One highlight of this year’s Status of Women report is data that tells us about women’s specific struggles with mental health, maternal health, and access to reproductive health care. 

In the face of increasing need, several of our 2025 Grantees are working tirelessly to address these struggles, in several regions of the state:

Mental health impacts everyone, but the journey to recovery and healing for women who experience trauma, homelessness, substance use disorder and justice involvement is hugely challenging. Pregnant and parenting women with substance use disorder who find their way to Hope on Haven Hill (located in Rochester, serving women statewide), are supported through a variety of residential and outpatient programs. Core to their philosophy at Hope on Haven Hill is to ensure access to treatment by designing many pathways to meet their unique needs.

Young mothers in rural areas already face challenges that limit their access to basic needs and support. TLC Family Resource Center’s New Moms Group helps young mothers in Sullivan County to navigate despite disproportionately high rates of isolation, anxiety, and postpartum depression. Access to maternal health through peer connection, parenting education, and emotional support for the group’s participants makes a lasting difference for New Moms and their families.

New Hampshire’s independent reproductive and sexual health centers (Lovering Health Center in Rockingham County and Equality Health Center in Merrimack County) provide quality, comprehensive, nonjudgmental health information and services to all. Access to care that is equitable and inclusive is critical in supporting the right of everyone to maintain freedom and choices regarding their own reproductive and sexual health.

We are proud to support these 2025 Grantees with funding for general operations and program expenses, to help ensure their focus on access continues and expands for all women in New Hampshire. 

The post Grantees Supporting Women’s Health in New Hampshire appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

New Hampshire has one of the strictest voting laws in the country with requirements similar to the SAVE Act, requiring proof of citizenship with naturalization papers, a passport, or birth certificate to register to vote. And just a few months ago, we saw the real-life impact this restrictive law had on our Town Voting Day when women were turned away because the name on their birth certificate did not match their married name.

Seventy nine percent of women married to men in New Hampshire have taken their spouse’s last name (34% of all women in NH) which does not match their birth certificate. This creates an additional barrier to women with married names who have to now bring a marriage certificate in addition to all other documentation to register to vote.  

Before New Hampshire’s newest voting law applied this year, our state had high voter participation and voter fraud was extremely rare. Despite discriminatory barriers that uniquely disenfranchise women with married names, women persisted and returned to the polls multiple times with more documentation on Town Voting Day, to ensure their right to vote. We encourage all legal voters to persist and use their voice at the ballot box while fighting against draconian and sexist laws. 

Here are some news stories highlighting individual NH Women’s challenges voting: 

https://apnews.com/article/save-act-voting-proof-citizenship-new-hampshire-5105986c3fc354d3d61ec3480b49c788

https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2025-03-11/nhs-new-id-requirements-send-some-would-be-voters-home-to-grab-passports-birth-certificates

The post NHWF Opposes SAVE Act appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

Here’s what we see in the House budget: 

• Elimination of the NH Family Planning Program
  • The NH Family Planning Program provides essential sexual and reproductive health care services and information to lower-income Granite Staters including birth control, cancer screenings, STD testing and treatment, and pregnancy testing and counseling. 
• Reductions in Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Services
  • Women and girls suffer from depression and anxiety at higher rates than men and boys and women and girls are more likely to seek care for mental health. Cuts would impact community mental health centers and efforts to eliminate emergency department psychiatric boarding. 
• Elimination of the Human Rights Commission
  • The Human Rights Commission enforces discrimination laws in employment, housing, places of public accommodation and K-12 public schools, including gender discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, and sex-based harassment. 
• Elimination of the Office of the Child Advocate
  • The Office of the Child Advocate promotes the best interests of all New Hampshire children and strengthens public confidence and accountability in the State’s systems that support children and families. The Office of the Child Advocate has been responsible for high-profile discoveries of harmful out-of-state placements for NH children. 
• Elimination of the State Commission on Aging
  • The Commission on Aging advises on policy and planning related to aging. New Hampshire’s population is rapidly aging and older women have lower median earnings than older men and are more likely to be the primary caretaker for grandchildren than older men. 
• 3% cut to Medicaid reimbursement rates
  • NH women are more likely to be enrolled in Medicaid than men and cuts to reimbursement rates may reduce the number of providers serving this population at a time when it is already hard to find care. 
• Cutting the NH Paid Family Medical Leave marketing budget
  • Many still do not know about the NH PFML program, especially the individual market. Advertising is crucial to help people navigate this benefit product. 
• Prohibition of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in public schools 
  • This impacts the opportunity to learn about women’s history, black history, and much more. 
• Good news: 
  • Child Care Scholarships Remain Intact
  • Support for maternal health will continue in the Senate with Momnibus 2.0

We encourage the House and Senate to make smart, long-term investments in health, safety, prosperity, and opportunity for Granite State women and girls. 

To learn more about other NHWF legislative priorities, click here.

The post The New Hampshire House of Representatives to Vote on Cuts to Many Programs Impacting Women and Girls appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

Today, President Biden announced his recognition that the Equal Rights Amendment is the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.

The ERA provides: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex.” Those few, simple words enshrine protections too long denied and move our country closer to the promise of equal rights for all.

Thank you to all the organizations, individuals, and elected officials in New Hampshire who called on President Biden to move the Equal Rights Amendment forward. You were a part of this history. To read the President’s statement: https://bit.ly/3PHjads.

—

The New Hampshire Women’s Foundation, the Remedial Herstory Project, the League of Women Voters New Hampshire, and many other organizations, elected officials, and individuals across the Granite State, call on President Joe Biden to instruct the U.S. archivist to certify and publish the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The ERA passed Congress in a bipartisan effort in 1972 and headed to the states for ratification. Despite achieving ratification by the required 38 states, the amendment remains uncertified, leaving a glaring gap in our nation’s foundational commitment to justice and equality for all. From the right to vote to the Me Too movement, the women’s movement has sought legal and social tools to create a more equitable country. The story of the ERA represents decades of advocacy, resilience, and the pursuit of justice and would create sweeping protections for women and girls not yet in place. After reaching all requirements for ratification, it must be published in the U.S. Constitution.

You can read the full article in Seacoast online here.

Click here to sign on to the letter.

The post Publish the Equal Rights Amendment appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

This is a hard morning. A really, really hard morning. 

The shock, pain, sadness, disappointment, disillusionment, hurt, and anger feels nearly unbearable. And yet, we’ve been here before, haven’t we? It may look a bit different than last time and hurt a bit (or a lot) more, but I’m taking comfort that we’ve been here before. And we figured out a way forward. Together. 

The 2016 election taught me it’s the tough times that remind you who you are, what you stand for, what matters, and how, despite the “roar” of feelings, you can find quiet determination to persevere. As we gathered together the morning after the 2016 election for our Women Building Community Luncheon, it was abundantly clear to me that the work of the Women’s Foundation was more important than ever and that the 500+ people in the room that day had shown up because they needed our community. 

I wish that we could be together today—the day after another devastating election—to comfort, commiserate, and console one another, but as alternative, I’m sending you this note as a reminder: YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Our community, of which you are a part, is right beside you as you make your way through this day and the days ahead. 

And just as important, our work at the Women’s Foundation will carry on, more determined than ever. We promise to be a bold voice for women and girls in the Granite State. We promise to empower and train women to run for office. We promise to invest in organizations across the state who are serving women and girls. We promise to advocate for reproductive freedom and we will not stop until New Hampshire joins the rest of New England in creating a statutory right to abortion. Finally, we promise to elevate and execute our strategic priorities of Voice, Money & Power. 

This morning, we wake again with an unwavering determination: We are the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation and will continue to elevate the voices of women and girls, expand women’s and girls’ power in the Granite State, and we will dramatically increase the money going to organizations serving women and girls. 

Please take care of yourself today. Turn off your phone; take a walk; do what you need to sustain and repair yourself. When you are ready, we will be here, ready to move forward. Together. 

With you in spirit and action, 

The post A Note from CEO Tanna Clews: Moving Forward appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

The abortion ban, or what’s being called the Fetal Life Protection Act, is one of the most infuriating governmental laws I have seen passed throughout my entire life. Now is one the most important times of the decade to impose woman empowerment and rights. 

So what truly is feminism? 

Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of equality of the sexes. But in this concept, what are the benefits of these actions without the collective advocating of all communities within women?

Black Men could vote before white women because white men saw and still see white women as vessels for white supremacy. They need white women to make more of them and they have no problem stripping you of your rights to make sure this continues. To make sure their sweet controlled and loyal housewife is still at home to cook their dinner and do their laundry. And even after this treatment, white women still seem to ignore racial issues because it doesn’t affect them, or because it was in defense for another man. 

The whiteness you behold does not shield you from the effects of inequality so do not act like it shall. If you want to discuss equality and women’s empowerment within corporations, governmental and political positions, and other subjects pertaining to those ideas, you need to first get your head out of the white feminism mindset and discuss the issues POC women face.

Because if not together we fight, then inevitably the effects will be the same. All the so-called accomplishments created and enforced by these ‘feminists’ aren’t going to do any justice for the Black women who died or their child died in birth because the pregnancy related mortality rate is still 4 – 5 times higher than white women’s. It’s not going to give Black women that 20% of their check back because that’s the pay gap between Black and white women. It’s not going to advocate for women who can no longer wear hijabs in France because they are discussing the passing of laws to ban wearing these articles of clothing, or the women not controlled under the Taliban’s rule being beaten, raped, and ripped from their rights and religion. 

I recognize that we all face misogyny as women here in America, and it’s disgusting. But do not let it persuade you to forget that the type of misogyny women of color face is a whole other type of mistreatment you wouldn’t be able to wrap your heads around if you tried. Be actively intersectional with the work you do and the accomplishments that can come from practicing that one idea might lead to be one of the biggest impacts within women’s history, ever. 

Marginalized women are not included within mainstream feminism so it leads to us creating our own spaces and advocating for ourselves. Feminism without intersectionality and recognizing the issues with women of color is just more white supremacy with a dress on. It’s reinforcing white privilege in disguise. 

Many want to discuss how being more self revealing and showing more of our bodies is a form of liberation. I can see the perspective of this of course, allowing self confidence and comfort within our own bodies is very important. Being able to see and allow others to see ourselves without fear of being sexualized or tormented because of it is much needed. If it’s a form of liberation for you, then that’s amazing, but this also forgets all the women who choose to cover up more whether it’s because of religion or not, and in these instances many of these women are POCs. So again, concepts like this will never truly be reinforced without allowing women of color to step up and out of the hole we are trapped in because of the embedded racism in society and the systems. 

As Angela Davis said…

“Feminism involves so much more than gender equality and it involves so much more than gender. Feminism must involve consciousness of capitalism (I meant feminism that I relate to, and there are multiple feminisms, right). So it has to involve a consciousness of capitalism and racism and colonialism and post-colonialism, and ability and more genders than we can even imagine and more sexualities than we ever thought we could name.”

Woman empowerment and feminism is one of the most significant ways of activism throughout my life, and I am a woman as many of you can see. So continuing this movement and keeping it inclusive of all and educating ourselves is what we need to to to further women’s voices and actions within the world. 

But again, thank you for all of you showing up to this event and showing the tremendous support, and enjoy the march!

I am Saniyah Bolton, and I’m a sophomore at Exeter High School. I am a co-director of the BLM Seacoast Youth Division and a representative of BLM Seacoast.

Watch Saniyah deliver this speech here: https://www.facebook.com/blklivesmatterseacoast/videos/235238818632129 

The post Women’s March Speech by Saniyah Bolton appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

Start your International Women’s Day with a panel talking about global gender justice. The conversation will explore the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women, violence against women, and global healthcare issues including family planning and access to menstrual products. 

Panelists for this inaugural conversation:

• Elsy Cipriani, Executive Director of New Generation, and New Hampshire Women’s Foundation board member
• Blair Demers, Executive Director of Education for all Children (EFAC)
• Mary Kiguru, Kenyan Country Director of Education for all Children(EFAC)
• Katherine Kolios, Executive Director of Rain for the Sahel and Sahara 
• Carolyn Musyimi-Kamau, Program Manager for New American Africans/ Organization for Refugee and Immigrant Success (ORIS)

The post Kick Off International Women’s Day with the Gender Justice Cafe appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

Save the Date for our 2020 Annual GAL|A

Friday, May 15, 2020
6-10 pm
Portsmouth NH

Online registration to open end of March.

For sponsorship opportunities or to learn more, call 603-226-3355.

The post 2020 GALA appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

When We Evaluate Judicial Nominations, Gender Equality Belongs On the Docket
Every day our state courts hear cases that have a major impact on the lives and rights of women and girls. As our state Supreme Court justices interpret our state laws and Constitution, they are responsible for establishing and enforcing rights and freedoms that apply to all of us. In future years NH state courts will likely be called upon to decide the scope and meaning of many crucial legal protections for women and girls, such as the right to privacy, to access education, to equal opportunities in the workplace, and to access a full range of reproductive health care, including safe, legal abortion.

Read the full text of the Op Ed here.

The post Op Ed: Judicial Nominations appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.

Our 15th annual WBC took place on October 24, 2019. We honored the pioneering women and organizations that were the base on which the New Hampshire Women’s Foundation of today was built. 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the Commission on the Status of Women and the 20th anniversary of the Women’s Fund – milestones that were reflected and celebrated.

See pictures from the event!

And before the luncheon: Women in the #603

This year’s Women in the #603 program featured Women Run! 2 years out. We heard from a panel of Women Run! alumnae and past speakers, learned what they are doing today and what they took away from being part of the Women Run! program.

Senator Donna Soucy
Senate President, 4th term
District 18, Manchester
Women Run! faculty

Representative Latha Mangipudi
State Representative, 4th term
Hillsborough District 35, Nashua
Women Run! faculty

Representative Sue Mullen
State Representative, 1st term
Hillsborough District 7, Bedford
Women Run! Class of 2018

Councilor Lindsey Williams
Dover City Council At-Large, 1st term
Women Run! Class of 2017

The post 2019 WBC appeared first on New Hampshire Women's Foundation.