Highlighting Advocacy Issues in the United States Denise Sylvester, Esq. President, Zonta Club of Roscommon County Area D15 Advocacy Co-Chair

Advocacy Discussion What Topic is Important to YOU? What is your Club or District’s Advocacy Action?

U.S. Political System 3 Branches of Government: Federal Republic: 3 Branches of Government: Executive President – 4 year term, 2 term limit Legislative House of Representatives – Proportional by population. 435 voting members, 6 non-voting members, 2-year term Senate – 100 (2 from each State), 6-year term Judicial Supreme Court, 13 courts of appeals, 94 district courts, 2 special courts of special jurisdiction (bankruptcy, tax) Cabinet is appointed by the President with advice and consent from the Senate

Child Marriage in the U.S. No Federal minimum age to marry Between 2000 – 2010 – estimated 248,000 children were married 48 of 50 states allow children below the age of 18 to marry under certain circumstances Age of Majority – 18 – States determine age to marry Some states have no Minimum age – Michigan (D15) is one of them

Child Marriage - What Can Zontian’s Do? Unchained At Last http://www.unchainedatlast.org/ National Coalition to End Child Marriage https://endchildmarriageus.org/

Human Trafficking - What Can Zontians Do? Truckers Against Trafficking Collaboration Human Trafficking Taskforce Education and Awareness to the community Billboards Training provided by Department of Homeland Security, Blue Campaign: https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign Truckers Against Trafficking Collaboration Providing human trafficking awareness to the trucking and commercial bus industry throughout the US and provide opportunities to work with law enforcement.

Equal Rights Amendment Paid Parental Leave Equality 14th Amendment Equal Pay Equal Rights Amendment Paid Parental Leave All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Educate Advocate Amplify What Can Zontians Do? Educate Advocate Amplify Stay Educated Has your State ratified the ERA? What’s your company’s policies on equal pay, parental leave? This mode of ratification is getting closer to potential realization. With the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment by the state of Nevada in 2017 and by the state of Illinois in 2018, one more state is needed to ratify the ERA to achieve the initial 38 states for federal ratification as determined in 1982. If one more state ratifies the ERA, the ratification process will move into the courts for determination regarding the constitutionality of the original deadline that was applied to the Equal Rights Amendment. Currently efforts to ratify the ERA are active in North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida.

Gender Based Violence – What can Zontians Do? Monument Quilt https://themonumentquilt.org/ 16 Days of Activism https://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/ Spread virally in US during fall of October 2017 after sexual abuse allegations came against high powered Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and a tweet with the hashtag #metoo was used by actress Alyssa Millano Transgressed to music industry, politics, academia, military and sports Impact: 150 women came forward detailing sexual abuse by their sports doctor - Larry Nassar – sentenced to life in prison Still an issue: Military: Department of Defense noted 15,000 members of the military reported in 2016 of being sexually assaulted Of those, only 1 out of 3 actually made a report https://dod.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1168765/dod-releases-latest-military-sexual-assault-report/ Workplace harassment Fear of retaliation Fear of not being believed Fear of being fired Fear of not being able to be promoted

Zonta USA Action Center https://www.zonta.org/USA-Advocacy