Small personal aside: When I found out Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg had passed, I refused to believe it. I immediately denied it, thinking that my friend must have been joking. There was no way such a powerful mountain of a woman could ever pass away so suddenly. When I read the news articles and the tributes online, I still could not stomach the information. Even now, I am filled with a deep sadness. RBG was a hero and someone I and every other girl in the U.S. looked up to with an almost worship-like reverence. The only way in which I feel like I can properly honor her legacy is to continue fighting the fight and not let any progress she worked so hard to accomplish to regress. I will continue to do all I can to support and empower women like she would have done.
Whether it be locally, nationally, or worldwide, empowered women empower women. Women’s rights, healthcare, education, and business opportunities are shorted and denied across the globe and have been an ongoing struggle for centuries. Especially in the current political climate and in the midst of this worldwide pandemic, when women’s rights are being withheld and revoked, domestic violence rates have gone up, and access to essential healthcare is limited, women are in need of support more than ever! In whatever way possible, whether it be simply sharing these organizations, reading up on the issues they tackle, or donating your time, ability, or money, you can help! Here are a few organizations that you can look into and support!
- Planned Parenthood
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For 104 years, Planned Parenthood has been a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate, and a global partner in helping similar organizations advocate for high-quality, affordable healthcare around the world. Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people with over 400 health centers worldwide. They provide safe and reliable healthcare for women, especially focusing on preventing unintended pregnancies through contraception, reducing the spread of sexually transmitted infections through testing and treatment, and screening for cervical and other cancers. In addition, Planned Parenthood provides educational programs and outreach to 1.2 million people every year, and millions more online through digital sex education programs, as well as advocate for policies that enable Americans to access comprehensive reproductive and sexual health care, education, and information. 1 in 5 American women has chosen Planned Parenthood for healthcare at least once in her life. This is an essential establishment that empowers women to gain control of their reproductive rights and provides them with essential and affordable healthcare services and education. You can support Planned Parenthood by volunteering to work with the organization, spreading awareness of all the healthcare services they provide to women, signing petitions and joining the activism, making a donation, or buying Planned Parenthood merchandise.
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/
- Center for Reproductive Rights
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The Center for Reproductive Rights has been active since 1992, working as a global legal advocacy organization dedicated to protecting women’s reproductive rights, including access to birth control, prenatal and obstetric care, and unbiased information. They also work outside of the courtroom, documenting abuses, working with policymakers to promote progressive measures, and teaching on reproductive health and human rights. Especially now, in the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s passing and the possible overturn of Roe v. Wade, it is more important than ever to support women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy in any way you can.
https://beta.reproductiverights.org/
- Hardy Girls Healthy Women
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As a Maine-based, research-driven nonprofit, HGHW has partnered with girls and gender expansive youth by encouraging curiosity, thinking critically, building coalitions, and challenging the status quo since 2000. They are all about changing the culture, not fixing the girl. HGHW works with 1,200+ girls and gender expansive youth annually through year-round, statewide programs in providing girls with knowledge and skills to gain more control over their lives and become change catalysts in their communities. Hardy Girls’ programming, resources, and services are powered by the latest research in girls’ development and how to better empower girls. Much of that research comes from the work of Hardy Girls co-founder, Lyn Mikel Brown, who is a professor at Colby. You can support this organization by joining the club on campus and spend time mentoring girls from local schools around Maine! You can also donate to this organization directly or go to smile.amazon.com and choose Hardy Girls Healthy Women as your charity of choice and for every purchase you make, 0.5% will go to HGHW!
- Kiva
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Kiva is a crowdfunding organization that connects individuals, families, and businesses in need of financial help to those who can provide loans. Through crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, Kiva works to improve the quality and cost of financial services and address the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva’s work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment, and families can afford needed emergency care. On Kiva’s website, you can choose where in the world or to whom you’d like to loan to. You can read individual stories across the world and decide directly where your money is loaned. Borrowers return the money loaned slowly over time as the funds are available to them. Repaid loans are put back into your Kiva account which can then be reloaned to new borrowers. Although this does not only support women, you have the option to search for only women borrowers and loan to women specifically. There are many women-owned businesses posted on Kiva that need more help, so try to loan if you can or pass on the word!
- Madre
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Madre is an international women’s human rights organization that partners with community-based women’s groups worldwide facing war and disaster, working to advance women’s rights by meeting urgent needs in communities, and building lasting solutions to the crises women face. They mobilize simultaneously across three strategies: grantmaking, organizational strengthening, and legal advocacy. They use service provision and community organizing to build women’s skills and leadership to advocate for lasting social change, as well as provide long-term and flexible support to groups, led by women impacted directly by war and disaster, that are small, located in inaccessible or remote areas, or below the radar of large aid agencies. Their advocacy brings community-based women into policymaking arenas and ensures that legal victories move from paper to practice. A few of their most current and pressing issues are with confronting domestic violence which has spiked exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic and helping grassroots activists to provide food, water, and aid to communities. To support this organization, you can get directly involved by hosting a speaker to come educate your local community, volunteer in the office or remotely, sign up and share their news and events, or make donations to fund their advocacy efforts.
- Women’s Global Empowerment Fund
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The Women’s Global Empowerment Fund is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 2007 that provides women in northern Uganda access to microcredit loans, business and leadership development training, literacy, and health initiatives. Using microfinance and educational programming, the WGEF helps increase the potential for women’s empowerment and success. By investing in women and their businesses, women are gaining independence and learning methods to finance their futures and help provide for their families. The Women’s Global Empowerment Fund is dedicated to the women who are in the Gulu market selling goods and produce, raising chickens, working in agriculture, rebuilding their communities, attending their repayment meetings, taking care of their children, hauling water, cooking, cleaning, and fighting to be heard, respected, given dignity and security, and for the right to a better future. You can support this organization by sharing their story, volunteering with them directly, or donating to fund the loans that go to the working women of northern Uganda.
- Orchid Project
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The Orchid Project is an NGO catalyzing the global movement to end female genital cutting (FGC). Female genital cutting affects over 200 million women and girls around the world. It is a global issue that occurs in over 90 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and within diasporic communities worldwide. The Orchid Project partners with pioneering grassroots organizations around the world, and shares knowledge about the best practices to accelerate change. The Orchid Project is also an advocate among governments and global leaders to ensure work to end FGC is prioritized. Created and run by women, made to protect girls and women around the world, this organization is a great one to support and educate yourself more about the issues of female genital cutting. You can support by helping their fundraising efforts, bring awareness to this issue, or donating to their cause.
https://www.orchidproject.org/ - Anita B
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AnitaB.org provides women in tech with year-round opportunities to connect with and inspire one another, develop their professional skills, find mentors, and gain recognition. Their communities, events, and programs offer the resources women need to build rewarding careers in technology. They have an elaborate social enterprise that supports women in technical fields, as well as the organizations that employ them and the academic institutions training the next generation. You can support this organization by joining the extensive network with a membership, volunteer online as a community leader or moderator, or learn about and vote for policies that support women and equal pay and opportunities.
- Global Fund for Women
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The Global Fund for Women was founded in 1987 in Palo Alto, California, by four women: Anne Firth Murray, Frances Kissling, Laura Lederer, and Nita Barrow. Founded on the belief that women’s human rights are essential to social, economic, and political change around the world, and frustrated by a lack of interest in funding women’s human rights, they founded an organization to fund grass-roots women-led movements directly. Over the course of 30+ years, the Global Fund for Women has supported feminist movements and grassroots organizers to end civil wars, get female Presidents elected, and secure laws giving new protection to millions. You can support this fund by their documentary film series, Fundamental, help raise funds and visibility for their cause, join their campaign in various locations around the world or online, or donate directly to the fund!
https://www.globalfundforwomen.org/
- National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
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The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) works to lead, mobilize, and raise awareness to support efforts that demand a change of conditions that lead to domestic violence such as patriarchy, privilege, racism, sexism, and classism. They are dedicated to supporting survivors and holding offenders accountable and supporting advocates. They hold conferences, webinars, advocacy programs, and have a public policy office that works with other national organizations to promote legislation and policies that serve and protect victims and survivors of domestic violence and work to change the narrative surrounding domestic violence. In these past few months of quarantine during this pandemic, rates of domestic violence have risen immensely. This is a critical time to support organizations that help domestic violence victims get support and heal. You can support this organization by becoming a member, signing up for a Take a Stand Toolkit which helps bring attention to the issue of domestic violence, or donating directly to help fund their efforts.
I know times are feeling pretty bleak and hopeless right now. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and exasperated with how things in this country are going, but this is a key moment in history. This is when we need to double, triple, quadruple our efforts. In your hopelessness, turn to action. You don’t need to change the whole world by yourself. As you can see by this list of amazing organizations (plus all the ones not mentioned above), there are entire communities fighting this fight with you. Support comes in all forms, from educating others on these pressing women’s issues to volunteering your time and ability to donating to funds. Any action of support, no matter how little, helps.