SAVE THE DATE: National Young Feminist Leadership Conference

Mark your calendars now! The Feminist Majority Foundation is pleased to announce the 7th Annual National Young Feminist Leadership Conference will be held March 12-14, 2011 at The George Washington University in Washington, DC.

Save the Date!

Who: Young feminists, national leaders, and elected officials from across the country!

What: An opportunity to share in open dialogue and organize around the world's feminist issues, including:

* domestic and global reproductive rights
* civic engagement
* clinic violence
* the environment
* violence against women
* and much more!

When: March 12-14, 2011

Where: The George Washington University, Washington, DC

Following two days of skills building and leadership training attendees will deliver their message to Members of Congress on Capitol Hill for our Congressional Visit Day.

More information will be on the way soon - keep checking online for updates and registration information! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your Campus Organizers at 1-866-444-3652 (East Coast) and 1-866-471-3652 (West Coast). We hope to see you there!

Sesame Street: I Love My Hair

From the great folks at Sesame Street. An early morning pick up for the pre-schooler in all of us to enjoy.

Lots of Coverage, Very Little Plan for Action

The online news media has been in a frenzy this week after the fifth gay youth in three weeks took his own life. Everyone from the Huffington Post, the Advocate, to Washington Post bloggers have buzzed about Raymond Chase, the latest student to have committed suicide, often quoting the email that administrators sent to the Johnson & Wales University student body after Chase died.

In his email, JWU Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Ronald Martel mourned Chase's passing and offered condolences to the family. Unfortunately, his message stopped there. No mention of how to prevent such a thing from happening again, no mention of possible problems that needed to be tackled, no mention of anything.

But the school's vice president is not the only one - many major news sources have continued this trend, giving the issue lots of coverage with very little plan of action on how to help alleviate the environments causing these teens to turn to suicide. Even the statement issued by US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called for an end to harassment and a need to speak out against such forms of intolerance. But no actual solutions towards enacting the VERY change they all call for was ever mentioned.

This spree of suicides is proof that the current system is failing. It is time to ask the hard questions to get the core of these problems in order to implement real change and prevent even more loss of life. Students on Facebook formed a group encouraging activists across the country to wear purple on October 20th in light of the recent deaths. For more information, check out the group Wear Purple on October 20th, 2010. For a country that calls itself the land of the free, freedom from harassment and bullying is still not in the cards for everyone.

So....Step up and help! Contact your local campus officials and demand them to make school a safe and friendly place to be, ask them what resources are available and if there are none inform the larger public! Everyone has a right to a bully and harassment free life.

Contact and join your LGBT group on campus. No LGBT friendly group or groups on campus? Create one! Not enough people or members? Ally with like minded groups on campus and rally for change. October 20th could be a really great day to gain attention on individual campuses and spread the word. Need help with your plans of action? Campus Pride, a nonprofit organization aimed at making colleges more LGBT friendly, offers more information on helping making campuses more open and friendly.

Remember, bullying and harassment affects everyone. While your college campus is a great place to start please do not forget about your local community. Bullying and harassment can start at a young age, use your new found club or your group of friends to reach out to near by schools and volunteer for their antibullying or antiharassment programs. Make a positive change with a plan of action.

For Equality!

Meet the new campus organizers!

The Feminist Majority Foundation is excited to welcome two new campus organizers to our Campus Team. Myra Duran and Meghan Shalvoy are both former student leaders of the Bruin Feminist for Equality and the Stony Brook Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, respectively, and will undoubtedly prove to be amazing resources for the activists with whom they will be working!

Some more information on these two talented women:

Myra Duran (left) graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Women's Studies with a concentration in women of color feminism and a minor in labor and workplace studies. As a student activist, she interned for Gabriela Network, U.S.A., the Dolores Huerta Foundation, the California Construction Academy, and the Feminist Majority Foundation. She spearheaded FMF's Campaign to Expose Fake Clinics at UCLA with Bruin Feminists for Equality. Myra also served on the Young Women’s Leadership Council for the Pro-choice Public Education Project. Myra says she is really excited to be a part of the CHOICES Campus Team, especially looks forward to fostering the love she has for activism, young students, the power of voice, and women's rights. Myra will be working out of our West Coast office in Los Angeles.

Meghan Shalvoy (right) is a recent graduate of Stony Brook University and the former President of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at Stony Brook. Her decision to major in women’s and gender studies at SBU was largely fueled by her desire to advocate for women’s reproductive rights, and through the WGS program she interned for Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic and New York State Senator Brian X. Foley. Meghan is also the former co-chair of the National Organization for Women-New York State (NOW-NYS) Young Feminist Task Force, and has made multiple trips to Haiti this past year to volunteer at a free medical clinic run by Raising Haiti. Meghan will be working out of our East Coast office in Washington.

Welcome Myra and Meghan!

Clinic Defense & Campus Organizing - A Natural Partnership

Bonjour Campus Choices! Meghan here, and this is my first of many posts as the newest member of Choices Campus Leadership Program’s team of National Campus Organizers. Although new to this position, I am no stranger to the dangers of clinic harassment and violence, or FMF’s work to assist in defending clinics against it.

This July, I joined FMF as a volunteer to keep the clinics of Charlotte, NC safe from the harassment of Operation Save America’s (OSA) annual clinic siege. If you’ve ever seen your average weekend “sidewalk counselor” protests outside a clinic, take that image and quadruple it. Meditate for a moment for sanity’s sake, and then double it again, totally approximately 250 anti-choice harassers.

As a part the National Clinic Access Project, FMF brought in volunteers from miles and miles away to combat the extreme tactics of OSA, which included posting WANTED posters of the brave and committed abortion providers who staff the Charlotte clinics, holding up oversized posters which featured graphic and medically inaccurate images of dead babies, blocking driveways, and using an amplifier to preach hate to the patients, staff and pro-choice volunteers.

Although there were three clinics that were targeted by OSA, Family Reproductive Health requested a presence of pro-choice clinic defenders throughout the week and we spent the majority of our time there. I had never seen anything like what I saw in Charlotte, and it is hard to articulate how sad and infuriating it was to see the way these self-proclaimed intolerant people would attack women who were simply trying to receive basic reproductive health care.

I would, without a doubt, just as soon favor every woman in America have safe and free access to reproductive health services, but what surprised me most was how much I enjoyed my time in Charlotte. Banding together with dozens of passionate and committed pro-choice volunteers, FMF staff, students from UNCC Feminist Union, and Charlotte Pro-Choice Coalition members to keep FRH and the other Charlotte clinics safe and protected by our efforts – including clinic defense, counter-protesting, legal observation and close contact with law enforcement – was inspiring, to say the least.

On the last day of the clinic siege, we managed to rally over 75 clinic defenders in the wee hours of the morning so that when OSA arrived to set up their Harassment HQ, they promptly turned their vans around and drove away. According to the fantastic clinic staff, it was the first Saturday without harassment and protest in the 8 years the clinic had been open.

Luckily, it is not every Saturday that OSA brings hundreds of people from all over the country to target a clinic, but virtually every day of the year there is some form of harassment outside of hundreds of clinics across the US. Get involved to help keep these clinics safe by joining in our Adopt-a-Clinic Campaign. There are so many ways you can help keep your clinic safe and open. Vocal pro-choice support can keep patients safe when entering the clinic, help maintain law enforcements attention to this issue, and show clinics that their hard work is appreciated and important.

This blog post is part of the October eZine. To receive our monthly eZine, click here.

Love Your Body Day - angry feminist style

Campus feminists across the country are organizing Love Your Body Day programs on October 20. There are junk food and pajama parties, prohibitions on body snarking, and poster campaigns. There are discussions on eating disorders, poor body image, and sexist advertising.

As you raise awareness on these issues on campus, take your activism to the next level. Use your votes and wallets to hurt sexist organizations and bring feminism into the mainstream. Some ideas:

Organize a letter/phone/fax bomb for companies that objectify women's bodies and profit from our insecurities. Ms. Magazine's No Comment section highlights a series of offenders in each issue, with contact info for each corporation.

Tired of the 'beauty' industry? Bring back the Freedom Trash Can to your campus, and hold a demonstration where your group discards your scuzzy old makeup, impractical shoes, uncomfortable underwear, magnified mirrors, hair dye, diet pills, hair removal implements, and other detritus cluttering your bathroom and bureau. Pledge to make economic decisions that will empower you, and not just line the pockets of cosmetics corporations and fashion magazines.

Collaborate with your campus arts department and local feminist artists to create and showcase real images of men, women, and everyone in between. Feeling racy? Include close-ups of real genitalia versus the vajazzled, dyed, waxed, surgically-altered genitalia prevalent in mainstream pornography.

Publicly boycott products, shows, and movies with misogynist themes, and support women filmmakers and writers whose films pass the Bechdel test. Host a good old-fashioned picket if necessary.

Get involved with/infiltrate campus and local media, and maintain your own feminist media sources. Petition your campus and local independent book stores to expand the feminist media they carry.

Learn about the Healthy Media for Youth Act that was introduced in the US Senate in September.

There are all kinds of ways to get political and reshape/reject the gendered images we see each day. Let us know the creative and subversive ways you are smashing patriarchy!

This blog post is part of the October eZine. To receive our monthly eZine, click here.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month - Take Action on YOUR Campus!

The month of October is overflowing with activities that student groups across the country are taking action on. For many of us, October signifies the beginning of Domestic Violence Awareness month and gearing up to put on events that really highlight the impact it has in our communities. The first step in fighting this vicious violence is being informed and getting educated on the issue. According to YWCA, "one in three women has been the victim of domestic violence." Not only is this statistic saddening but also learning that "twenty-five percent of college women have been raped" is an issue we cannot blindly stand by!

Domestic violence can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion or gender. It can happen to couples who are married, living together or who are dating. Domestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels. It is everyone’s problem and has consequences for more than just the people involved.


To take action for Domestic Violence Awareness month, many activists partner with local organizations and shelters that support survivors through fundraisers, host clothing and cell phone drives, hold workshops about consent and the Violence Against Women Act, chalk the campus with statistics about domestic violence, and volunteer endless hours. It can also be as simple as holding a screening that talks about the issue with a thought-provoking discussion afterward because as cliche as it sounds, knowledge really is power. Wherever you are, speak up against violence in your community by becoming a hotline volunteer, attend a local rally, or inform yourself and the rest of your school about your campus sexual assault policy.

Use this month to make a difference in your campus community because it takes just one person to send the message that violence is not acceptable. It’s time to take back our community and end this cycle of violence once and for all.

For more information about domestic violence and available resources, please visit the National Domestic Violence Hotline (www.thehotline.org) and YWCA.

photo courtesy of flickr.com/zappowbang


This blog post is part of the October eZine. To receive our monthly eZine, click here.

Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated!

As we get our costumes ready for Halloween, don't forget about what's really deceptive: Crisis Pregnancy Centers! Crisis Pregnancy Centers pose as comprehensive women’s health clinics and advertise under “abortion” and “family planning” services, but do not offer abortion services, contraception, or referrals. Instead, they have an anti-choice agenda and tell women misinformation about the affects of abortion in attempts to dissuade women away from all of their choices. We wanted to make sure that our campus groups plan ahead to participate in our National Week of Action, called "Don't Get Tricked, Get Treated," taking place the week leading up to Halloween, starting October 25th. Here are some cool ideas of how your campus group can get the word out and take action this Halloween:

1. Host a Screening of 12th and Delaware or of FMF's two videos on the deception of Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which can be found here, followed by a discussion.
2. Create education flyers and posters identifying comprehensive women's health clinics and warning people are fake clinics in your area. Here's a template from our action kit.
   
3. Talk to your Campus Health Center, and ask if they refer students to CPCs. Almost half of 4-year universities in the US do! If your Health Center on campus refers women to CPCs, make them stop, or in the very least have them put a disclaimer!
4. Hand out "Trick of Truth Treats" with candy and facts about CPCs. The truth is delicious!
   
5. Stage a protest at your nearest CPC, warning women about their deceptive practices. Or have a speak out/rally at your school!
   
6. Host a "haunted clinic" at your school. Instead of ghosts and ghouls, emulate what goes on inside a creepy CPC.
7. Photo campaign! Take pictures of people holding up signs with what they want to say about CPCs. Take photos and post them on campus, in a Facebook album, create a photo blog, or send it to your legislators!
8. Propose a "Truth in Advertising" disclaimer on campus if your campus health center refers to CPCs, or campus newspaper accepts ads from CPCs
9. Burma Shave Signs. These are consecutive signs posted one after another at a visible place on campus. Here is an example:

You wouldn't want your dentist telling you that brushing your teeth will give you cavities.
So why would you want (insert name of local CPC) saying that birth control is ineffective?
or that abortion will give you breast cancer?
or make you infertile?
or make you more likely to commit suicide?
Crisis Pregnancy Centers deceive women!

Have more ideas? We'd like to know what you are planning! Contact us at campusteam@feminist.org or call 866-444-3652 Happy exposing!

This blog post is part of the October eZine. To receive our monthly eZine, click here.

Get Out HER Vote: On the Road

FMF National Campus Organizers are currently traveling across the country to discuss the issues at stake in the upcoming election. We've prepared talking points about reproductive rights, marriage equality, the environment and pay equity. What we didn't expect was the biggest issue of all: no one knows when Election Day is! Clearly there is work to be done.

In last month's eZine, I discussed the many ways to Get Out HER Vote on your campus by utilizing the Feminist Majority Foundation's GOHV toolkit. With voter registration deadlines beginning this week in many states, the time to register to vote is now! After that critical paperwork is complete, the real work begins. With just four weeks until election day (which is November 2, 2010 by the way) now is the time to engage your campus around the issues we can impact with our votes this Fall!

Despite being a little uncertain on the exact date (again, that's TUESDAY, November 2) the issues that student activists care about are endless. We've heard from students who are frustrated by the lack of reproductive health care services on campus, pay day lending in their neighborhoods and crisis pregnancy centers that are located across the street from their campus. With your vote this November, ALL of these issues can be addressed.

By utilizing our GOHV toolkit, host a panel discussion to educate your campus on the issues that matter to you. Table in high traffic areas on campus to inform your peers about their rights when they go to the polls. Flyer your campus with posters of the nearest polling location and record public service announcements on your campus radio about the importance of youth participation in civic engagement. At the University of Tennessee there is a polling location on campus and at Millsaps College students can vote directly across the street. Organize a march to the polls on Election Day (that would be November 2, 2010) and let your voice be heard!

Contact your National Campus Organizer for more ideas on how to Get Out HER Vote on your campus today. We can send you brochures, buttons and stickers to help you spread the word that on this Election Day, November 2, 2010, we each must VOTE AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. Why? Because it does. Don't trust me? Listen to them and VOTE.

This blog post is part of the October eZine. To receive our monthly eZine, click here.

Cross-post: Feminism…the other “F” word?

I asked one of our newest FMLA leaders, Sara Alcid, to share a post on feminism at a women's college that was featured on Bryn Mawr College's blog series celebrating BMC's 125th anniversary. Sara also writes about feminism and gender on her blog Genderead.

Originally posted September 20, 2010

Welcome to Sara’s Scholarly Musings! Sara Alcid is a Bryn Mawr senior majoring in Political Science and minoring in Gender and Sexuality Studies. She’ll be posting her reflections on the themes and events of the College’s 125th Anniversary and providing a current student’s perspective on Bold Vision. For Women. For the World.

Although I am biased, I think students at the Seven Sisters colleges carry their heads high and possess an intellectual and social confidence that I am yet to discover elsewhere. Quite frankly, we are empowered women and the face of the modern feminism. I embrace this role wholeheartedly and endlessly appreciate the way my world view has evolved since enrolling at Bryn Mawr.

While there are certainly drawbacks to being a feminist in a male-glorified world, I would feel that I were cheapening my growth as a Bryn Mawr woman if I masked my empowerment in order to perform a “patriarchal bargain.” Feminist scholar, Deniz Kandiyoti, coined the phrase “patriarchal bargain” to describe instances of men and women’s acquiescence with traditional gender roles in order to avoid the societal punishment that often comes with deviating from these roles.

Despite the fact that the atmosphere at Bryn Mawr is geared toward feminism, the term carries just as much stigma as anywhere else. Although I am certain that the vast majority of students stand for the goals and beliefs of feminism, many are hesitant to deem themselves feminists.

I have some ideas as to why this is the case, but I want to hear from current students and alumnae. Do you think some students come to resent feminism because they feel bombarded by its messages at Bryn Mawr; do “that’s hetero-normative” or “that’s gender-normative” sound a bit too familiar? Do you think there is a fear of being negatively judged for being a feminist by prospective romantic partners? Or does it come down to career prospects—a reluctance to add feminist extracurricular activities to one’s resume or gender studies courses to one’s transcript? Or perhaps you have had an experience with feminism at Bryn Mawr that parallels mine, in that you embrace it and are proud of it.

Bryn Mawr’s new Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance chapter, or Fem-Co. as it was recently renamed, will be setting up a photo booth outside of the campus center this week during lunch hours where students, faculty, and staff can have their picture taken with a “This is What a Feminist Looks Like” sign. Fem-Co. is hoping to begin to break down the stigma and stereotypes surrounding feminism on campus with this photo campaign. Hope to see you there!

-Sara Alcid, President of Fem-Co.

Center for Reproductive Rights Calls for Repeal of Hyde Amendment

On Wednesday, the Center for Reproductive Rights held a briefing on Capitol Hill to release their new report, Whose Choice? How the Hyde Amendment Harms Poor Women. The report focuses on interviews with low-income women who were faced with obstacles to abortion as a result of Hyde's provisions. Nancy Northup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, described the report as an attempt to personalize and put a face to the many women who have been negatively affected by Hyde's regulations.

The Hyde Amendment, passed in 1974, prohibits the use of federal funding for abortion with few exceptions. This means that the 1 in 10 American women who use Medicaid do not have healthcare coverage for abortion services. Though groups like the National Network of Abortion Funds (NNAF) and the National Abortion Federation work to provide some private funding for poor and low-income women seeking abortions, they do not have the means to assist all women affected by Hyde, according to NNAF Executive Director Stephanie Poggi. Poggi, one of the event's speakers, pointed out that because of Hyde, poor women lose their right to decide their own reproductive future. Their decisions are, in effect, made by the government. The Center for Reproductive Rights states that over 1 million women have been denied the exercise of their reproductive rights since Hyde's inception.

I attended the event and was able to hear a number of speakers call for the repeal the Hyde Amendment in order to ensure reproductive rights are available to all women, not only those who can afford them. Each speaker addressed specific arguments in support of this goal. Northup discussed the fact that the cost of an abortion procedure increases as a pregnancy progresses, putting many women in a situation where the cost of their procedure has increased, sometimes dramatically, by the time they have saved enough money to undergo it. She also condemned the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," currently in Congress, which would restrict private insurance coverage for abortions and place a permanent ban on all federal funding that goes toward abortions.

Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) and Mike Quigley (D-Illinois) spoke at the briefing and expressed their support for repealing the law. Rep. Schakowsky emphasized the “difficult year” it has been for abortion rights, referencing the struggles of pro-choice advocates in regards to the Stupak Amendment and the healthcare bill. She urged advocates to “take the offensive” in the debate over abortion rights. “Don’t antagonize. Organize,” Schakowsky said, encouraging advocacy mobilization and the need for more young voices in the abortion debate.

Terry Salas Merritt, the Vice President of Whole Woman’s Health, spoke about the need for Medicaid abortion coverage to enable actual reproductive choice for poor women, who may desperately resort to dangerous black market abortion products. These products are often ineffective and can cause other, sometimes serious, health problems.

The final speaker, Brittany Mostiller, is a member of the My Voice, My Choice Leadership Group of the Chicago Abortion Fund. Mostiller relayed an especially profound story about her own struggle to get an abortion as a low-income woman with children. She faced difficulty in scheduling an appointment, rejection at the most affordable clinic due to her stage of pregnancy, and threats of being fired for missing work in the process of both scheduling and undergoing the procedure.

You can learn more about the Center's report and how to take action on its website. To learn more about the fight to repeal the Hyde Amendment, check out the NNAF's Hyde - 30 Years is Enough! campaign.

Hyde: The Status Quo Is Not OK from Center for Reproductive Rights on Vimeo.

Arizona, Vote NO on 107! Colorado, Vote NO on 62!

As young women across the country are eager to cast their vote in this year's election, they may be surprised to find some shocking measures on the ballot in Colorado and Arizona that are serious threats to women's rights. Ballot initiatives are common ways states can petition a public vote or a referendum on proposed constitutional amendments or statues. These measures are allowed in 24 states, two of which--Arizona and Colorado--have a history of taking up discriminative and anti-choice measures.

You might remember during the 2008 general election, both Colorado's Amendment 46 (a ban on affirmative action in state and local agencies) and Amendment 48 (anti-abortion measure giving personhood to a fetus) was successfully defeated. With 73% of voters rejecting Amendment 48, you would think abortion rights in the state are successfully protected, right? WRONG!

Introducing another threat to a woman's choice--Amendment 62! Colorado voters will be met with, yet again, another anti-abortion measure that seeks to extend legal and constitutional rights to fertilized eggs on the November 2nd ballot. If this amendment is passed, it will have a detrimental affect on everything from property rights to inheritance laws. According to Andrew Toft of the Colorado Bar Association, "Almost every area of law would be impacted, including criminal law, family law, trusts and estates, real estate, elder law, tort law, juvenile law, health law and business law." To learn more about why you should vote NO! on 62, check out NO62 at www.protectfamiliesprotectchoices.org.

Colorado, you are not alone. After the passage of Arizona's controversial anti-immigration law, it's not surprising that an anti-affirmative action initiative, Proposition 107, will also appear on the November ballot. The 2008 election was not very favorable to LGBT communities with the state's enactment of a ban on same-sex marriage. It seems that the mounting support continues for discriminative policies as we are seeing now with Proposition 107. If Prop 107 is passed, it would put an end to equal opportunity programs for women and minorities. This will have a tremendous affect on university admissions for underrepresented students like women and minorities. Check out Protect Arizona's Freedom to learn more about why you should vote NO! on Prop 107.

If you are interested in mobilizing support against these inequitable, anti-choice initiatives, go to our Feminist Campus Get Out HER Vote campaign.

Learn how to organize feminists on your campus to vote for equality in November. Let's put an end to inequality in 2010!

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.

How to get out HER vote on YOUR campus!

With just a few weeks before voter registration deadlines end in many states and only six weeks before election day on November 2, the time to get out HER vote on campus is now!

The Feminist Majority Foundation's Get Out HER Vote (GOHV) campaign is the nation's only student-led voter education and registration initiative aimed at increasing young women's voter participation. It's not enough to register yourself and go to the polls this year -- we must register and inform every feminist on your campus! Feeling a little overwhelmed? To help you get started, utilize FMF's GOHV step-by-step guide to getting our HER vote on your campus today!


Step One: Prepare
1. Review the GOHV toolkit online and designate GOHV chairs to coordinate the campaign and volunteers on your campus.

2. Know the rules and don’t be intimidated! Do you know your state's deadlines to register to vote? Have you ever heard of a provisional ballot? Like with all of your activism on campus, you must educate yourself first before your can inform your campus community. Don't be fooled by the scare tactics and misinformation of others. Know your rights and cast your vote this year! Check out our GOHV website for information on your state’s rules.

3. Build your GOHV campaign around four political issues that will resonate with your group and campus. What are the issues that are most important to you? Do you have a pay equity bake sale each year to raise awareness about wage discrimination? Does your group focus on global women's rights and seek to ratify CEDAW? All of these issues and more can be influenced with your voice and your vote on November 2. For more ideas use the What’s at Stake in 2010? GOHV handout to develop your GOHV platform.

4. Contact your county registrar to obtain voter registration forms, train to become poll workers, and petition for voting machines on campus. Visit our GOHV website to contact your Secretary of State or County Registrar to find the nearest location to pick up a large supply of voter registration forms. Be sure to become familiar with your state's voter registration form, instructions, guidelines, and voter registration deadline.

Step Two: Register
1. Table in high-traffic areas with GOHV materials. Draw attention to your table with balloons, signs, and banners. Have lots of registration forms, voter pledge sheets, and a list of polling stations on hand. No materials other than the registration form should reference political parties or any candidate. Remember you can not deny anyone the right to register to vote based on party affiliation. Don’t just sit behind the table – engage everyone passing by, and ask them to sign the GOHV voter pledge. Encourage students to register to vote using their local address, and tell them you will call them to remind them to vote before Election Day. If your state offers early voting, encourage students to vote as early as possible!

2. Contact the chairs of Women’s Studies and other departments on campus for permission to pass out voter registration forms at the beginning of class and explain how to fill out the form and the location of the nearest polling place. Be sure to collect completed forms at the end of your presentation and deliver them to the local registrar before the deadline!

3. Talk about the issues without endorsing candidates or political parties, and let students know how to sign up to get paid as a county poll worker. FMF's GOHV campaign is a non-partisan, issue-based campaign that does not oppose, support, or otherwise endorse any candidate for public office.

4. Deliver voter registration forms to the local county registrar before the registration deadline! **This is one of the most important steps!** If you don’t turn in the forms, you could be violating state law. Make several trips – county clerks offices often have small staffs, so it is important not to overwhelm them by delivering large stacks of forms all at once.

5. When you drop off completed registration forms, check the voter rolls for a random sample of names you previously submitted. This is a great way to verify the voters you register are getting onto the rolls.

Step Three: Mobilize
1. The month between your state’s voter registration deadline and November 2nd is the best time to mobilize registered students. Blanket campus with information about where and when students can vote. Leaflet with the GOHV FAQs handout to help students who may have questions. If your state offers early voting, publicize it widely.

2. Educate your campus through PSAs on campus radio, op-eds in your student newspaper and a panel discuss with coalition groups on campus about the issues at stake in this election.

3. On the day before Election Day, volunteers should set up a phone-bank to call students who signed voter pledges, remind them to vote, and let them know poll locations. If the main student polling location is off-campus, find out if the student needs a ride and organize a car pool.

4. Election Day – Organize voting rushes on Election Day to rally and lead hundreds of students to polling locations. Host an election watch party after the polls close to celebrate all your hard work!

Just in case you didn't already know: VOTE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd!

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.

Voting Is a Feminist Issue!

Elections are frequently won by tiny margins and the mobilization of students-especially young women-has the potential to change the political landscape drastically. Young people, especially young women, have important rights at stake in this 2010 midterm election. The stakes are high which means it is even more imperative that we exercise our right to vote! Voting is a feminist issue because we are disproportionately under-represented in all levels of government. Even though women are 51% of the population, they hold 17% of the seats in the U.S. Congress. Only 5% of U.S. House seats are held by women of color, and there are no women of color in the U.S. Senate. The picture in our state legislatures is better, but still dismal: women today hold only 24% of state legislative seats nationwide. At the current rate of gain for women in elective office, it will take over 200 years to achieve parity with men in Congress.

Not only is it necessary for us to go out and vote this coming November, but increasing voter participation among young women has the power to transform politics. Everything from abortion rights, the environment, educational loans, immigration reform and LGBTQ civil rights are going to be determined by who we elect into office. Women, between the ages of 18-24, have consistently voted less than any other age group: it’s time to change these numbers!

Your Vote Counts! Young women need to register, vote, and run for government in record numbers. Underrepresentation begins in student governments, so run for office on your campus and Get Out HER Vote this fall!

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.

Let's Get Out Her Vote in California!

There's so much at stake across the nation during the 2010 elections, but especially California. With important races and ballot initiatives to vote on this Fall, we must mobilize to get young people to the polls in the Golden State!

What's at stake you ask? Plenty!

• Abortion rights: Access to safe, legal abortions and affordable family planning services, including California’s Family PACT program which provides free reproductive health care to low-income women, are constantly under attack. Your vote will help determine whether reproductive health care and comprehensive sexual education are supported over failed abstinence-only programs.
  
  
• Education and loans: California is experiencing an education budget crisis, with a projected $18.9 billion deficit for the next fiscal year. Cuts across all levels of education make enrollment in classes increasingly difficult and limit access to quality public education.
  
  
• The Environment: Voters can limit the harmful environmental impacts of big business by voting for cleaner energy measures which contributes to the creation of jobs, development of renewable energy sources and the reduction of California’s dependency on foreign oil.
  
  
• LGBTQ Rights and Marriage Equality: In California and across the nation LGBTQ civil rights issues, including marriage equality and the right to serve openly in the military, will be in the hands of our state and federal law makers.
  
  
• Immigration: Some state law makers support harsh immigration legislation that encourages racial profiling. If such measures were adopted, many families could be torn apart and children of immigrants could lose their path to citizenship. Your vote can determine what kind of legislation our state adopts on immigration policies.
  

Be sure to get involved in our "Get Out Her Vote" Campaign. We have California specific organizing materials to make sure you register, educate, and mobilize students to the polls.

Don't be intimidated! We have a step by step guide on how to get started:

1. Register students to vote! Form broad coalitions with other campus groups, and work with the student government for a massive voter registration efforts. Table everyday, have visibility events, recruit volunteers, and get people to sign the voter pledge!

2. Educate! Make sure people know why they should vote! Young people are the least registered, least voting demographic. Our voice needs to be heard! Flyer with information about what's at stake, use social media to get the word out, and get press coverage about the issues!

3. Mobilize to the polls! It's one thing to register, but it's another thing to get people to the polls on election day! Make sure your volunteers phone bank, chalk, flyer, and have visibility action to remind people to vote and where their polling locations are.

Don't forget to check out our FAQs on student voting, that answers questions like, "Can I vote where I go to school?" (answer: YES!) and "Will my financial aid be affected if I register at a different address than my parents' address?" (answer: NO!)

Get out there California!

Be sure to contact your campus organizers with any questions by email, jsun@feminist.org or mduran@feminist.org, or by phone 866-471-FMLA.

This was post was featured in the September 2010 campus eZine. To join our mailing list, sign up here.