Dear John,

From the very beginning, the COVID-19 crisis has laid bare the disastrous consequences of long-standing racial and gender inequities in this country.

Women—especially women of color—are overrepresented in front-line jobs, risking their lives to provide health care and essential services for their communities. Women also face a higher risk of losing their jobs as retail stores, bars, and restaurants have laid off workers or closed.

And now, as some states rush to reopen their economies only to be hit with a surge of new coronavirus infections, these women are facing more risk than ever—forced to go back to work in unsafe conditions or potentially lose their unemployment benefits.

Please help the National Women’s Law Center fight for these women and their families during the coronavirus crisis. Make a donation today to support our critical work advocating for the rights of women and girls—every gift will be matched up to $10,000 until midnight on Friday.

June saw unemployment numbers improve slightly (and likely temporarily). But scratch the surface and you’ll find that those gains excluded women of color: while the overall unemployment rate dropped to 11.1%, approximately 15% of Black women and Latinas remained unemployed.

The National Women’s Law Center is demanding immediate relief for these workers, including expanded unemployment protections, paid sick days, family and medical leave, housing support, substantial investments in child care, and access to comprehensive health care, while also advocating for long-term systemic changes that will make a difference for years to come. That’s what we’re fighting for—will you join us?

Make an urgent donation by midnight this Friday to support our work for women during this unpredictable and critical time.

Thank you for all that you do.

Laura Narefsky
(she/her/hers)
Public Interest Fellow, Education and Workplace Justice
National Women's Law Center

P.S. Stay up to date on all that we’re doing to help women and workers here.