The New York Women's Foundation, PowHer New York and League of Women Voters of NYC Combine Forces to Sponsor Mayoral Questionnaire Focused on Women's Issues

NEW YORK, June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The New York Women's Foundation, PowHer New York and The League of Women Voters of NYC launched A Mayor for NYC Women initiative with the release of responses to their newly created 2021 NYC Mayoral Questionnaire, a non-partisan project ensuring issues and solutions critical to women* and girls are addressed as part of the primary and general election dialogues. 

To help inform voters, the three organizations distributed the questionnaire to all 2021 New York City mayoral candidates.  The questions covered eight issues outlined in the nonprofit community's collective response to the pandemic, A Roadmap to Create Inclusive Gender Justice in New York. The Roadmap, a project of PowHerNY, was authored by more than 50 organizations. It calls on leaders to take an anti-racist, gender focus lens to decision-making to create a transformational shift in policies, priorities, and perspectives to create a fairer and more inclusive society.

The questionnaire reveals candidates' specific plans for addressing women's essential rights, employment, education, and reproductive rights, and explores how their policies will create urgent change in the critical realm of caregiving and amid the uptick in gender-based violence within NYC in both the private and public sectors.

Democratic candidates Eric Adams, Art Chang, Kathryn Garcia, Ray McGuire, Diane Morales, Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley, and Andrew Yang and Republican candidate Fernando Mateo submitted responses to the questionnaire. Their answers have been made publicly available online through the organizations' social media channels by following #MayorForNYCWomen, their respective websites and can be viewed at: www.amayorfornycwomen.org.

"We're incredibly proud of this inclusive and collaborative initiative, because while everyone's talking about the issues, many are not specifically discussing them from a woman's perspective," reflects Ana L. Oliveira, President & CEO of The New York Women's Foundation. "All of these issues are uniquely women-oriented, and it's our job to make sure that women are prioritized and involved in local and national political campaigns from top to bottom. We want people to be informed about the issues and know where their mayoral candidates stand on each. We ask our partners to follow our lead in encouraging our candidates to engage in honest and solutions-oriented conversations."

"It is vital that the next NYC Mayor address the deep inequities historically faced by women which were exacerbated by the pandemic," said Beverly Neufeld, President of PowHer New York. "With so much at stake, our organizations came together to give candidates the opportunity to share their views and solutions. In addition to providing voters with information to inform their decisions, we hope A Mayor for NYC Women initiative will ramp up the public dialogue about the critical needs of NYC women. We have an unprecedented opportunity to reach for real and lasting systemic change, and we need a Mayor to lead that charge."

"We can march, lobby and advocate for change, but when we vote, our voices are amplified even more," said Diane Burrows, Co-President of League of Women Voters of NYC. "Ranked Choice Voting makes our voices even louder because our vote stays in play as we rank the candidates who could represent us."

A Mayor for NYC Women voter guide is a non-partisan project created by 501c3 organizations. These organizations do not support or oppose any candidate for public office. This guide is for informational purposes.  A candidates' fitness for office should be judged on a variety of qualifications that go beyond their responses to the questions contained in the guide.  All voters are encouraged to find out where their candidates stand on issues that matter in their lives and make their voices heard.

Primary Election day in New York City is Tuesday, June 22, 2021.  The Primary Election early voting period is June 12, 2021 — June 20, 2021.

About The New York Women's Foundation
The New York Women's Foundation is a voice for women and a force for change.  The Foundation's mission is to create an equitable and just future for women and families. It achieves this goal by uniting cross-cultural and community alliances that ignite action. The Foundation invests in women-led, innovative, and bold community-based solutions that promote the economic security, safety, and health of the most vulnerable women. By the end of 2021, The Foundation will have distributed more than $100 million in its 34-year existence to over 500 organizations, impacting millions of women and girls across New York City and beyond.   To learn more about The New York Women's Foundation's work to transform lives, families, and communities, please visit www.nywf.org.

About PowHer™New York
PowHer New York is an inclusive statewide network of individuals and organizations committed to attain economic equality for New York women and their families. Through the collective action of over 100 network partners we build intersectional collaborations, educate the public about combating gender inequality, convene innovators and advocates to explore and develop new approaches and strategies, and work with legislators and business leaders on solutions.  Working together with advocates from diverse racial and gender backgrounds across multiple sectors, PowHerNY has been successful in catalyzing culture and policy change and promoting inclusive gender justice. The Equal Pay Campaign, a signature project, has advanced pay equity in New York through groundbreaking legislation and education.

About The League of Women Voters of NYC 
The League of Women Voters of the City of New York is a non-partisan organization whose purpose is to promote informed and active citizen participation in government. Our mission is to expand our outreach and increase all New Yorkers' participation in local communities and government through civics education, the "vote", and issue advocacy. Founded in 1919, the League of Women Voters of the City of New York was an offshoot of the Women's Suffrage movement. While the League's legislative priorities change to reflect the needs of society, our organization remains true to its basic purpose: to make democracy work for all citizens. Membership is open to all people who support our causes. The League is supported by membership dues and contributions from public-spirited individuals, businesses and organizations. The League's enduring vitality comes from its unique decentralized structure; working at the national, state, and local levels.

*We define the term woman to refer to anyone who identifies as a woman, including but not limited to cisgender, trans and nonbinary women.

SOURCE The New York Women's Foundation