Raising Awareness

The intersection of gender with poverty, health, race, and immigrant status face women locally and globally on a daily basis. Therefore, we sponsor events to educate ourselves and the congregation about specific issues facing women and girls. From 2022-2023, we have held numerous events to educate the congregation about Reproductive Justice in preparation for voting on the proposed Stand “Reproductive Justice is a Fundamental Human Right”. Additionally, we have written many news articles that fall under the big tent of Reproductive Justice for the EUUC website, such as an article exploring the role of men in Reproductive Justice; the Reproductive Justice Work Group penned one that describes the dangers of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. You can see recent articles on the news feed on our main page. 

Advocacy

We are strongly involved in advocacy regarding women’s issues. We join with other Social Justice Committees in the EUUC “Lobby Room” , where we make it easy for congregants to contact their state legislators regarding important bills that affect women and persons that identify as LGBTQI. The Advocates increased our portfolio from a few bills per year when we began to over a dozen supporting legislation such as those that protect bodily autonomy, shields patients and providers of reproductive health care, and supports parenting children in a safe and healthy environment. We have also conducted letter writing campaigns on state referenda and get out the vote.

Upcoming Events

To learn about our upcoming events, check out our calendar.

Want to know more about us and current projects?

If you are curious about our group or have a question, please go to our About Us page or email us.

Ongoing Advocacy and Awareness events

Lobby Room 2019-present, A4W works in the Lobby Room to promote bills that will help Washington women and families.

2023-2024

We held a workshop on the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in April, 2024, which was facilitated by Carolyn DeFord of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. The workshop included a presentation by DeFord on the topic and a session where we made “faceless dolls”, each one inspired by the true story of a missing indigenous woman. These dolls, along with the women’s stories, were exhibited at EUUC for several weeks after the workshop.

We designed a Sunday service around Lessons learned from indigenous women’s leadership, locally to globally. Our intern minister Martha Durkee-Neuman delivered the sermon.

Book, Film, and other discussions

A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power

Red Paint, The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk, by Sasha LaPointe

Women of the White Buffalo, a film about present day Lakota women of the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian reservations in South Dakota

2022-2023

Many events this year were aimed at educating the congregation about Reproductive Justice in advance of the voting on the proposed Congregational Stand: “Reproductive Justice is a Fundamental Human Right”. These events are marked by: **ReproJ**.

4/19/23 Sunday Intergenerational Panel: EUUC members from different generations discuss Reproductive Justice **ReproJ**

TBD information/feedback session on the proposed Congregational Stand for Reproductive Justice, via Zoom **ReproJ**

4/16/23  Sunday, 10 am-1 pm Reproductive Justice Sunday. **ReproJ**

• • • • • Service – Imagine a World with Reproductive Justice for All, Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Side with Love 
        • Congregational stand on Reproductive Justice – information and feedback session 
        • Reproductive Justice in Popular Music – listen and discuss! 

1/25/23 Cafe Connections: Discussion on Religion and Abortion**

2/8/23 A4W Lobby Group: Our Reproductive Justice Legislative Agenda for Washington State, via Zoom. **ReproJ**

2/26/23  “Abortion and women’s rights, 1970”,  a short film. Discussion**ReproJ**

 Assembled 400 abortion aftercare kits in collaboration with Planned Parenthood of Seattle.

Thursday, 10-11:30 am, Cafe Connections. Discussion of changes in abortion access in South America and elsewhere. **ReproJ**

Congregational Workshop: How to Talk about Abortion: An Interactive Post-Roe Mini-Workshop **ReproJ**

Congregational Education Event: “And Reproductive Justice for All”,  An introduction to the big tent of Reproductive Justice.  Light lunch served. **ReproJ**

Book Discussion: “Take my Hand” by by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.**ReproJ**

Earlier activities

Congregational Educational Events

Reproductive Justice: US Laws and UU Principles. Marley Banker, Shoreline UU Board Member and NARAL activist discussed how our liberal religion can support women’s reproductive justice. Fajer Ebrahim, Counsel at Legal Voice, described legal strategies to defend reproductive rights for all women.

You’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe. Many members of the congregation came to this luncheon and presentation covering economic justice, gender-based violence, and the Equal Rights Amendment.

Refugee experience Panel. Seven refugees from Refugee Women’s Alliance told stories of what they left behind and how they are adapting.

Advocacy

Letter Writing Party for Save Secular Healthcare (CHI Franciscan and Virginia Mason Merger)

Get out the vote letter writing parties for 2020 national election

Periodic gatherings in support of Planned Parenthood in Lynwood

Lobby Room

To help ensure that students in Washington state public schools have access to inclusive and medically accurate sex education, we spearheaded the congregational endorsement of the “Approve Referendum 90” movement in 2020. We also participated in phone and text banks with Planned Parenthood & NARAL.

Books, Films, and Other  Discussions

Cafe Connections, 2018-2024. Daytime gatherings on topical issues held bi-monthly online or at a local coffee shop. We discuss articles on topics such as religion and abortion, human trafficking, and white feminism.

On Juneteenth, by Annette-Gordon Reed

The Three Mothers, by  Anna Malaika Tubbs. Lives of the mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin

Red at the Bone, by Jacqueline Woodson

Handbook for a Post-Roe America, by Robin Marty 

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, by Sarah Smarsh

The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State, by Nadia Murad

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, by Kim Michele Richardson 

The Heroes of the Suffrage Movement | Finish the Fight a film by NY Times Journalists

Ask for Jane, a fictionalized movie about the Jane Collective, which helped women in Indiana find abortions in the late 1960s

Joy, a biographical comedy-drama film about a woman entrepreneur.

Conversations with RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law, by Jeffrey Rosen

“The Vote” American Experience PBS illustrates the history of women’s suffrage culminating in the ratification of the 19th amendment. 

Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, by Lindy West 

Her Body, Our Laws, by Michelle Oberman.  Highlights the war on abortion and the sometimes surprising consequences of anti-abortion laws

What Will it Take to Make A Woman President?, by Marianne Schnall. Participants reading the viewpoints contributed by thought leaders.

A Path Appears: Transforming Lives, Creating Opportunity, by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, offers hope by showing how we can help change lives.

“Feminism for All” discussion series