Dear Future President:

Hello, we are writing you on behalf of the sophomores of Girls Go Global, a student-led club at Marlborough School in Los Angeles, California. Our club focuses on women's rights and girls’ education, meeting to discuss important issues in our country and around the world. As members of an all-girls school, we are able to be surrounded by people who share our beliefs of feminism and gender equality. However, we know that these views are not shared nationally or internationally. We hope that you, as our president, can work to address and solve the issues listed below, as it affects half of the world's population.

One subject that has been in the news lately is violence against women and the unjust court decisions made on the cases dealing with rape, domestic violence, and all assaults against women. Recently, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2888, which prohibits judges from giving defendants probation if they have sexually assaulted someone when they were unconscious or intoxicated, in order for the criminals to have more severe sentences. It is your responsibility to ensure that more laws like these are enacted and enforced because women deserve to have their voices heard, and these criminals deserve to be punished for these horrible offenses that can damage a woman’s mental and physical health for her whole life.

Another issue we wanted to address is the gender wage gap. We see no reason for women to be paid less for equal work. According to Forbes Magazine, a woman makes about 79 cents to the dollar of her male counterpart. However, if this woman is of a minority race, she is making even less. In fact, African American women only make 60% of what their male counterpart makes while Latina women only make 55%. While these numbers are atrocious, they are not new. The wage gap has existed for as long as wages have existed, and it is time to change that. It is clear to us, and we hope it is clear to you, that men and women should be paid equally for equal work.

Lastly, abortion rights are extremely important to maintain. Women should have control over their own bodies and lives; their personal choices shouldn’t be regulated by decisions made primarily by men. Even if abortion is illegal, women will continue to get them, but they will become more unsafe, as exemplified in many parts of South America. Our country needs to protect the wellbeing of women, but also protect their rights through the implementation of safe, legal abortion.

Working to fix the issues described above will bring our country closer to gender equality and granting women their deserved rights.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Sincerely,

Girls Go Global