Featured Speaker
Congresswoman Jackie Speier is a fearless fighter for women’s equality, LGBTQ rights and the disenfranchised who has dedicated her life to eliminating government corruption while working to strengthen America’s national and economic security. She proudly represents California’s 14th Congressional District, stretching from the southern portion of San Francisco through San Mateo County to East Palo Alto.
Congresswoman Speier believes that every woman must have access to quality reproductive health care and is committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose. As a Task Force Chair of the Pro-Choice Caucus, Congresswoman Speier fights against the Republicans’ unyielding assault on a woman’s ability to control her own body. She is a proud cosponsor of H.R. 1692, the EACH Woman Act, to repeal the Hyde Amendment so that women’s access to abortion care is not dictated by their income or type of insurance. Congresswoman Speier is also a strong supporter of H.R. 2975, the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA). As a leader on armed services issues, Congresswoman Speier is the author of H.R. 2091, the Access to Contraception for Service members and Dependents Act, so that all women who receive health care through the military have the same access as civilians to all FDA-approved contraception and counseling with no co-pay. H.R. 2091 also ensures that the military provides family planning education and emergency contraception for sexual assault survivors. This legislation was successfully included as part of the FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House of Representatives.
For Congresswoman Speier, the fight for abortion rights is personal. In February 2011, she became the first Member of Congress to share her abortion story on the House floor. She initially took to the floor in opposition to a Republican amendment that would have withheld Title X funding from clinics, like Planned Parenthood, that provide abortion coverage. Speier continues to speak out about her experience so that women will no longer be silenced or stigmatized.
2022 Amel Zenoune-Zouani Rights and Leadership Awardee
Kelsie Joseph (she/her) is a young, passionate intersectional feminist activist, organizer and chalk artist with the IGDS Ignite, a student-led, undergraduate feminist and social justice activist group of the Institute of Gender and Development Studies (IGDS), at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad. She is the recipient of the 2022 Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) Undergraduate Social Action Award which is given annually to recognize students making a substantial contribution to improving the lives of women in society through activism. She is currently pursuing her BSc. in Sociology with minors in Gender and Development Studies and Criminology. She is the Co-Founder and Project-Lead of Cat Calls of UWI, a project focused on combating street harassment and gender-based violence, sharing real stories and educating through cyber-activism, community engagement and chalk graffiti on campus and the wider society. Kelsie currently serves as of Education Lead for Chalk Back, a global, feminist, youth-led, non-profit organization working against gender-based street harassment, using chalk art, digital media and education. She is also a mental health advocate and an active member of the AJSA Girls’ College Tunapuna Past Pupils Association, the Student Psychology Association of UWI and the UWISTAT Corps where she currently serves as the Secretary of Programming and Volunteerism sub-committee and former Deputy Vice President of the Disaster Mitigation and Climate Change sub-committee. Kelsie is committed to amplifying the voices of the most vulnerable, acknowledging our biases and privileges through meaningful engagement in hopes of creating a gender-just world.
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