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The Alabama Abortion Ban
Abortion restrictions and the progressive movement Last night, 25 white men in Alabama passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. For weeks, we’ve been watching predominately white men in Georgia, Ohio, and…
Continue reading »Give Mothers What They Deserve. Give Them Paid Time to Care.
When I first found I out that I was pregnant in December, I was over the moon with excitement. Not only was our family about to grow, but I felt an amazing sense of responsibility,…
Continue reading »21.6%
the percent increase in women incarcerated between 2000 and 2009
67%
The percent of low-wage workers in Minnesota who are women.
54
women of color have served in the U.S. House of Representatives
EARNED SICK & SAFE TIME
Minnesota women of color, indigenous women, and white women are too often forced into an impossible balancing act. Take care of the kids. Succeed at work. Overcome structurally racist barriers. Lead in our communities. For so many of us, we keep doing it all while sick because hundreds of thousands of Minnesota women don’t have earned sick & safe time. The stats are bad for all of us and get worse when you break it down based on race and class. 
Right now, more than one million working Minnesotans are forced to make difficult choices every day between caring for themselves or a loved one, and earning a paycheck. The majority of these workers are women. That’s why we’re fighting to pass legislation that would ensure that all employees could earn sick and safe time.
But we need your help. In Duluth and want to get involved? Contact Shawnu. In the metro area and want to be part of building a team of women of color to fight back? Email Elizabeth.
Making Minnesota Work for Women & Families
“There is no such thing as a single issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives”- Audre Lorde
In every measure of our economy women continue to fall behind. We live in a society where women are paid less than men for equal work, where workers are being fired for being pregnant, where women disproportionately occupy low wage and vulnerable jobs. We still live in a country where LBGTQ families still have few legal protections in the workplace. Families have changed, but the world around them have not.
But it goes further than that. The intersections of gender and race impact our work around multiple issue areas. Structural sexism is a barrier that holds us back from seeing any number of changes in our world, from a better economy to a stronger democracy. That’s why our work around women’s economic justice is about organizing around our whole identities and naming the ways gender and race continue to marginalize women throughout our state.
As important as issue wins on women’s economic justice are for our work at TakeAction Minnesota, we have an equally important task of naming the way gender oppression cuts across issue areas. And this happens when we organize around what it means to be a women in Minnesota. In Duluth and Minneapolis we are creating space for women to be at the center of the work. To lead in a way that is authentic to their experiences as whole people. As a movement we are only as strong as the most marginalized. Through our work around women’s economic justice we have the opportunity change the face of who leads and make more possible.
