MiddlesexCountyNOW
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July, 2017
MiddlesexCountyNOW
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Officers
President – Skip Drumm
Vice President – Mary Pranzatelli
Secretary – Alan Gross
Treasurer – Ronnie Traktman
State Board Rep – Mary Pranzatelli
Newsletter Editor – Skip Drumm
Newsletter Asst Editor – Alan Gross
Local ChapterInformation:
Our Next Meeting
Our next chapter meeting will be Tuesday, July 11th,at 7 pm at the home of Skip and Alan. Dinner will be served, courtesy of our hosts. Let us know if you're planning to attend, so we can plan food. The 2017 schedule of meetings is posted on our web site, Middlesex.nownj.org.
Sorry for the Late Newsletter
The Newsletter Editor and Assistant Editor apologize for the late publication of this edition. They were busy attending NOW’s National Conference.
Sign up for our new “Action” list At our March meeting we discussed the fact that events are moving so fast these days that a monthly newsletter, while important, does not inform us of the events and actions that are happening on short notice. We decided to create a new e-mail list of people who would like to be informed of short-notice events and actions, averaging one or two e-mails per week (some weeks more, some none). If you would like to join this list, send an e-mail using this link. If you are reading this newsletter on Facebook or our web site, but would like to receive this newsletter in your e-mail, use this link.
From the National office:
National Conference News
Four chapter members (Alan, Skip, Peggy, and Dennis) attended and participated in the 2017 NOW National Conference that was held June 30 through July 2 in Orlando, FL. The big excitement this year was the election campaign, which culminated in the election of Toni Van Pelt as president and Gilda Yazzi as vice president. For additional information on the election and the winners, see the NOW press release below. Our officers for the next four years are here: Gilda on the left and Toni on the right.
Photo by Alan Gross
Besides officer elections, the conference also debated and passed a 2017-2018 five-pronged action plan. More on the plan will be covered in next month’s newsletter.
National NOW Press Releases:
"Jon Ossoff Made A Great Start—Now It’s Up To Us To Finish The Race"June 20, 2017, Statement of NOW President Terry O’Neill. Jon Ossoff faced tremendous headwinds in the Georgia special election that kept him inches away from crossing the finish line, and NOW congratulates him for coming as close as he did. We are disappointed that Karen Handel will be going to Washington to promote policies, such as defunding Planned Parenthood and repealing the Affordable Care Act, that will inevitably increase maternal death rates nationally and in Georgia’s 6th congressional district. Nonetheless, the fact that Ossoff came as close as he did, in a district where Handel should have won by 20 points or more, tells us that the resistance to the Trump agenda is a force to be reckoned with. More
NOW in Coalition:
"Press Conference: Senate Trumpcare Plan Harms Women"
June 23, 2017
Washington, DC - National Organization for Women, Feminist Majority, In Her Own Voice, and the National Women's Law Center join together to speak out about how the Senate and House versions of Trumpcare harm women.
Who: Terry O'Neill, President of NOW
Michelle Batchelor, Deputy Director of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda
Janel George, Director of Federal Reproductive Rights and Health
Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority
Mercy Morganfield, Women's March on Washington
Where: National Press Club, Zenger Room, 529 14th Street, Washington, DC
When: Friday, June 23, 2017, 1:00pm
Why: Both the House passed version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and the newly released draft of the Senate Better Care Reconciliation Act cruelly impact millions, especially women. The speakers will specify its disparate impact on women, especially women of color, low-come women but also middle income women, elderly women, and young women.
Live tweet the event: #stoptrumpcare
Toni Van Pelt Elected New President of National Organization for Women;Gilda Yazzie Elected Vice President, July 1, 2017. Members of the National Organization for Women voted Saturday to elect Toni Van Pelt president of the organization. Gilda Yazzie was elected vice president. More
News and discussion from womensenews.org:
U.S. Export of Political Reproductive Health Policies Threatens Women’s Health Globally While some are celebrating the new director-general of the World Health Organization as a champion of reproductive rights, the U.S. is threatening to reverse progress on these rights globally. But Americans can change that with the recently introduced Global HER Act.
Trump Presidency Pushes Some International Students to Rethink U.S. Colleges With Donald Trump in the White House, some international students are steering clear of American universities.
Transportation Industry’s Tentative Steps to Fight Trafficking Must Go Further While there are encouraging examples of individuals, organizations and states that have taken steps to raise awareness of and combat human trafficking, more needs to be done.
U.S. Congresswomen Push for Menstruation with Dignity for Women, Girls We don’t hear about the challenges of managing menstruation as much in the U.S., but they do exist. A set of bills introduced this year to the U.S. Congress is trying to improve access to menstrual hygiene products and information.
U.S. Maternity Leave Policies Aren’t Just Inadequate, They’re Unequal Too A recent study found that women who take maternity leave tend to be college educated, white and married. This injustice became clear to Kristin Budde one night after seeing one of her pregnant patients.
Not Enough Women in Tech? Here’s What Needs to Change Experts estimate there will be 1.4 million jobs available in computer science in the U.S. by 2020, but most women won’t benefit from these opportunities. Tech companies and the government can step up and change this.
This Father’s Day, Men Must Continue to Call Out the President’s Misogyny Men need to explicitly reject Donald Trump’s misogyny and model a sensitive, aware manhood, not what’s being expressed at the White House. This includes asking women and women’s organizations how best to support them.
Transwoman Running for Office in Hillary Clinton’s Hometown Our very existence is threatened by the regime that has taken over in Washington. And it’s axiomatic that decisions are made by those in the room. So I’m running…
Girls Take Self-Defense Courses to Prepare for College These girls in Connecticut are taking classes to make sure they can defend themselves in college. “Going to college and being on your own, just the idea is kind of scary,” one participant said.
From the Feminist News Digest (feminist.org):
Feminist Jobs
The Feminist Majority Foundation has a jobs listing service which can be accessed from their web site or directly at jobs.feminist.org.
General Information
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Our friends in the Gay Activist Alliance of Morris County (GAAMC) publish a monthly newsletter with interesting articles, opinions, and event announcements. You can read it here: