Trust Women, Respect Choice

Just a quick update: the Trust Women, Respect Choice license plate pre-orders are being delivered now! New orders should be available through the DMV within a few weeks, maybe as soon as December 1.

Legislative Task Force Meeting & Priorities Survey

You are invited to Virginia NOW’s annual Legislative Task Force meeting on Saturday, December 4th. We’ll have a great time discussing the issues we care about and our plans for the coming Virginia legislative session.

To help get us ready, please spend a few minutes filling out our online survey. Even if you can’t join us at the Task Force meeting, the survey is important in charting our course. Your responses will help determine the issues that Virginia NOW will focus on in the coming session of the General Assembly.

Virginia NOW Legislative Task Force
Saturday, December 4th, 2010
11 am – 3 pm, delicious lunch included
England Run Branch Library
806 Lyons Blvd, Fredericksburg

To help us plan, please RSVP to Marj Signer or respond on our Facebook event. You can RSVP on Facebook if you are attending OR if you complete the survey.

Directions to England Run Branch Library from I-95:

* Exit I-95 at exit 133B to merge onto US-17/Warrenton Rd toward Warrenton.
* Follow US-17 for about 1.4 miles, then turn right at Plantation Drive.
* Continue on Plantation Drive for about 1 mile, then turn left on Lyons Blvd.
* Turn left into the library parking lot.

The Election is Over, Time to Get to Work

By Diana Egozcue, Virginia NOW President

The election is over, and we have a lot of work to do. There will be fewer women of both parties in the United States Congress–the first time in 32 years that female representation has fallen. Before this election, we were tied with Turkmenistan and ranked behind 88 other countries for female legislative representation. What a giant shame!

Obviously, both parties are not recruiting women or supporting women as they should. In 2008, 57% of women voters supported the Democratic party, and we have to make ourselves heard. Unfortunately, too many women feel they are not qualified or don’t have the money to run for office. When men are asked to run, they immediately say “Yes” and then “Where’s the money?” Do you know that women control a lot of the money in the U.S.? I wonder all the time what we are waiting for…directions from someone else? From on high? Why not from ourselves? Stop being afraid and know that women, as a group, are more informed because we care about our families’ welfare and other people. That’s who we are. It’s time to WOMAN UP!

Virginia NOW is stepping up to the plate in January. We are getting the Equal Rights Amendment introduced in the Legislature again after more than 20 years. Yes, the original ERA is alive and well! This where we step forward together and make our voices heard. Together, we will send e-mails, lobby state senators and representatives, and write letters and newspapers in support. Women can demand civil rights under the Constitution, and men can demand those rights for mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, and grand-daughters. Put January and February on your calendar…more information will come as the time approaches. Don’t sit on the side lines because this will be a hard fight. Gov. McDonnell campaigned saying he believed in women’s rights, and now he can prove it.