A salute to sisterhood

Empowered women empower women.

Especially in the City of Sisterly Love.

As Philadelphia embraces Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight some of the incredible women here and the life-changing work they are doing — not just in the month of March, but every day, every month and every time a woman needs help.

Women’s Way

Women’s Way, headquartered at 123 S. Broad St., is a nonprofit devoted to the advancement of gender equality and the rights of women and girls. For the past 40 years, the organization has impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of women through their grants, programs and outreach initiatives.

The organization works to help the city and state identify and respond to domestic violence, helps women seek financial support for abortion access, provides legal and social services for immigrants and refugees, and so much more.

Women’s Way works towards ensuring women have affordable health care, while protecting reproductive rights. They fight for equality and help empower leadership. They promise to build an inclusive community, pursue solutions and make a true difference in the daily lives of women throughout Philadelphia.

Women’s Law Project

The Women’s Law Project — which has an office in Pittsburgh and one in Philadelphia at 125 S. 9th St.— is the state’s only public interest law center dedicated to the rights of women and girls. Its legal advocacy focuses on equal access to reproductive healthcare, reducing violence against women, challenging discrimination and workplace equality.

The organization also offers a telephone counseling service to help women by providing information and referrals. “This is a vital resource particularly in Philadelphia, a city with low literacy rates and the highest rate of deep poverty, where 90% of women enter family court without legal representation,” according to the Women’s Law Project website.

The Black Women’s Health Alliance

The Black Women’s Health Alliance, at 1324 W. Clearfield St., has built a legacy as the voice of African-American women in Philadelphia’s health community. The organization offers programs that aim to reduce health disparities for minority women and their families.

These advocacy efforts include a support group that helps African-American women with stress management, fitness and overall health. They also provide educational workshops, a program for local teens to target behaviors associated with abuse and violence, and much more.

Women’s Community Revitalization Project

The main goal of the Women’s Community Revitalization Project, at 2036 N. 4th St., is to develop affordable housing for low-income women and their families throughout Philadelphia. The organization was created in 1986 and has since invested $90 million in various communities, established 10 developments and 282 new homes.

The women of these organizations—these advocates and trailblazers—are modern-day Women’s Right Movement heroines. And there are so many more throughout Philadelphia and beyond doing the work, making a difference, changing perceptions and policies.

They should be saluted and celebrated. But as we embrace the incredible advancements in the fight for gender equality, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

And Philadelphia has just the women for the job.