Once a massive outlet for the bubbling contempt felt by so many after President Trump's election and ??? ?????? ??????? ???????? ??????? ????? ???inauguration, the fervor for the 2017 Women's March, likely the largest single-day protest in U.S. history, has subsided to a simmer for some after a number of controversies marred the national Women's March organization.
First, there were early complaints about the makeup of the marches, many of which skewed white. Then, in 2018, news broke of allegations of anti-Semitism within the organization's leadership, on the part of some of the march's national co-chairs.
Attendance last year dropped off in comparison to 2017's record-breaking march. Although, as the Washington Post reports, 2019's march was still "number seven of the 10 largest days of protest since Trump took office."
But whether or not you took part in any of the 2020 Women's Marches that happened Saturday and Sunday, taking to the streets is still just one piece of the puzzle. With a fast-approaching election, and, of course, a seemingly ever-present patriarchy, working towards gender equality should be a year-round effort. There's no need to wait until the next Women's March, as leaders from organizations working towards gender equality told us.
"Advocating for gender equality doesn't have to look like marching once a year, or showing up on the steps of the Supreme Court every day something horrible happens," Anna Chu, vice president of strategy and policy at the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), a legal advocacy organization that fights for gender justice, said. "It can be woven into everyday life."
We spoke to Chu, along with Cathy Sakimura, deputy director of the LGBTQ legal advocacy organization National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), and Lara Kaufmann, director of public policy at the girls empowerment organization Girls Inc., to find out where and how you can make advocating for gender equality part of your daily routine.
Know the issues
Before taking other forms of action, you're going to want to know some of the key issues that need to be addressed when advocating for gender equality. If you're not familiar already, Sakimura and Kaufmann listed some of the big ones. They're just a start, though: Doing more research on your own on any topic that you're particularly interested in could lead to even more.
Sexual violence and harassment
Economic inequality and pay disparity
Domestic violence
Reproductive healthcare access and justice
Disability rights
Access to childcare
Racial justice
Undervaluing of caregiving
Lack of representation in positions of power
Employment discrimination
Many of these issues are connected, Sakimura notes, so it might be overwhelming for some to find a place to jump in. But she has a tip for making the dizzying array of gender-related issues that you can advocate for feel just a little bit smaller. She follows advice she got from someone else: Choose a national issue, like supporting a nationwide feminist organization, a local issue, like expanding access to homeless shelters for transgender people, and a personal issue, like setting up a bookclub at school with a female-focused reading list, and then make those your focus until you've done something about them.
"It's really overwhelming. There's a hundred thousand things we could be advocating for at any moment," Sakimura said. "You're allowing yourself a place to start."
From there, it's a matter of taking action on those issues in your day-to-day life. While the advice here isn't exhaustive, and will likely change in feasibility depending on the person and place, as Sakimura notes, it's a good place to start. Here's how.
At the dinner table
Sakimura, whose work at the NCLR focuses on family law, says that one of the best places to start advocating for gender equality is in your own home. Not only do you have a potentially receptive audience, you also have the space to talk through more complicated issues relating to the treatment of women and non-binary folks that you might not find online or outside of the home, due to judgment or harassment.
Having these conversations in comfortable settings can allow you to introduce family members to new ideas, while refining your own knowledge of particular issues. She recommends bringing up issues that sometimes get overlooked elsewhere, like the differences in legal relationship recognition for LGBTQ folks, so that everyone, including yourself, can learn.
If talking about more political issues relating to gender equality might divide those in your family, though, Sakimura recommends focusing on the human element behind the issues. If you don't have a personal connection to a particular issue, she suggests reading through news outlets or social media sources to find the story of one person, or one other family, that resonates with you.
"Look into that story and then lift it up," Sakimura said. "Find the human aspect that you felt a connection with, and then try to raise up the things that might be similar to what you or your family has experienced."
Chu notes, however, that you don't need to get bogged down by disagreements, should they arise. Instead, focus on the edifying conversations that might come from presenting a different side, or a new idea.
"'Winning' a conversation is a hard and high bar, particularly with family," Chu said. "It's important to just raise different perspectives."
If you're a parent or guardian who hasn't talked about these things with your children yet, Kaufmann suggests introducing key elements about gender equality through a conversation about gender more broadly. In doing so, you'll be able to present new ideas and counter gender stereotypes they might learn elsewhere. For those just introducing conversations about gender, Kaufmann recommends focusing on common words or phrases, like "boys will be boys," that can normalize harmful behaviors.
"We need to make it uncool," Kaufmann said. This starts, in her opinion, with explaining why these kinds of phrases can condone unacceptable behavior.
She also advocates for talking to young kids about consent and healthy relationships, which doesn't need to be a conversation explicitly about sex. For young kids, for example, you might explain that our bodies are our own, and that you need to ask permission before touching someone else. Kaufmann maintains that these kinds of conversations can also boost confidence, especially for young girls.
On campus
Outside of the home, think about where else you spend a lot of time, Chu suggests. If you're a student — or the parent of one — it's probably school.
A lot of advocacy work at school will first take the form of assessing what's already being done to make your school gender inclusive, and then seeing where there might be room for improvement, Chu says.
At school, this can be done whether you're a student, a parent, or an educator, Sakimura maintains. If you're a parent, for instance, think about all the forms you had to fill out when getting your kid ready to start the year. Did forms say "mother and father" instead of "guardian?" Did forms give your children limited options for marking their gender?
If so, Sakimura suggests pointing it out to administration officials at school if possible, who can then work on making a change. Change can sometimes be hard, though. Talking about these issues with other parents can also help raise awareness of particular injustices, like other non-inclusive school paperwork or signage, Kaufmann says.
Parents and educators can also assess the material being taught to students. It's important to think about the kinds of books young people are reading. Do they reflect a diversity of families, and a diversity of gender identities? If not, you can suggest new books for the curriculum, either to a teacher, the principal, or the school board, depending on how widely you want the new books to be read. If you're not able to change the curriculum, which could be a difficult process, you can always donate books to your school's library.
For students in particular, Chu says, there are "a thousand and one" ways to connect on issues relating to gender equality. She suggests joining clubs on campus that allow you to engage in conversations about gender and identity (or starting one if none exist).
Chu sees the connections made through clubs like these as the stepping stones for real action. The kinds of conversations had with people interested in similar issues can be the first step to mounting any kind of advocacy campaign that might be relevant for gender issues at your school. For those who are comfortable, Chu adds that you might then be able to raise various gender equality issues with the school, like supporting pregnant or parenting students, or addressing sexual assault on campus. To involve a wide array of voices, it's important to keep meetings open wherever possible, and to stay engaged with the school community at large.
For parents, students, and educators alike, there are a number of other issues that you might want to tackle. To begin, there's dress code, which can severely regulate students' self-expression, as well as unfairly punish black girls in particular when it comes to dress code violations. Then, there might not be equal sports offerings for women, even though Title IX should ensure that. Finally, there might be bullying or harassment happening at a school on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, ability, or income status. Depending on the school or individual, there could be even more issues worth looking into.
For all of these issues, Sakimura suggests first arranging meetings with those prominent at your school, like a principal, to see what they might have the power to do. If change proves difficult or they don't have much power over a particular dress code, sports equity, harassment, or other issue, you might get other parents or students involved and see what kind of advocacy could be done with the district superintendent and school board, or other decision makers within your school system.
Kaufmann also suggests requesting data, where possible, to figure out what kind of disparities might exist at a larger level. This could also help you identify where change makes the most sense: Is this something happening at the school level, the district level, or the state level?
For each issue, there are other some important factors to note too. For dress codes, Sakimura points out that it's especially important to advocate that all dress options are available to every student, regardless of gender, so that students can express themselves freely outside of a gender binary. (And to address dress codes that unfairly punish young girls of color, Kaufmann recommends this checklist for students.)
For sports equity, she notes that it's useful to start with a particular sports offering that's not accessible to girls or non-binary students at your school, so you can target a problem that needs an immediate solution. (Again, Kaufmann points to another checklist that can help you figure out how fair your school's sports opportunities are.)
Finally, for educators attempting to address harassment or bullying, Sakimura recommends looking into organizations that provide anti-bullying training and other support to schools, particularly those that explicitly address gender, race, sexual orientation, ability, and income status. And if you're a parent who has learned that your own child is experiencing harassment, being denied the ability to express their gender, or not getting access to needed accommodations for their gender, Sakimura encourages you to seek the support of outside advocacy organizations that can help you best champion your kid's needs.
At work
Like school settings, when advocating for gender equality at work, Sakimura and Chu suggest taking stock of what's effective, in terms of making your workplace equitable, and then seeing how you can change what isn't.
Chu points out that it's important to note the culture of your workplace, and to know what risks, like being ostracized or left out of future discussions, might occur when starting conversations about gender equality where you work.
Keeping this in mind, you can look at some of your company's policies that relate to gender and gender identity. Let's say your company's family leave is lacking, like so many in the U.S., or your place of work doesn't include gender transition related care in its health policies. You can look into trailblazing policies that other companies have enacted, if they were covered in any news outlets when adopted, and then see if they might be possible where you work as well.
SEE ALSO: 6 microaggressions to avoid around womenFrom there, Sakimura says, you might talk to management, or start with HR, and try to parse out if your company has considered something like this in the past. If they haven't, you might consider presenting a model policy, she says. Depending on your position in a company, you might feel as if doing so is out of step. If that's the case, you can seek out someone higher up who you trust to see if they might be able to advocate, or give you advice on how to approach the subject.
It's also important to know what laws and policies might protect you, especially when talking about big issues, like pay disparity and workplace harassment. With respect to pay disparity, Sakimura and Kaufmann both stress the importance of pay transparency. Kaufmann recommends looking at a recent fact sheet about equal pay from the NWLC for some context about the causes of the wage gap, and what we can do to achieve equal pay. Additionally, Sakimura says that it's helpful to know that employers should not be asking new employees for their previous salaries as the basis of setting compensation. In many states and cities, questions about salary history are illegal.
For addressing workplace harassment, she says it's helpful to make a formal complaint, because complaints must be investigated by law. (Kaufmann also points to an activist's guide that outlines ways to demand better policies and training, as well as ways to support co-workers.)
While Sakimura notes that it is illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee for making a complaint about harassment or discrimination, some forms of pushback might still occur. To counter that, she suggests seeking out trusted co-workers for support. Talking to your co-workers may also reveal others with similar experiences. Working together, you could raise the issue again with increased numbers.
You can also make linguistic changes in meetings, emails, and other work-related communication that can move your workplace closer to gender equality by normalizing inclusive behavior.
For example, Sakimura says, cis people can introduce themselves with their gender pronouns at company meetings, in order to normalize the practice. Additionally, Kaufmann suggests mentoring other women and non-binary folks, where possible, and helping them navigate challenges at your place of work. Kaufmann and Sakimura both recommend lifting up ideas raised by other women in group meetings (if you agree with them, of course), and pointing out times when men are given credit for women's ideas, if you're able.
Additionally, Chu recommends remembering the reasons that other people in the workplace might not have time to advocate on these issues, especially due to parental status or income. To make space for them, Chu suggests looking into other methods for making voices heard, like anonymous forums, that might allow people to voice their opinions even when they don't have the time to do so in more traditional methods.
In the political process
In addition to advocating in these realms, you can also do all of the more direct advocacy work that we typically think of when we discuss everyday advocacy efforts, Kaufmann, Sakimura, and Chu said.
Kaufmann outlines the big ones: registering to vote, voting, calling your congressperson, and, of course, running for office.
What's important, Kaufmann maintains, is making this kind of civic engagement routine, rather than responsive. (Sakimura's mom, for instance, sets aside a specific chunk of time each week just to call her representative, making it part of her weekly routine.)
Sakimura, Kaufmann, and Chu maintain that the formal political process matters for allof the issues mentioned above.
"It is not the case that there are just a few individuals here and there experiencing these challenges. Rather, these are actually widespread, systemic issues for which there are actual policy solutions that will go far in helping everyone, not just individuals in one-off situations," Chu said in an email. "It’s imperative to realize that and realize that we have power together and can demand change together."
Topics Activism Social Good