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Dear Women's Caucus Members, Legislative Colleagues, and Partners,
Welcome to our freshly revamped newsletter! You may have noticed that over the past year, our website has been updated—and now our newsletter is joining the club. This newsletter will continue to come to your inbox monthly to share updates about the work of the Women’s Caucus, including our strategic and legislative priorities, relevant events and articles, and to celebrate our members. April's newsletter includes information on our House Budget priorities, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Denim Day, and more.
As always, we encourage you to reach out to our Executive Director Nora Bent to connect, share your ideas, and think about how we can continue to work together.
Sincerely,
Senator Joan Lovely & Representative Hannah Kane
MCWL Co-Chairs
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Last week, the House of Representatives debated and passed the FY25 House Budget. The Women’s Caucus selected these 6 priority amendments—amendments that relate to our existing strategic and legislative priorities or Task Forces. |
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The final House budget included amendment #838 (MCWL 50th anniversary) and #948 (Girls, Inc.). Thank you to our State Budget Task Force House Chair Rep. Ciccolo and Women’s Caucus House Chair Rep. Kane. We will conduct a similar process when the Senate debates the budget in May—stay tuned!
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Strategic Priorities Elevating Women’s Economic Opportunity/Eliminating Barriers Addressing Racial and Gender Disparities in Health Care Empowering Women in Government
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Legislative Priorities Passed the House & Senate: An Act relative to salary range transparency Passed the Senate: An Act to increase access to disposable menstrual products Extended: An Act relative to a livable wage for human service workers H.191, Rep. Khan & S.84, Sen. Friedman The reporting deadline for this bill was extended to May 2
Extended: An Act supporting parents running for public office H.669, Rep. Meschino and Rep. Connolly & S.422, Sen. Jehlen The reporting deadline for this bill was extended to May 28
In Committee: An Act relative to postpartum depression screening H.2163, Rep. Fiola & S.1375, Sen. Friedman The Joint Committee on Public Health reported out a redrafted bill that includes this legislation and more—H4566. That bill is now before the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.
You can see letters of testimony in support of all of our legislative priorities here.
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Our Board of Directors recently met with Speaker of the House Mariano and House Minority Leader Jones to discuss our strategic and legislative priorities, and our many areas of shared interest. |
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Check out our past newsletters for information on our previous leadership meetings…and stay tuned for more! |
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“Sarah-Ann Shaw, WBZ legend and Boston’s first Black woman TV news reporter, dies".”
“For a new generation of American kids, a woman’s place is on the quarter.”
“In Lexington, Patriots Day reenactment on town green highlights women’s role.”
“America’s child care crisis is holding back moms without college degrees.”
April 11-17 was Black Maternal Health Week. Learn more here from Black Mamas Matter Alliance about the need for improved health coverage and access, especially for Black women and birthing people.
April 4 was AANHPI Equal Pay Day – marking how far into the year Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander women must work to catch up to what white, non-Hispanic men were paid in 2023. Learn more about these disparities here.
Sen. Lovely, Rep. Kane, Rep. Shand, and Rep. Sousa participated in a panel discussion with World Boston and a group of international Fulbright Visiting Scholars about their paths to public office, their work with the Women’s Caucus, and more.
April 21st was the beginning of National Infertility Awareness Week. According to the World Health Organization, roughly 1 in 6 people worldwide are affected by infertility. This number importantly does not include LGBTQ+ couples or individuals who choose to parent without a partner and may need assistance in starting their families. Learn more here.
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Each year, the Women’s Caucus and our Sexual Violence Task Force, led by Rep. Higgins and Rep. Farley-Bouvier, hosts a commemoration of Denim Day—a solemn reminder that there is NO excuse and NEVER an invitation to harass, abuse, assault, or rape. To stand in solidarity with survivors, we ask all legislators and staff to wears jeans with a purpose to show our support for survivors and to raise awareness of the reality that in the US, over half of women and almost 1 in 3 men have experienced sexual violence involving physical contact during their lifetime. |
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Why denim? This campaign, led internationally by Peace Over Violence, began after a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she must have helped her attacker remove them, implying consent. The next day, the women of the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans in solidarity with the survivor. This campaign brings awareness to victim blaming and destructive myths that surround sexual violence. Learn more and take the Denim Day pledge here. |
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The Ellen Story Commission on Postpartum Depression will be hosting the 2024 Perinatal Mental Health Awareness Day in collaboration with the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services region 1 and MA Dept. of Public Health on Friday, May 3 at 11am at the State House.
The Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts is hosting an event entitled, “Equitable Hiring—The First Step in Creating Leadership Pipelines for the Advancement for Women of Color and Gender-Diverse BIPOC” on Tuesday, May 7 at 1:30pm.
The Department of Labor Women’s Bureau is hosting a webinar entitled “Safety at Work: Addressing Gender-Based Violence and Harassment in the Healthcare Industry” on Tuesday, May 7 at 2pm.
Rep. Howard is hosting her annual “Just Because Brunch” on June 9th at 11am in Lowell. This event is a day of connection, friendship, reflection, and conversation. Please contact Rep. Howard for more details.
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We recently hosted our friends at Women in Government at the State House. Thank you to WIG Board member Rep. Gregoire and WIG State Directors Rep. Kane, Sen. Lovely, Rep. Ferguson, and Sen. Kennedy for sharing your experiences with WIG. |
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Please send relevant articles, upcoming events, social media you would like shared, accomplishments, or other updates that you think MCWL members and our partners would find helpful. All updates should be sent to Nora.Bent@MALegislature.gov
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