and unconscionable.

Media has reported that from October 2014 to July 2018, the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) received 4,556 complaints, and the Department of Justice received 1,303 complaints, including 178 allegations of sexual abuse by adult staff of the facilities.

These numbers are a heinous fact, but Donald Trump would probably call them “fake news.”  His administration has even responded by saying the majority of allegations weren’t substantiated.  This is the same excuse sexual abusers and their enablers use to dismiss #MeToo survivors. They say if no one saw it happen, it must not have happened.  

But survivors everywhere know better.  And we know that sexual assault in immigration detention centers is real—and it must be stopped, with abusers held accountable.

NOW calls on the Trump administration to ensure that the legal protections to which migrant children are entitled are explained and made available. Procedures and rules must be put into place to prevent abuse, and there must be immediate investigation and safety measures enacted in response to these complaints.  Survivors must also be provided with health and support services to help them heal. The U.S. government must make every effort to ensure the safety and health of the thousands of migrant children in their custody.

#EnoughIsEnough.

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NOW Press, press@now.org, 202-628-8669

Statement by NOW President Toni Van Pelt:

WASHINGTON – Donald Trump hates free speech – particularly when it comes to women’s health – and his administration has issued its long-awaited rule that bars groups that provide abortion care or abortion referrals from receiving federal family planning funds. Defunding providers and denying girls and women access to information about legal medical options has been a top priority of opponents of women’s reproductive health care.  

This “gag rule” prevents medical professionals from talking to their patients about health care options, including safe, legal abortions – forcing health care providers to choose medical malpractice or lose funding.  It is designed to prop up faith-based, science-denying “family planning centers” otherwise known as crisis pregnancy centers, that lie to women about abortion.

The “gag rule” is a first step towards the religious right’s goal of repealing Roe v. Wade. Safe and accessible health care – including access to abortion – is a human right. This is a sneak attack on the Constitution, which the Supreme Court has ruled protects abortion rights—and a direct attack on women’s health care providers, especially Planned Parenthood.  They are at risk of losing the critical funding they need to provide services to more than a million people who are the most vulnerable since they are part of our nation’s uninsured and low-income communities.

NOW supports the court challenges that will be filed to block this rule, and we stand in solidarity with Planned Parenthood and other organizations that provide front-line reproductive care to women.  

Donald Trump can’t stop the truth from being told, and he can’t silence us from speaking out.  The “gag rule” must be overturned.

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NOW Press, press@now.org, 202-628-8669