Know the Issues
The YWCA's 2019 State Policy Agenda
We will collaborate with partners and the YWCA’s Georgia Women’s Policy Institute to advocate for proactive policy solutions to improve the health & safety and advance the economic empowerment of all women and girls in Georgia in the 2019 state legislative session. To receive real time alerts so that you can take action on these and other important issues join our email list and select "Action Alerts".
Health and safety:
- Enact evidence-based policies to increase safety for family violence victims and strengthen accountability for abusers
- Improve disciplinary action and transparency around physicians who sexually assault patients
- Protect victims of sex trafficking in Georgia
- Ensure juveniles are not indiscriminately shackled when they appear in court
- Promote the dignity of incarcerated women, including prohibiting the shackling of pregnant inmates
- Stop underage marriage, which limits girls’ educational and employment opportunities and can lead to domestic violence
- Support policies that address the disparities and the underlying causes of maternal mortality
- Increase the number of women in Georgia with health insurance
Economic empowerment:
- Pass a resolution making Georgia the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution, providing equal protection of the law to all women and men
- Advocate for measures that would help close the pay gap for women workers, such as preventing a job applicant’s previous salary from determining pay
- Pass legislation providing reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers in Georgia
- Expand access to quality, affordable early learning and child care for working mothers
- Eliminate the state sales tax on feminine hygiene products
- Enact family-friendly tax reform that can empower more women to move into the middle class, including the Georgia Work Credit