Dear Colleagues:
We join you in celebrating the women at the forefront of climate solutions on this Earth Day 2021.
In addition to their leadership, women and girls around the globe are demanding that policymakers center racial and gender equity in their climate agenda. As many of you know, 80% of people displaced by climate change are women, 50% - 80% of the people responsible for farming food in the developing world are women, and 8 out of every 10 women and girls across the world are responsible for collecting household water.
Fortunately, your organizations are uniquely aware of the interconnectedness of climate change and the economic survival and prosperity of women and their families. You ensure that the voices of those most impacted by environmental degradation are leading collaborative strategies that support thriving communities and a sustainable planet.
For example, the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation and League of Conservation Voters are co-presenting two upcoming virtual events featuring state and national leaders in climate justice. Both events will focus on underrepresented groups including people from lower incomes and marginalized genders in communities of color.
“As we celebrate Earth Day this year, we hope you’ll add a gender lens to your consideration of climate justice,” said Tanna Clews, CEO of the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation in a recent op-ed. “The promise of solutions from bold women and eco-feminists that lead the fight against climate change, contrasted with the disproportionate burden that women bear for environmental harms, calls us to action. There is no climate justice without gender justice.”
On the global stage, policymakers are building gender and racial equity into their plans to combat climate change. The Paris Climate Agreement specifically states “gender equality, empowerment of women and intergenerational equity” as being essential to addressing climate change and calls for a gender-responsive approach in solutions and decision-making. In the U.S., President Biden appointed a woman of color, Shalanda Baker, as the first ever deputy director of energy justice for the Department of Energy.
As feminists, we understand that white supremacy and patriarchy built into the all the systems that govern our lives has put our planet in crisis. Fortunately, your work mobilizes resources on multiple fronts that address root causes as well as ongoing environmental emergencies. This April, we join you in echoing first female president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, who said, “Climate change is a man-made problem—with a feminist solution.”
In solidarity,
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Barajas-Román
Women’s Funding Network
President & CEO
|
|
|
We want to know what readers are addressing climate change. Send your stories and statements to Ellen Moorhouse, WFN Communications Director: [email protected].
|
|
|
|
#WomenFunded’21 is coming! Please SAVE THE DATE for September 23, 2021
We are seeking community input and volunteers to join the 2021 Conference Committee. Please indicate your interest HERE. This committee will work together with WFN staff and event managers to design the virtual gathering this fall.
|
|
|
The guide, Moving Money for Impact; A Guide to Gender Lens Investing, is now available on the WFN website. The guide itself is free, as the content is on Creative Commons and all contributors agreed to share their material. WFN proudly amplifies resources created by our members, for our members and our sector.
|
|
|
We are launching four Peer Communities organized around issues we heard the most interest in from our conversations with you over the last year.
For the following peer communities, please email Jessica Dimas!
• Communications and Development
• Advocacy and Public Policy
• Research
• Equity and Justice learning group
|
|
|
|
Join the WNY Women's Foundation for their What She's Made Of Virtual Celebration, a powerful and inspiring afternoon focused on the critical importance of women’s leadership with keynote speaker Carla Harris.
May 17, 2021
3:45pm
Reserve your tickets here.
|
|
OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES
|
|
|
Join A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities (ABFE) for their virtual 50th annual conference, "Harambee- Let's All Pull Together," which includes 10 featured sessions that focus on one of their Call-to-Action issue areas.
April 21-23, 2021
To learn more, click here.
|
|
Funders for LGBTQ Issues is hosting their 2021 Funding Forward conference virtually, which will include critical conversations with leading funders & LGBTQ movement leaders in an engaging, interactive format.
May 5-7, 2021
To learn more, click here.
|
|
|
|
Take The Communications Network's 2021 DEI and Communications for Good Survey. In 2019, The Communications Network DEI Working Group conducted a survey to discover how foundations and nonprofits understood — and were applying — the values and lessons of diversity, equity and inclusion in their communications work. They are now following up on the 2019 survey to gauge what has changed.
The deadline to contribute is Wednesday, May 19, 2021.
|
|
|
Article Group has released a new Direct Philanthropy Starter Kit, a content series created with input and encouragement from their nonprofit and grantmaking partners. The intention in developing this toolkit is to disseminate and amplify a set of ideas and practices centering a trust-based approach in funder-grantee relationships.
They will be releasing weekly content every Wednesday over 6 weeks. To learn more, click here.
|
|
|
|
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is seeking a new Investments Associate with three to seven years of investment experience to help invest and manage the Foundation’s portfolio. To learn more, click here.
|
|
Funders For Justice is hiring for two positions this spring and summer: Director of Training and Leadership Development, and Program Associate. To learn more and apply, click here.
|
|
|
|
The Race, Gender and Human Rights Fund is hosting a discussion and screening featuring the documentary film, Belly of the Beast, which follows illegal sterilizations in California’s women’s prisons and the struggle of impacted women and advocates to see this practice come to light, finally end, and to find a measure of justice for survivors.
May 4, 2021
12-1:30pm PST
Register here.
|
|
Meet the 2021 Tijuana Byrd Summer Internship Program Interns! The Women’s Foundation of Arkansas has launched the pilot year of their Tjuana Byrd Summer Internship Program, named after the Foundation’s first Black president. In partnership with Acxiom, Central Arkansas Water, L’Oreal and Windstream, they will be offering a 10-week summer internship program for women of color attending college in Arkansas and pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics (finance & related majors included). |
|
|
A new UN report finds that almost half of women in some 57 countries do not have the power to make choices over their healthcare, contraception, or sex lives. - UN News
|
|
|
|
Childcare providers get a much-needed $39 million bailout from Biden's America Rescue Plan. - Fortune
|
|
|
|
Could the pandemic prompt an "epidemic of loss" of women in the sciences? - New York Times
|
|
|
|
As U.S. and NATO forces will depart Afghanistan in the coming months, many Afghan women fear what will happen next. - New York Times
|
|
|
|
Joe Biden's infrastructure plan could leave too many women behind. Read more here.
|
|
|
|
They told her women couldn't join the ambualnce corps. So she started her own. - New York Times
|
|
|
|
|
WATCH: TikToker Zahra Hashimee breaks down France’s latest attempt to control women’s dress after the Senate passed an amendment that aims to restrict women and girls wearing hijab. "France is literally stripping women of the freedom of choice to wear what they want."
|
|
Browse the New WFN Website!
 —
|
|
|
What do you think of today's newsletter?
Loved it
It was okay
I have ideas to improve
|
|
If you have a story to share, email Ellen at
[email protected]
|
|
|
|
|
|
