The Secular Coalition for America is proud to welcome Secular Woman as our newest associate member. The first and only national organization that limits its focus to women without religion, Secular Woman’s distinct perspective and network of supporters will enhance SCA’s work on Capitol Hill and in states across the country.
Find out more about Secular Woman below:
Building a future where women can be open and confident with their secularism
Founded in 2012, Secular Woman seeks to amplify the voice, presence, and influence of nonreligious women. Secular Woman envisions a future in which women without supernatural beliefs have the opportunities and resources they need to participate openly and confidently as respected voices of leadership in the secular community and every aspect of society.
Empowering secular women by bringing them together
Secular Woman understands that there is power in numbers. To build relationships and cultivate a growing network of secular women, they have convened the Secular Women Work Conference and invited activists from across the country to share their expertise with the attendees. “A critical part of what we do is to bring people with the skills together with the people who do the work,” explains Monette Richards, Vice President of Secular Woman. The organization has also run workshops for the Skepticon conference for years.
Fighting for the issues that are important to secular women
Secular Woman aims to be the authentic voice of women in the movement on policy issues. They take great care to ensure that not only are the policies they champion important to secular women, but that their stances on those issues are centered in the experience and perspective of women.
According to Stephanie Zvan, President of Secular Woman, Secular Woman works to be an organization with an awareness of intersectional—when a person is part of two or more historically marginalized groups (secular; female; LGBTQ+; of color; etc.)—issues and of how religion has affected a number of demographics directly.
One major focus of the organization is the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and protections for the trans community. Secular Woman also focuses on bodily autonomy and pro-choice advocacy. Shameless, a campaign of their Abort Theocracy initiative, asked women to submit stories of their abortions in an effort to destigmatize abortion. That campaign was supposed to run for a week, but because so many women participated, it ran for months.
Increasing representation of women in positions of power
Secular Woman asks their supporters to constantly demand an answer to the question, “Where are the women?”
Wherever they go, they look at staff and boards at organizations across the country, consider the composition of speakers at a forum or conference, and take note on who is interviewed by the media on critical issues. When the secular movement falls short in its duty to include women, Secular Woman speaks up. “The movement must represent and engage a broader coalition of voices,” says Zvan.
Joining SCA to make a bigger impact on our Coalition and the movement
Zvan explains that Secular Woman is joining the Secular Coalition for America because the Coalition is such an important part of making secular voices heard across the country, especially politically. “It is important to us that we work with other organizations that have that mission,” says Zvan.
As a SCA member, Secular Woman will work to ensure that groups that historically have not had much representation—especially women—in the movement have a bigger voice. They look forward to working with other coalition members to help achieve our movement’s goals.
