Our Gender Action Project is a hands on, feminist praxis project in fulfillment of our Intersectional Feminism class taught at the Claremont Colleges.

For our Gender Action Project we wanted to take on the challenge and themes of everyday feminism; impactful actions that can become a daily practice, but doesn’t take up a lot of your time. This goal led us to civic engagement with feminist legislation.

Through some research we came upon a piece of legislation called the Violence Against Women Act, that is up for reauthorization. VAWA was established in 1994, and has since been reauthorized four times. Reauthorization gives legislators a chance to revise and add more programs to the Act.

We all called our Senators and expressed our support for the reauthorization of VAWA.

Interested in engaging with our Gender Action Project? See our script and potential Senators to call below:

Script:

Hello, my name is (first name, last name). I’m a constituent from (city, zip code). I am concerned about the status of the Violence Against Women Act. I would like for Senator (last name) to support its reauthorization when it goes to the Senate. This legislation is important to me because it strives to reduce domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking more effectively than the original legislation. Thank you!

Our Senators:

Arizona

• Sen. Martha McSally (R): 202-224-2235
• Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D): 202-224-4521

California

• Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D): 202-224-3841
• Sen. Kamala Harris (D): 202-224-3553

Illinois

• Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D): 202-224-2854
• Sen. Richard Durbin (D): 202-224-2152
  • Thank him for sponsoring the Education for All Act of 2016 and the READ Act

Massachusetts

• Sen. Edward Markey (D): 202-224-2742
  • Thank him for sponsoring the Education for All Act of 2016, the READ Act, and the Protecting Girls’ Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D): 202-224-4543
  • Thank her for sponsoring the Protecting Girls’ Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act

New York

• Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D): 202-224-4551
  • Thank her for sponsoring the Girls Count Act of 2015 and the Education for All Act of 2016
• Sen. Charles Schumer (D): 202-224-6542

Oregon

• Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 202-224-3753
  • Thank him for sponsoring the Education for All act of 2016 and the Protecting Girls’ Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act
• Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 202-224-5244
  • Thank him for sponsoring the READ Act and the Protecting Girls’ Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act

Texas

• Sen. John Cornyn (R): 202-224-2934
• Sen. Ted Cruz (R): 202-224-5922

Washington

• Sen. Maria Cantwell (D): 202-224-3441
• Sen. Patty Murray (D): 202-224-2621
  • Thank her for sponsoring the Education for All Act of 2016