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Beth Dehghan, Sue Ellen Rosen and Sandy Irving joined with NC Women United for Advocacy Day at the NC Legislature on April 9, 2013. NC Women United (NCWU) is a coalition of progressive organizations and individuals working to achieve the full political, social, and economic equality of all women across North Carolina. NCWU works to build women’s power through grassroots activism, community organizing, legislative advocacy, and engagement in the political process.
Women’s Advocacy Day brought about 100 supporters from across the state to Jones Street to meet with lawmakers and advocate for proactive measures that prioritize the needs of women and their families in North Carolina, recognizing that the current legislative session has done little to advance the economic, social, and political status of women in the state. Kim Gandy, CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, was the keynote speaker of Women’s Advocacy Day.
“Already, the developments of the 2013 legislative session indicate many lawmakers have no problem reversing decades of progress or contributing to the steady erosion of critical rights and protections for women and families,” said Jina Dhillon, President of NC Women United. “We are here today to make our voices heard in the political process.”
Beth, Sue Ellen and Sandy visited the offices of Senator Neal Hunt and Representative Jim Fulghum. We spoke with Research Assistant, Kyle Hall, in Senator Hunt’s office, sharing with him our concerns about domestic violence and sex trafficking in NC. We also shared the work of WomenNC and our concern about issues in this legislature that impact women in a negative way. Representive Fulghum was unavailable so we left him messages with brochures about our concerns. We were invited back to speak with him at a later time.
This was a day when women broke the age-old silence of women and spoke on behalf of women throughout our state. The last of our actions was attending a press conference on behalf of all women and their issues.
