Addressing gender-based violence through Reproductive Justice: Policy advocacy strategies from Western Pennsylvania

Reproductive Justice is the thriving social change movement, theory and practice in this country led by women of color that is addressing violence in all its forms. Women and LGBTQ people face gender-based violence at the intersections of our identity primarily based on race, sex, gender, class and sexual orientation. Social and gender norms subject women and LGBTQ people to a particular kind of compounded violence that has rendered these groups in a difficult position to create, change and implement policy and influence substantive culture change in local communities. New Voices Pittsburgh is a vociferous voice in resistance to gender-based violence experienced by women and LGBTQ people and we have successfully advanced local, statewide and national policy through our years of leadership development, community organizing and advocacy. This presentation will review policy strategies utilized in Western PA to address gender-based violence for women and LGBTQ people toward the goal of culture change that values and humanizes women and LGBTQ people and challenges institutions to dismantle gender oppression.