Advocacy has been an important pillar of the New York Junior League’s work from the very start. In fact, the League’s recorded history in advocacy work dates back as far as the time of Eleanor Roosevelt, who provided a tour of the immigrant settlement houses on the Lower East Side to the future President Roosevelt during her time as a League member.

Time Out New York Magazine article – A Woman’s Work is Never Done – Centennial Exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York. Published Feb 22-Mar 1, 2001 edition.

This legacy continues to this day, and one of the League’s most powerful forces for lasting change in the community is the Advocates for Public Policy committee. The committee’s advocacy efforts – levied by NYJL members as constituents of New York City and the surrounding areas – focus on issues affecting women, children, families, and underserved communities in New York City.

Specifically, during the 2023-2024 legislative session, the New York Junior League’s legislative focus areas were healthcare equity, gender equality, public safety and domestic violence. These priorities manifested themselves in critical work on three key advocacy initiatives: 1) Establishing the Crime of Coercive Control (S6695/A2707), 2) Ending the Voluntary Intoxication Defense to Sex Crimes (S4555B/A1065A), 3) Stop Silencing Survivors Act (S4233/A2555A). 

About Efforts to Establish the Crime of Coercive Control

The bill supported by the NYJL which aims to establish the crime of coercive control works to do so by broadening the type of behavior criminalized as domestic violence to include acts of “coercive control.” Coercive control is defined as acts by a family or household member that restrict the victim’s movement or associations, or withhold access to finances, without the victim’s consent, and the bill would make coercive control a class E felony. 

Overall, domestic violence affects more than 12 million people per year, but strides are being made to help abate this problem. Since 2019, Hawaii, Connecticut, and California have passed laws criminalizing coercive control. These laws were passed in response to highly publicized cases of women who were murdered by an intimate partner after a history of controlling, but non-violent, behavior by an intimate partner. Today, the bill sits with the Assembly and Senate Codes Committees. 

Promoting the SCAR Act which would account for unaccompanied minors at the Texas-Mexico border – Advocacy Day in Albany, May 21, 2019.

About Efforts to End the Voluntary Intoxication Defense to Sex Crimes

The NYJL is also working to pass a bill ending the victim’s voluntary intoxication as a defense to rape and other sex crimes. Currently, if a victim is intoxicated and is the victim of a sex crime in New York, the perpetrator has a defense to the crime based on the argument that a person who is voluntarily intoxicated (even if totally impaired) is capable of giving consent unless the victim can prove she or he was fully unconscious. Currently this bill is on the Senate’s floor calendar and has been amended and recommitted to the Assembly Codes Committee. 

For context, in 2019, the Manhattan DA’s office rejected 49% of sexual assault cases, because of a perceived lack of credibility due to the victim’s alcohol intoxication and familiarity with their attackers. Other states, such as Minnesota and North Carolina, have repealed the defense of voluntary intoxication to sex crimes. The need for action in this area is absolutely critical, as 20% of women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. 

Mary Elizabeth Walker for economic justice, APP Lobby Day at City Hall April 4, 2019

About Efforts to Stop Silencing Survivors Act

Finally, the NYJL is advocating for the passage of a bill that prohibits contractual restrictions, such as non-disclosure agreements, that prevent the disclosure of an employee’s workplace experiences that are in violation of New York State employment laws. Workplace sexual harassment is common but rarely reported. 

There are a number of recent decisions and legislation reflecting a shift towards the ability to speak freely about workplace experiences. These include the National Labor Relations Board ‘s recent ruling that non-disclosure agreements for non-supervisory employees are unenforceable. Additionally, the federal Speak Out Act passed in 2022 invalidates NDAs in instances of sexual harassment where the NDA was signed pre-dispute. 

Today, statistics show that 38% of women and 14% of men have reported experiencing sexual harassment at work. This bill currently stands in the Senate Judiciary Committee and in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.