5 Reasons Why Your Vote Matters in 2020

The overwhelming impact of existing crises and the spread of COVID-19 mean refugees and other crisis-affected communities are in critical need of urgent and sustained support. One in every 45 people — 168 million — are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, the highest figure in decades. Congress can and must ensure the U.S. continues to provide robust, needs-based humanitarian assistance, and protect vital foreign assistance funding that represents roughly one percent of the federal budget but saves countless lives around the world. We need congressional candidates from both sides of the aisle standing up for a robust international affairs budget.

2. Violence against women and girls is a global issue that demands international attention, especially as COVID-19 threatens to make gender-based violence even worse.

An estimated one in three women globally will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime, which can include domestic violence, rape, and child marriage. This violence persists in communities around the globe, and as the world’s refugee population continues to rise, women and girls are even more likely to experience physical and sexual abuse on the road to safety. Our leaders have the tools to end this violence by supporting and passing legislation like the Safe From the Start Act, which would solidify the U.S. as a leader in preventing and addressing violence against women in emergencies. This is increasingly important as global lockdowns and movement restrictions due to COVID-19 leave more women unable to get the help and support they need Candidates need to know that voters across the country support this kind of legislation and are looking for leaders who will take a stand for women and girls everywhere.

3. Globally, 1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty – and most of them are women and girls.

CARE knows that at its root, poverty is caused by the unequal distribution of power, resources, and opportunities for women and girls, especially in places where women can’t work, go to school, access health care, or make their own decisions. The record number of U.S. female candidates elected into office in the 2018 midterms is proof that women’s voices are intensifying, and we need them to know that voters want to see them use their voice to speak up for policies that make #WomenEqual worldwide.

4. Every 104 seconds, a woman dies from a pregnancy-related complication. Many of these deaths are preventable, yet U.S. support to prevent maternal and child deaths has come to a halt.

In 2017, CARE denounced the U.S. State Department’s decision to cut off funding to the United Nation’s Population Fund (UNFPA), which provides life-saving health care to women and families globally, including voluntary family planning and safe delivery services. Today, women in some of the most fragile humanitarian settings still lack basic access to maternal health services, and the COVID-19 pandemic further impairs the ability of the global health community to meet family planning needs. We need elected officials who will support healthy moms and healthy societies. Raising these critical issues now can help ensure that new members of Congress come to Washington ready to defend critical maternal health programs.

5. Global hunger and malnutrition are on the rise, with the number of people facing food crisis likely to double as a result of COVID-19.

By the end of 2020, 265 million people are likely to face starvation, and the picture for women is even worse. Under normal circumstances, women already bear the brunt of hunger, comprising 60% of the world’s hungry. At the same time, if women had the same access to resources and information as men, they could help feed entire communities and end global hunger. Lawmakers have the power to advocate for gender equality and small changes to U.S. food aid that saves lives and ends global hunger, and we need to make sure they know that voters care about these issues.

In 2020, we need every voice speaking in unison. We need every single person who cares about the eradication of poverty and ending social injustice to demand that our leaders make gender equality front and center in their agendas to build a more just and equal world. Most of all, we need action.

Visit CARE’s Civic Action Center to check your voter registration, register to vote at your current address, meet your candidates, find updated polling and election information in your state, and more.