NOW Hear This: September 13, 2024 Newsletter
Message from National NOW President Christian F. Nunes
Greetings Feminists,
One of the most important conversations NOW chapters can have with members right now is about what’s at stake in this election. I wrote an article for Newsweek this week about this, and you can read it here.
“When women are elected,” I wrote, “we see more public policy decisions made that benefit everyone, closing gender gaps, advancing economic growth, and strengthening workplace protections, making it easier to live and work in a society where opportunity is available for all.”
I believe we’re seeing a shift in our politics away from pure partisanship, and more towards what’s being called “values-based voters,” motivated by their most deeply held beliefs and the threats they see to their basic rights. We need to talk about this election in terms of what it means to the core issues that unite us as NOW members, and how we can elect leaders who will fight alongside us for racial justice, reproductive rights, economic justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, ending violence against women and constitutional equality.
We’ve been talking in recent weeks about how “women will save democracy,” and in part that’s because women are the largest group of registered voters in America—and turn out in the highest numbers at the ballot box. That’s because women know how important it is to solve the most urgent problems that keep us from achieving our goals and securing our future.
This week, NOW joined civil rights and issue-based advocacy groups to storm the halls of Congress for a lobbying day to demand action on the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, DC Statehood and the Native American Voting Rights Act, to ensure that every American has an equal opportunity to make their voices heard at the ballot box.
This new survey from Glamour/YouGov shows that the top three issues for women in this election are the economy, health care, and the cost of housing.
“Across the board…” the survey found, “women spoke about the economy in personal terms: what it cost them, what they could or couldn’t afford. And it often included issues like paid leave and affordable childcare. Health care, too, was seen in terms of prescription costs, though the Black maternal health crisis was a major issue.”
Another conclusion? “Paid family leave continues to be one of the most popular—and unifying—policies in the country.”
NOW’s intersectional feminist agenda is on the ballot this fall. Voters
can make their voices heard on the issues that matter to them by turning out in record numbers. That’s the conversation we need to be having with NOW members—and they in turn can have it with others.
In Solidarity
Christian F. Nunes
President
