Category Archives: Women

ACLU

Founded in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is the nation’s foremost guardian of liberty. They are a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending and protecting individual rights and personal freedoms.

Through advocacy, education and litigation, their attorneys, advocates and volunteers work to preserve and promote civil liberties including the freedom of speech, the right to privacy, reproductive freedom, and equal treatment under the law. They stand in defense of the rights of women and minorities, workers, students, immigrants, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, and others who have seen bias and bigotry threaten the rights afforded to all of us in this country by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Because the ACLU of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit organization with limited resources, they rely on volunteers and interns to accomplish their work. Most of their volunteer and internship opportunities are in one of their offices in Philadelphia. Some volunteers make a regular weekly commitment to volunteer; others help out on an as-needed basis.

The Philadelphia local chapter is made up of volunteers who help further the mission of the ACLU by alerting staff about civil liberties violations in their area, holding local events, and raising awareness in their communities about civil liberties and the ACLU-PA.

Have skills you’d like to volunteer, such as photography or graphic design, but don’t want to commit to regular schedule in the office? Email them at volunteer@aclupa.org to set up a time to discuss how you can get involved!

Website: https://www.aclupa.org/takeaction/volunteerintern/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aclupa

Contact: 215-592-1513, volunteer@aclupa.org or info@aclupa.org

Location: 1401 John F Kennedy Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19103

Coalition of Labor Union Women

The Coalition of Labor Union Women is America’s only national organization for union women. Formed in 1974, CLUW is a nonpartisan organization within the union movement.

The primary mission of CLUW is to unify all union women in a viable organization to determine our common problems and concerns and to develop action programs within the framework of our unions to deal effectively with our objectives.

CLUW adopted four basic goals of action:

  • to promote affirmative action in the workplace;
  • to strengthen the role of women in unions;
  • to organize the unorganized women;
  • and to increase the involvement of women in the political and legislative process.

These goals continue to be the cornerstone of CLUW’s activities as members speak out for equal pay, child and elder care benefits, job security, safe workplaces, affordable health care, contraceptive equity, and protection from sexual harassment and violence at work.

With members from 54 international and national unions across the U.S. and Canada, CLUW has a strong network of more than 40 chapters. CLUW is endorsed by the AFL-CIO and its international and national unions. CLUW local chapters educate members, keep them up-to-date on a variety of issues of concern to working families, and provide a support network for women in unions.

Committees: Young Women’s Committee; Newsletter; Women in Non-Traditional Jobs; Events Planning

Website: http://www.cluw.org

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CLUWomen

Contact: (Philadelphia Chapter)Laura Wentz, Chapter President, laurawentz@rcn.com 215.588.5026

Meetings: 2nd Wednesday of the month, 5:30 PM at Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, 22 S. 22nd Street, 2nd Floor Philadelphia, PA.

*This site is accessible via public transportation from the Bryn Mawr campus.

Please see transportation reimbursement policy.

National Organization for Women (NOW)

As the grassroots arm of the women’s movement, the National Organization for Women is dedicated to its multi-issue and multi-strategy approach to women’s rights. NOW is the largest organization of feminist activists in the United States, with hundreds of thousands of contributing members and more than 500 local and campus affiliates in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

NOW’s priorities are winning economic equality and securing it with an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will guarantee equal rights for women; championing abortion rights, reproductive freedom and other women’s health issues; opposing racism; fighting bigotry against the LGBTQIA community; and ending violence against women.

NOW activists use both traditional and non-traditional means to push for social change. NOW activists do extensive electoral and lobbying work and bring lawsuits. We also organize mass marches, rallies, pickets, non-violent civil disobedience and immediate, responsive “zap” actions. NOW re-instituted mass marches for women’s rights in the face of conventional wisdom that marches went out with the 1960s. In 2004, the March for Women’s Lives became the largest mass action of any kind in U.S. history, bringing a record 1.15 million people to Washington, DC to advocate for women’s reproductive health options.

Website: http://www.phillynow.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/49646348368/

Contact: info@phillynow.org

Location: 1500 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Suite 1130, Philadelphia, PA, 19102