Media Advisory from the National Organization for Women:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Thousands of immigrant families are being inhumanely locked away in horrific and immoral detention facilities – and the women and girls among them are suffering the most. Those fleeing to the U.S. are seeking refuge from sexual violence, assault and poverty and they deserve a fair and humane immigration process. If they are to be held in these prisons, at a minimum, we have an obligation to give them access to vital human needs such as reproductive health care, feminine hygiene products and mental health care, among other provisions. 

“While the ultimate goal must be to unlock the future of women and girls by closing all of the inhumane detention prisons, while they are still in operation detained people must be afforded their human rights,” said National Organization for Women (NOW) President Toni Van Pelt. “We demand that the U.S. reform our immigration practices and end our current detention prison system, instituting instead humane, safe and secure processes for women and girls immediately.” 

In response, NOW is launching the “Unlock the Future” campaign with a series of rallies and issuing a Bill of Rights for women and girls in detention prisons that will be delivered to top level government officials. NOW also urges support of H.R. 3918/S. 2113, the Stop Cruelty to Migrant Children Act which would address many of the issues highlighted in our Bill of Rights. 

Details of the campaign include: 

• Who: The National Organization for Women, along with our state and local chapters and our partner organizations.
    
• What: “Unlock the Future” Rallies to demand humane treatment for the women and girls held in immoral immigration prisons: 

• When/Where: 
  • Oct. 16:  San Diego, Calif. 
  • Nov. 17: Houston, Texas 
  • Dec. 8:    Phoenix, Ariz.
     
• More information: Visit Unlock The Future or hashtag #UnlockTheFuture for updates on upcoming events. Read our Bill of Rights for Women and Girls in Immigration Detention Prisons. 
• Media Contact: For more information or to attend these upcoming events, please contact press@now.org.  

Contact

Kimberly Hayes, Press Secretary, press@now.org, 202 695 8229

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