Working for Women

We have a humanitarian obligation to protect vulnerable children fleeing from extreme violence and escaping the horrific situations they are faced with back home. Read more »

  By Lori Sokol  "I wish there were no longer a need for organizations such as ours," says Dara Richardson-Heron, M.D., CEO of the YWCA USA. "I truly wish that we could have put ourselves out of business many years ago." And, after 150 years, who could blame her? The YWCA model, which was created over a century-and-a-half ago to eliminate racism,… Read more »

  Dem members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation today slammed the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling allowing certain companies to opt out of contraceptive coverage for employees.  "The owners of Hobby Lobby, a for-profit arts and crafts store, and Conestoga Wood, a for-profit wood furniture manufacturer, should have no voice when it comes to… Read more »

  By Wisconsin Gazette   The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 ruled that some for-profit private corporations, including the arts and crafts chain Hobby Lobby, can deny coverage of birth control to their employees based on the religious beliefs of the business owners. The 5-4 decision of the court brought this reaction from Tanya Atkinson, vice president of public… Read more »

The extremely personal and private decision to take birth control should remain just that – personal and private. I urge my colleagues to stand on the right side of history and fight for access to women's health care. Read more »

  By Alex Davis  YWCA Bradford leaders took local domestic violence concerns to the federal government last week. Local YWCA representatives spent June 11-15 in Washington as part of the YWCA USA’s 2014 Annual Conference and Women of Distinction Gala.   The YWCA, the oldest and largest multicultural women’s organization in the world, has a… Read more »

   Much like the early 1990s, when Minnesota took a leadership role in efforts to pass the Violence Against Women Act, the state’s work to combat sex trafficking is serving as a national model. Thanks to the bipartisan work of Democrat Amy Klobuchar in the U.S. Senate and Republican Erik Paulsen in the U.S. House, there may soon be federal legislation in place to… Read more »

  By Amy Turim  By now you probably know what the social media hash tag “bring back our girls” refers to. The message has reached near infamy worldwide, with tens of thousands of shares and retweets, and numerous parodies and critiques.  Television and newspaper commentators have either promoted the missive, or skewered First Lady Michelle Obama for… Read more »

  By Jenna Sachs  MILWAUKEE (WITI) — It’s one of Milwaukee’s darkest secrets: Women and children being trafficked for sex. Experts say it’s a lucrative business — and Milwaukee is a major hub. A tough new bill would make it easier for human trafficking victims to break free. Last year, ten human trafficking victims between the ages of… Read more »

  By Qudsia Raja  Several years ago, I worked at the YWCA Union County, New Jersey, where a woman was murdered on the steps of our shelter door. She was shot 16 times through the back by her former partner, killing her instantly in front of their two young children. While your first instinct may be to think that this tragic incident is an exception to the norm,… Read more »