3-2-1: Safe Teens, Family Leave, and Sexual Harassment

3. Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

Children and young adults need a safe environment in which to thrive, but in the United States one in three teens experiences physical, emotional or verbal abuse in a relationship. Education and open communication are essential if we hope to combat this violence. Learn how to facilitate a  workshop  for youth in your community or use  JWI’s Shamor l’Amour  conversation cards to start a dialogue and raise awareness for Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. You can also call your  Senators and Representative  and tell them to co-sponsor the  Real Education for Healthy Youth Act  to make sure that federally funded sexual health education programs are gender inclusive and  encourage healthy relationships .

2. FMLA Anniversary

Every parent deserves time off of work to care for a new child. Twenty-five years ago the  Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was signed into law to guarantee job security and provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. Two decades later, however, only 56% of the workforce is covered by FMLA, and the lowest-wage workers rarely have the ability to take time off of work. To level this disparity, Congress must update and improve FMLA to include paid family leave for all employees. Join us for a social media  Thunderclap today at 1:00 p.m. to celebrate the success of FMLA and push for comprehensive paid family leave.

1. Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Employees should have the opportunity to speak out if they are victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. However, nearly  60 million Americans   have been required to sign away their right to discuss their harassment publicly or take their harasser to court as a condition of their employment. The  Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Act  would invalidate these mandatory arbitration clauses, “pulling back the veil of secrecy on bad behavior in the workplace.” Watch Samantha Bee’s  interview  with Gretchen Carlson and call your  Representatives  today to demand they support the bill!

And for you...  

Help the youngest victims of domestic abuse write their own happy endings: Please give generously  to the National Library Initiative this month, to help restock the shelves of JWI children’s libraries in domestic violence shelters across the U.S., and raise the funds to build 25 more libraries and reach our goal of 100 nationwide.