Since the 1970s, women have fought to change the political climate of the United States by advocating for gender equity.
Ex of Gender Equality: three people of varying heights are all given the same size box to see over a fence. Two of the people still cannot see over the fence.
Ex of Gender Equity: three people of varying heights are all given differently sized boxes, according to their heights, to see over a fence. All three of the people can see over the fence
Women have been fighting for equitable rights, focusing on everything from reproductive rights to equal pay, for centuries. Karen Clark is one such woman. From door to door campaigning before Roe v Wade to her continued work with WIL, Karen has never ceased her activism towards reproductive rights.
Karen Clark
Karen Clark is a founding member of Women in Leadership (WIL), a bi-partisan PAC dedicated to helping pro-choice women gain spaces and stay in political leadership roles. Karen has been a pro-choice activist for decades, from door to door campaigning for pro-choice laws in Michigan to convincing a law firm she worked for in California to regularly donate free legal services to Planned Parenthood. With WIL, she has helped support pro-choice women running for political offices throughout the state.
“An activist seems a lot more involved than I was.” – Karen Clark, pg 9
Karen Clark helped found Women in Leadership in 1993. Since its beginning, WIL has been focused on supporting pro-choice candidates run for political office, local and state-level. They are a bipartisan organization and support women of both Democratic and Republican parties.
The United States political landscape is often divisive. However, women have always been able to come together to push for bipartisan support in situations where their equity was threatened. Bipartisan support has been necessary when it comes to both passing legislation for gender equity and to preventing the passing of legislation that would go against equity.
Whether going door to door like Karen Clark did in college, or supporting an organization like WIL that helped Loretta Sanchez be elected as Karen did later in life, there are so many types of activism that women can be a part of. The fight for reproductive rights and gender equity is far from over, but constant activism by every day women like Karen are helping to change things for the better.
Credits:
Created with an image by Michelle Ding - "Sign at Women's March 2019, Kuala Lumpur."