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Arizona State University

Final Paper: Civic Engagement, Identity, and Group Mobilization

Alifia Mandviwala

PAF 112: Identity, Service, and American Democracy

Dr. Koppell

9 December 2020
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Introduction

There are many nonprofit organizations that bring attention or take action to the issues

many face in today’s world. The Women’s March Foundation is a nonprofit organization that

impacts thousands of peoples lives, by bringing attention to the struggles of marginalized

communities and fighting for human rights. This organization started from an identity, and that

identity grew passion for the causes they fight for. With shared identity, they are able to engage

socially with others and mobilize a movement. With this movement, this organization uses our

American Democracy to make change in the world, by encouraging voting and educating the

impact voting on an issue can do for the public good.

Identity

The Women’s March Foundation is an organization that strives to bring together people

of all genders, ages, races, cultures, political affiliations, disabilities, and backgrounds. They

recognize that women have intersecting identities and are therefore impacted by a multitude of

social justice and human rights issues. This movement honors the legacy of movements in the

past, all the abolitionists and suffragists. There are many other organizations that have shared

identity with the Women’s March Foundation: A woman, a mother, a daughter, an immigrant, a

teacher, a person of color. For example, Planned Parenthood, Women’s March Incorporation,

and Civil Rights Movement. Women’s March Foundation advocated for Reproductive Freedom,

to have access to reproductive healthcare, which is an issue Planned Parenthood works for.

Social Capital

There are different memberships in this group; they call themselves founding members.

Anyone can be a part of it, if you pay. There’s Warrior, Advocate, Defender, and Champion, all

at different pricing standpoints. There is one founder, Emiliana Guereca, who is like their
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president. This organization has economic and political dimensions because it has a lot to do

with what’s going on in our community and how the government is affecting their goals. For

example, they use the donations for the Fund Voter Action initiatives in preparation for elections.

They want to encourage people to vote and they help bring awareness on some political issues.

Membership in this group influences relationships with other identity groups, just to name a few

other organizations they work with or support: Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter,

NAACP, Moms Rising, Students for Choice; the list goes on.

Civic, Political, and/or Social Engagement

Women’s March Foundation was born out of the 2017 Women’s March on Washington,

as with many other Women’s March organizations. Some are sister organizations, and others

aren’t affiliated with the Women's March Foundation. Mentioning the existence of other

Women’s March organizations is because they have one major thing in common, they organize

marches with the same values and goals. Having to rally together a huge crowd takes social

engagement. Through social media, the word of these marches happening is spread to a wide

range of an audience. This organization entirely has civic engagement; they address a public

concern, women’s rights, and work to make a positive change in the community. The marches

they host would be the biggest civic engagement this organization examples.

Mobilization

This organization uses social engagement to mobilize members. They reach out and

advertise to many about future events, such as marches. You can find upcoming events on their

website and social media. Though friends of friends, people may have heard of attending these

marches. There are many members that support this organization, thousands of people attend

these peaceful protests and march. They come together to support the ideals of this organization:
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to support women’s rights, to support gender and racial justice, to support the ending of racial

profiling, to support the end of violence against women, to support equal pay, to support

reproductive freedom, and to support any other issue that concerns women. This organization is

similar to the organization, MeToo Movement, where they both support women.

American Democracy

The great thing about American Democracy is that it gives everyone the chance to use

their voting right. This organization encourages people to vote and use that right to make the

changes their marching for come a reality. They hold programs to the youth to educate on

political matters and also hold programs about everything you need to know about voting, as

well on information on who the candidates are. The level of society that this organization targets

is all over from low income families to high income. Women exist in all levels of society, but

this organization fights for a lot of issues that affect more low income and middle income

families. One of their goals is to help create workforce opportunities that reduce discrimination

against women and mothers.

Summary

Women’s March Foundation is one of the many organizations that exist today that strive

to help public issues. By using civic, political, and social engagement, this organization is able to

reach out to many people with the issues we face as a community and how they want to help and

make change. This movement was inspired by past organizations and using techniques like

marching to make a statement and bring awareness. It’s the American people that have the power

to make a difference.
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Works Cited

“Home.” ​Women's March Global,​ womensmarchglobal.org/.

“Homepage.” ​Womens March Network,​ 9 Nov. 2020, womensmarchnetwork.org/.

Network, Action. “Women's March Foundation: Women's March Foundation.” ​The Network​,

actionnetwork.org/groups/womensmarchlaorg.

Women's March Foundation​, 2019, www.womensmarchfoundation.org/.