Feminist Majority Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
This summer, I had the honor of working with the Feminist Majority Foundation in Los Angeles, Calif. The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) is a non-profit organization dedicated to women’s equality, reproductive health, and non-violence. Since 1987, the Feminist Majority has utilized research and action to empower women economically, socially, and politically. FMF promotes and works on projects that focus on advancing the legal, social, and political equality of women with men; countering the backlash to women’s advancement while recruiting and training young feminists to encourage future leadership for the feminist movement in the United States. FMF engages in research and public policy development, public education programs, grassroots organizing projects, leadership training and development programs, and participates in and organizes forums on issues of women’s equality and empowerment. The organization also engages in lobbying and other direct political action, pursuing equality between women and men through legislative avenues. The Feminist Majority is also the publisher of Ms. Magazine, a publication originally started by activist Gloria Steinem.
During my time as an intern, I participated in many projects in various sections of the Feminist Majority. I spent the majority of my time working with Girls Learn International (GLI), which is an organization that works to increase accessibility to feminist and humanitarian education to middle school and high schools all over the world. GLI has an online guidebook that educates students on issues, such as reproductive health, human trafficking, trans-visibility, and media literacy. My GLI project consists of updating, reformatting, and writing the online guidebook. I check for errors in grammar and structure as well as changing the guidebook’s language to avoid ‘othering’ among U.S. students.
I also worked on a research project on gender disparities in police agencies across California. FMF has published similar reports in the early 2000s, which showed that the female and male disparity in police departments has been more costly for the state of California in terms of lawsuits, and has also contributed to a decrease in public trust for law enforcement. For this project, I replicated the study and conducted research concerning the gender disparity within police agencies in the state and examine how this contributes to excessive lawsuit payouts by the city of Los Angeles. We were able to conduct this study more effectively due to a new bill passed by the California Senate in January 2019 called SB-1421. However, many police agencies have found loop holes in the bill and have refused to give information or have delayed the process. Some departments also have begun to destroy files under the guise that it is routine record cleaning. In my specific project, I was in charge of extracting data from the LAPD.
One of the delightful surprises of my job was that I was able to work more broadly with other organizations involved with the Feminist Majority. With the next presidential election coming soon, the Civic Center in Los Angeles teamed up with the Feminist Majority. The Civic Center’s project focused on mobilizing voters and increasing voter registration among youth in California. More specifically, I helped the Civic Center create a new website that targeted high schools in California and gave them the information and resources necessary to host a successful voter registration drive at their respective schools. I also created a training guide for high school students on voter registration. I utilized this voter registration guide during my one-on-one webinar trainings for students in all our GLI chapters across the country. I discussed the necessary steps to registering a school with the Civic Center along with teaching students how to correctly fill out a voter registration form. I thoroughly enjoyed this project as I felt as though I was able to help address the serious problem in youth voter registration and turnout.
Along with gaining beneficial research skills, I have also learned fundamental and practical office skills. Twice a week, I would work the front desk for two hours where I would schedule meetings, respond to phone calls, take messages, communicate with community leaders and politicians, and handle other office-related tasks. I found this experience extremely beneficial and helpful because it helped me learn the inner workings of an office and the fundamental tasks needed to make sure it ran smoothly.
Having looked back on my time at the Feminist Majority Foundation, I am extremely honored to have worked with a trail blazing and fiery organization that strives to promote equity in all sectors of life. My time at the FMF has not only inspired me to continue to carry feminist values in my daily life, but to do so in academic environments as well. Although Williams is a prestigious institution, it continues to have many of the same problems with inequity among students and faculty as do peer schools. Working at FMF has pushed me to bring back the knowledge I have gained and work to implement changes on campus.
For my junior year, I will be studying abroad in the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford where I will be able to share my experiences with new friends in England. As of now, I hope to volunteer at a local center for asylum seekers and refugees. I also hope to create and develop gender-driven tutorials to further my knowledge on gender-related issues in international politics. This internship has really placed my post-grad goals into perspective and I am extremely grateful to the Class of 1951 for this transformative experience. I am very excited for what the future holds.
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