Blog

Women have been able to cast their vote and voice their opinion in elections for nearly a century; it took almost that long to make this right a reality. Activists and reformers fought for women’s suffrage for nearly 100 years, overcoming many pitfalls and disagreements that threatened to destroy the movement. The 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified on August 26, 1920, enfranchising all American women and recognizing that they, being created equal, should be given a fair say
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What feels like a long, but really quite short, 95 years ago, women in the United States acquired the right to vote. Following an immeasurable amount of effort put forth by women and men in favor of voting equality, women’s suffrage was scribed into our Constitution on August 26,1920. Critically speaking, voting access was not granted to every citizen simply because women’s suffrage made voting gender-inclusive. Initially the new ruling benefited only upper-class white women. It wasn’t until
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Structural and cultural barriers continue to hold women back today. Women have made great strides in the workforce, but inequality persists. A gender gap in access to opportunities and decision-making power between women and men still exists. . Specifically, in Rhode Island, 56% of minimum wage workers are women. 71% of families with children living in poverty are headed by women, 10% are headed by men, and 19% are headed by married couples. This wage gap has a significant impact on all women,
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The gendered wage gap has, in recent years, become something of a feminist buzzword. People are talking about it every time they talk about equality; you’ll find the phrase on the first page of every Women’s Studies 101 syllabus, in every internet think piece about “Why I Need Feminism”, and on the lips of every celebrity making safe forays into public activism. I likely do not need to repeat here the statistic that women make $0.78 for every one dollar made by a man. At this point, everybody
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Today's Supreme Court decision is an amazing leap forward in a movement that has been both agonizingly slow and lightning quick. The Women’s Fund has long recognized the very real linkages between misogyny, homophobia and transphobia. Back in 2003, when I helped to found Rhode Island’s Campaign for Marriage Equality, the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island was one of the first groups to stand with us. It took more than a decade, but in 2013 I was proud to be on the steps of the Rhode Island State House
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Last week I walked into my job at a local sandwich shop to find all my coworkers gathered in the kitchen, passing around somebody’s phone and talking excitedly amongst themselves. Two of our coworkers had been expecting a baby together, and the child had finally been born that morning. Of course, everybody wanted to see the pictures they had sent. When I finally got hold of the phone, I couldn’t help but smile. The new parents seemed so overjoyed (albeit exhausted) to be holding their son after
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Fifty-five years ago, Sirivamo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka became the first woman elected president in the world. It’s a startling fact – one that is younger than my own grandparents. It wasn’t until they were my age that a woman was ever elected president. But even in their seventies, they have never seen a woman elected president in their own country. That is, unless Hillary Clinton surprises us all and wins the 2016 presidential election. It’s hard for me to come to terms with the
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“Is there going to be a place for me to pump?!” After receiving multiple emails along these lines from Lady Project Summit participants, I was determined to find a way to provide accommodations for nursing and expecting mothers at this year’s conference,held this past weekend (April 18) in downtown Providence. This year’s conference sold out quickly, drawing more than 270 diverse young women from across the nation for a full day of speakers, workshops, and networking. Many of our participants
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"Girls Coding" is a great rallying cry as we push to prepare more tech-savvy women to fully engage the opportunities and challenges of the digital frontier. But let's not lose sight of the talent team we actually need to be mentoring as we collectively face this revolutionary moment of global technological change. The campaign to educate more female coders might still be a less effective generational return on investment (ROI) than thinking innovatively about how to create more effective teams
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I’m driving behind an SUV when I notice three stickers plastered to its bumper. The first reads “NRA: STAND AND FIGHT;” the second is the Gadsden flag screaming “DON’T TREAD ON ME.” And the third? The Human Rights Campaign equal sign. I laugh because of how absurdly incongruous they seem together. Then I think, well, maybe he’s the well-meaning, gun-loving, Fox News-watching kind who probably believes marriage is between a man and a woman except when it comes to his gay nephew. Seemingly
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