According to Melinda Gates, writing yesterday in TIME, "Gender equality in the U.S. has been chronically underfunded. Data from Candid’s Foundation Directory Online suggests that private donors give $9.27 to higher education and $4.85 to the arts for every $1 they give to women’s issues."
We want to repeat that, for emphasis, because it bears repeating: For every $9.27 donors give to higher education, they give $1 to women's issues. We're working with 1/10 the resources.
No wonder it feels like we're trying to more with less.
Nothing is possible without funding. For too long, we have operated with the expectation that women's work can and should go unpaid and undervalued. Which is precisely why the Wyoming Women's Action Network is doing this work. Why we're working to build capacity in other organizations around the Equality State--like the Equality State Policy Center and the Wyoming Women's Foundation. Why we're working to ensure that a broad coalition of women raise their voices at the Legislature in 2020 (and before and beyond).
And why we're thrilled that Melinda Gates has committed $1,000,000,000 over the next 10 years to fund an effort to advance gender equity. She writes, and we believe:
"A window of opportunity has opened. Or, more accurately, it was painstakingly pried open by the hundreds of thousands of people who have joined marches across the country, the millions of women who summoned the courage to tell their #MeToo stories, the record number of women who ran for office in 2018 and won— and by the women who are working multiple jobs, caring for multiple loved ones, and proving you don’t have to protest or enter politics to challenge a system stacked against you. It wasn’t just grand gestures that got us here. It was daily acts of courage, too. Even so, there is no reason to believe this moment will last forever—or that this window will stay open as long as we need it to. If we’re going to act, we have to act now."
Once again, we will repeat what bears repeating: If we're going to act, we have to act now.
Which is why we're asking for your help. Help us reach more people--women and men--in all parts of the Equality State. Help us educate and advocate. Help us identify what you need to live better lives.
We need real and lasting change. Change that supports women and girls. We need to place value--and this includes remuneration--on the work that women do. Everyone in the Equality State stands to benefit from it.