Yesterday was Women’s Equality Day!  90 years ago women in the United States gained the right to vote and ever since have been a political force to be reckoned with– on both sides of the metaphorical isle.  So today, 90 years and 1 day after our grandmothers’ gained the right to vote, indulge me just a bit while I join in with the “This is what a feminist looks like” blog carnival hosted by Fair and Feminist.  I’m going to talk about why I am pro-choice, pro-woman, and pro-family.

Because I believe that women are capable of making rational, moral, and ethical choices about their own bodies;
Because I believe that medical care should be decided by a woman and her doctor;
Because I believe that women should not be lied to, misinformed, or under-informed;
Because I am tired of women’s lives being used as a political football;
Because I know that women deserve to be trusted to make choices about their life and the life of their families;
Because I know that comprehensive sex-ed prevents more abortions than shame, stigma, and abstinence only education;
Because I know that families come in all sorts of forms and at all different times;
I am pro-choice, pro-family, and pro-woman.

A few pro-choice, pro-woman organizations that I donate to and volunteer for (when I have time and money):

• Emily’s List is dedicated to electing pro-choice Democratic women to office.
• National Abortion Federation, the professional association of abortion providers in North America.
• The National Network of Abortion Funds, are a network of over 100 grassroots groups in more than 40 states that help women pay for abortion services.
• Girls on the Run DC, a group that offers programs that combine training for a 3.1 mile running event with self-esteem enhancing, uplifting workouts.
• Women Empowered Against Violence (WEAVE), works closely with adult and teen survivors of relationship violence and abuse, providing an innovative range of legal, counseling, economic and educational services that leads survivors to utilize their inner and community resources, achieve safety for themselves and their children, and live empowered lives.
• Holla Back DC, fighting street harassment in America’s capital by empowering Washingtonians to speak out against gender based public sexual harassment.

I’m also putting up this list of organizations I volunteer with or donate to in order to push back, just a teeny, tiny bit on the myth that young women aren’t feminist.  We are active, in new organizations, in organizations that are local and focus on the local.  Some of us have kids, but we are also college students, law students, young professionals, and living examples of why the wage-gap just plain doesn’t make sense.