Hats Off to Immigrant Women

We here at Feministing know that women wear many hats. Women are caretakers, students, workers, bloggers or activists. They may also be immigrants.

These women all deserve to be included within our government’s social safety net, to benefit from the resources they are already investing in, and to be brought out of the shadows of undocumentation. They deserve fair wages and just working conditions. They deserve to be kept together with their families without fearing deportation every time they leave the house.

This is why We Belong Together has started the campaign Fedoras for Fairness, using the symbol of the fedora–a hat worn by early women’s rights activists–to symbolize the many hats women wear each day. According to the campaign:

There are 11 million people living in the United States without legal status and more than half of these immigrants are women. Current immigration laws discriminate against women who want to work in this country; separate parents, children and partners; prevent families from reunifying as a result of endless family visa backlogs; and jeopardize women’s autonomy and safety. We now have the historic opportunity to transform conditions for immigrant women, LGBT families, and their loved ones.

Our goal is to pressure Congress to support a bill that fixes our immigration system and provides a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants, while also treating women and LGBT families fairly.

And they want you to help! You can start by taking a photo of yourself in a fedora, and then hashtagging it #fairdoras on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you name it. Afterwards, trying sending out this tweet to let your friends know about the cause:

I support #CIR that treats women fairly & keeps families together. I’m wearing a #fairdora today #4immigrantwomen.  http://buff.ly/1aNgzBU

Check out the star-studded Fedoras for Fairness video after the jump.

Transcript:

In a strange way immigration affects everything, you know? It affects everybody.

My mother immigrated from Scotland in 1950 when she was 10 years old.

Both my stepfather and my father are immigrants. My mother on some level maybe had a thing for West Indian dudes.

When my mother  she eight-years-old she immigrated to Los Angeles from El Salvador.

This country is comprised of immigrants and perpetually throughout its history there’s been a group of people who have revitalized the culture.

You can’t ask an American and go “Where you from?” and there’s not an Irish, an Italian, a Polish, a Russian, a Jamaican. Somewhere along the family, you weren’t from here.

Congress has the opportunity this year to pass historic immigration reform.

Get educated about this issue. Remember, we’re all family. We belong together.

While we all wear many hats, we speak with one voice.

Immigration reform would put 11 million people living in the United States on a pathway to citizenship.

So get up off your butt and do something.

Blast it out on Facebook, Twitter–but we have very little time and your help will make all the difference.

It’s not going to change unless you and me and them and we do something now.

Do the right thing and help support an immigration bill that treats women fairly. Thank you.