Women and caregivers are the backbone of America
For more than two years, women and caregivers – especially those of color – have been holding the country together during the pandemic. We’ve been working front-line jobs and caring for kids when schools shut down. We’re burnt out and tired of juggling caring for our children, our parents, or our partners, and furthering our education –all while still trying to pursue our dreams, while costs continue to rise. And with our reproductive rights being stripped away, we have even less control over our bodies and our futures.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, women and caregivers – especially Black and brown women – were already at a breaking point. Trying to balance caring for our families with work, school, and pursuing our dreams with no support and rising costs felt impossible.
Our coalition came together to demand that politicians:
- Prioritize our health and safety ahead of corporations
- Stop the attacks on our reproductive health care
- Get life-sustaining COVID relief to us NOW
We were proud to mobilize with our partners to secure:
- $50B investment in child care, including precedent-setting child care credits
- $20B for COVID vaccine distribution, planning, preparation, monitoring, and tracking
- Medicaid expansion to expand postpartum care in the American Rescue Plan Act
However, women and caregivers not only need a time for rest; but also a real safety net for working families. It is time to invest in us, our labor, and our reproductive freedom. Nearly 2 million women left the workforce in 2020, leaving many of us and our loved ones struggling to get by. Most of us didn’t “opt out” of work – we were forced out because there was nobody else to care for our loved ones. Years later, we're still feeling the fallout, with young women of color continuing to face higher rates of economic insecurity in comparison to their white, male counterparts. And with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, we have even less control over our futures.
WE DEMAND MORE – in Congress, in our communities, and on the streets. Join us >>
Sign on to our list of demands
We need Congress to:
- Pass policies that make our workplaces work for us, like permanent paid leave and fair wages.
- Take back, protect, and expand access to reproductive care, including abortion access.
- Invest in making child care and health care affordable for everyone.
About the Coalition
We Demand More is a coalition of organizations using our collective power to fight for women and caregivers, especially those of color. Our lives, livelihoods, and families depend on lawmakers and business leaders doing more — and we need everyone to demand more. Read the letter that inspired this coalition.
- #VOTEPROCHOICE
- American Association of University Women
- Abortion Access Force
- Advocates for Youth
- African American Ministers in Action
- All* Above all Action Fund
- All Women's Progress
- Birth In Color RVA
- Black Women's Roundtable
- Catholics for Choice
- California National Organization for Women
- Center for American Progress Action Fund
- Chicago Foundation for Women
- Clearinghouse on Women's Issues
- Closing the Women's Wealth Gap
- Coalition of Labor Union Women
- Daily Kos
- DemCast USA
- End Rape On Campus
- Equal Pay Today
- Equal Rights Advocates
- Feminist Majority
- Feminist Women's Health Center
- Free Speech For People
- Hollaback!
- Hopewell Fund
- League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
- Mass NOW
- Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable
- MomsRising Together
- NARAL Pro-Choice America
- National Birth Equity Collaborative
- National Center for Transgender Equality
- National Black Justice Coalition
- National Domestic Workers Alliance
- National Organization for Women
- National Organization for Women - Connecticut chapter
- National Partnership for Women & Families
- National Women's Law Center
- New American Leaders Action Fund
- New Voices for Reproductive Justice
- North Carolina Council of Churches
- Paid Leave for All Action
- PathWays PA
- Period Equity
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund
- Population Connection Action Fund
- Public Citizen
- Resilience
- ServeUSA
- Sisters Lead Sisters Vote
- SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
- Supermajority
- The Greenlining Institute
- UltraViolet
- United State of Women
- URGE: Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity
- Voto Latino
- Women Employed
- Women's Fund of Rhode Island
- Women’s March
- Women's Media Center
Endorsement is an indication of solidarity within our movement and a recognition of the urgency of these policies. Endorsement does not necessarily mean that organizations have expertise in or are actively working towards each priority or policy listed.
Our Past Work
- We Demand More Coalition Calls House Passage of Build Back Better Act Historic Investment
- We Demand More Coalition on the Build Back Better Budget Framework: Package is Historic But Falls Short of Full Recovery for Women
- Read the Letter to Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer Demanding Childcare and Paid Leave Funding in Covid Relief Bill.
- Read our Letter to the Biden-Harris admin + Congressional Leadership calling for women, especially women of color, to be prioritized in the next COVID-19 recovery package.
- (9/9/21) Journal News: Local groups host event to fight for care-centered reconciliation package
- (8/31/21) Arizona Mirror: Arizona’s care infrastructure is already on the brink. Congress must fix that.
- (7/10/21) The Guardian: Can Biden keep the left happy as he pushes key legislation?
- (7/2/21) Ms. Magazine: The Founding of the U.S. Excluded Women—and Our Leaders Are About To Do It Again
- (5/25/21) Daily Beast: Abortion Is on SCOTUS’ Radar—and Biden Is Getting Heat
- (9/30/20) Forbes: Everything You Need To Know About The October 17 Women’s March
- (9/30/20) McClatchy DC Bureau: ‘We’re making it up’: How coronavirus shifts conservative playbook in Supreme Court fight
- (9/12/20) LA Progressive: GOP Coronavirus Package Flames Out
- (9/10/20) Common Dreams: After 'Disgraceful' GOP Coronavirus Package Defeated, Progressives Demand McConnell 'Get Serious' About Relief