NC NOW Legislative Update #10 – 8 April 2019 – Two Pro-women Bills Introduced

See the full NC NOW Legislative Update #10.

Another bad abortion bill was introduced this week—there seems to be no end.  This one, HB603, Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, is really yet another attempt to ban all abortions after 20 weeks with few exceptions.  The excuse for banning these abortions, however, does not hold up under scientific scrutiny.  Feeling pain at all requires development of a network of neurons along with development of the area of the brain needed to process the sensory data.  While it is really impossible to determine what a fetus is experiencing, most studies show that there is not adequate physical development in a fetus to feel pain until 28-30 weeks.  For a detailed examination of the evidence pro and con, see:  https://www.factcheck.org/2015/05/does-a-fetus-feel-pain-at-20-weeks/

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ERA: Alyssa Milano Wants It. How About You?

Women have been working to get equal rights in the United States for 170 years! Too many people don’t realize women don’t have equal rights. Why is ERA catching fire now? What will it do for women and families? How can you help? North Carolina women are pushing now and pushing hard! Learn more and join the effort!

Actresses Alyssa Milano and Patricia Arquette are on board, and using their star power to bring more attention to the need for ERA. Milano said at a press conference in DC, “It’s 2019 and I still don’t have equal rights under the Constitution. Neither do any of you, the nearly 162 million women across the U.S. The absurdity is mind-boggling: because I have a vagina, my opportunities for equality and justice are limited.”

Patricia Arquette and Alyssa Milano in front. Ellie Smeal behind. 

Raising Minimum Wage Helps Women More! 3/19/19 Press Conference

Lawmakers, workers, business owners to announce on 3/19/19 legislation raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour over five years, ending sub-minimum wages, repealing exemptions for agricultural and domestic workers. This $15in5 type bills has been introduced before and would help women more than anyone else. 2/3 of minimum wage workers are women, according to the National Women’s Law Center. Full time minimum wage workers are paid only $15,080 a year. Near impossible to live on that, especially for a woman with children.

This picture is from outside the Legislative Building Press Conference Room on International Day in 2017, 3/8/17, when women showed up en mass to support a previous $15in5 bill.

View from outside the Press Conference Room on 3/8/17. Photo Credit: Amy Hellmers

Grimes: Fayetteville NOW Partners with Fayetteville State University in 2019

The Fayetteville chapter has partnered with the Office of Civic Engagement and Serving Learning at Fayetteville State University. Recently, members of NOW presented to students enrolled in SOC 400, the Sociology of Gender Roles. This is part of  NOW reaching and working together with the next generation. This includes opening dialogue during class, and will include outside events, including at least one the students designed themselves. 

International Women’s Day Luncheon with Triad NOW, 3/9/19

Triad NOW is having its first International Women’s day Luncheon on Saturday, 3/9/19, from noon to 2:30pm. They have a “knock your socks off” presentation by Purity Ruchugo from Kenya, and an inspiring multi-media presentation about international women activists by Iris Cole. 

Keynote Speaker Purity Ruchugo arrived from Kenya to the United States with just $5. She is the founder and CEO of Sister to Sister Outreach Ministries, an international ministry that feeds and educates 100 AIDS orphans in Kenya in addition to supplying housing for mothers of disabled children. Her African craft store is debt free, and she has helped many women start their own businesses in Kenya, as well as helping women with childcare issues here in the US.

Ms. Purity Ruchugo Photo Credit: Triad NOW

Women and Allies Show Strength Again at Raleigh Women’s March on 1/26/19!

Thousands of marchers surrounded the NC Legislative Building while more waited and watched at Halifax Mall for the 2019 Raleigh Women’s March on Saturday, January 26, 2019. This is the third time women and allies showed up in the thousands in Raleigh to tell the world and the legislature that they are still fighting for change! Women organized women’s marches and rallies in at least 6 cities in January 2019. Here is a summary of the Raleigh event with theme, march, speakers, performers, signs.

Women and allies surround Legislative Building in Raleigh. Photo Credit: Jason Noble

Blue Stocking Salon on Women in Poverty Summary – 1/27/18

Fayetteville NOW’s Young Feminist Committee hosted their 3rd Blue Stocking Salon on January 27th, 2018. The topic of women in poverty drew the largest group yet! We discussed various studies and their results, personal experiences with social safety nets and anti-poverty activism as well as what we could do after the salon to act on what we learned.

The first point discussed was an analysis that estimated that if the wage gap was resolved, the number of women in poverty would decrease by half, what an astounding possibility asserted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research! We wondered if they studied the wage gap by comparing men and women in the exact same job or if they compared across similar job responsibilities, and concluded that while comparing the exact same job would yield more exact results, using the undervaluing of ‘women’s work’ instead of individual discrimination as a comparison tool is still effective.

Women In Poverty In America Data from National Women’s Law Center, Picture from Equal Means Equal

EME making rounds at NC College Campuses in Sept. 2017

College women today still need to worry about major issues – safety on and off campus, being treated fairly, being paid fairly, health care coverage, and what happens when they decide to have children. Many don’t realize that the only right guaranteed for women in the Constitution is the right to vote. Even today.

We recognize the continued struggle for women to gain full constitutional inclusion in American society. We are sure that the fix for these and other problems is through the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). We’re spreading the word about the problems that women face by bringing the documentary “Equal Means Equal” to the big screen at college campuses around NC from Sept 10-17. Look for your campus showing at http://www.nc4era.org/campus-movies-sept-10-17.html

Alfonso: What I Learned Volunteering with NC NOW

As of March 10th I’ve stood in press conference, helped fold newsletters for NOW NC, and I have also helped Gailya Paliga, President of NC NOW, with several things she needed done around her office. I learned more in the 10 1/2 hours with President Paliga about the functions of an organization such as NOW than I can imagine I would’ve learned over the course of a semester in a class room.

Photo Credit: Sen. Floyd McKissick

While standing in at a #15in5 press conference (raise the minimum wage), I heard a single mother of one child speak, and then I heard single mother of four who had been homeless for a while. That mom worked at Bojangles for 2.5 years and only makes $8 an hour now. I was unaware of the struggles of single mothers, and learned so much during their time speaking. For a split second I felt a microscopic portion of what they felt on a day to day basis. The struggles these women go through everyday is because the minimum wage is not enough to provide for even a single person to live off.

National Followup to Women’s Marches – action and education!

Now that women (and men) have found their voices, we need to use them to influence the future of the United States at the hands of the new administration. We need to let everyone know that it wasn’t an isolated event! We need to keep pressure on Congress and the US Senate.

Women’s March On Raleigh, 1/21/17. Photo Credit: Ashley P.

House and Senate Republicans are going on a joint “retreat” this Wednesday (1/25/17) to Friday (1./27/17) “to sort our their priorities ” and they need to hear from you a.s.a.p.  Send them off to their party’s discussions reeling from the calls to their DC and state offices.  

Are you worried about health care and need to keep Obamacare in place? Read So What Would Happen If We Repealed Obamacare, The Hill, 1/4/17, to give you some ideas why it matters.