5 Women on How 2020 Turned Them Into Lifelong Activists

The year 2020 has been a year like no other — and that includes the tidal wave of activism driven by women in the United States. Ahead of Election Day, women across America turned their anxieties about the nation’s socioeconomic and racial turmoil and fears about the pandemic and the future into action by volunteering: phone-banking, text-banking, letter-writing, postcard-writing, door-knocking, organizing, and more.

And women participated in droves. According to the political volunteerism platform Mobilize.us, for example, women and female-identifying people comprised 62% of sign-ups for its get-out-the-vote opportunities this election season. Those volunteers also self-activated in huge numbers, with 30% of all Mobilize events organized and hosted by individuals rather than established nonprofits or candidates’ campaigns.

We spoke with five women who dedicated themselves to nonstop phone-banking, text-banking, letter-writing, and door-knocking this election season about what compelled them to get active, how they overcame their biggest fears, and how they plan to take their newfound activism into 2021 and beyond.

These responses have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

Esperanza Freitchen, Tucson, Arizona

Until this year, I had always been a passive supporter of political action — I’d donate, buy a sticker, share posts. When you become more politically active, you can end up in the spotlight, and I tend to shy away from the spotlight and didn’t want any attention on me. I was also concerned about my time and what I devote my energy to, because I am a third-year doctoral student and currently writing the first part of my dissertation.

But as the election approached, I think I just got so exasperated and frustrated with the tone of the entire country. I felt like we couldn’t even have regular conversations around policy and how to approach problem-solving. The whole country had become “us vs. them.” So I began volunteering.

As a volunteer, I learned that elections are won on the ground; they are won by talking to people one at a time and discussing the issues that matter most. I learned that I can’t sit idly by and hope other people do the work. I was experiencing such election fatigue, but I felt like I couldn’t stop! I was even making calls the day before Election Day. I was feeling so stressed out and I needed to channel that pent-up energy.

Being so engaged this year has me feeling incredibly empowered and has given me a whole new perspective on advocacy and action. I feel so much better knowing I am doing something to make the world better. I cannot continue to sit idly by.

Jenna Adamek, Poughkeepsie, New York

I have always been a passionate person and have always advocated for the issues I care about, but very rarely did anything beyond conversations and the occasional donation. I always told myself that I was just too busy. Just before the pandemic hit, I was interviewing for jobs in theater administration. Then everything shut down, theaters went on hiring freezes, I knew I’d be unemployed for the foreseeable future, and I really needed a sense of purpose.

Instead of being upset about news and events, or worrying about voter turnout, to actually do something — and to be able to use my fears and anxieties as motivation for actions that impact others — was so incredibly empowering! My biggest surprise was how much I enjoyed the nonpartisan activism I did to help get out the vote. It’s actually so much more satisfying to do the work simply for the benefit of humanity, not for a specific candidate or for Republican or Democratic issues. Many times, when I would send initial messages out to folks asking if they needed help with a voting plan, they would get really defensive and tell me that it’s none of my business and question why I was asking. But every time I responded and told them I was just trying to make sure they had all the voting information they needed, they would soften up and open themselves to conversation.

I’ve now begun looking at different organizing, political, and social training programs and job postings as something for me to potentially pursue professionally. Now that I’m more familiar with the ins and outs of volunteering and activism, I’ll be able to incorporate it more regularly in my life. With the future and an end to the pandemic so unknown, though, I don’t know how exactly that might play out!

Carol Krakowski, Brooklyn, New York

While I have always considered myself a feminist, I would say my privilege allowed me to believe that I didn’t need to be political in order to advocate for my cause; being successful in my own right, I thought, was “enough.” Then the 2016 election showed me how deep-seated some structural issues are, and the 2018 Supreme Court nomination process shed such light on just how important it is to have power in our government. I started thinking about how much work and education needs to be done to make more significant change in time for the 2020 election. The phrase “Wake up on November 4 feeling like you had done everything you could” was certainly in the back of my mind a lot.

I am embarrassed to admit that, before I started volunteering, probably my biggest fear was what other people would think. I didn’t want to be one of “those people” constantly ranting about politics publicly. I have since learned that it’s actually awesome to be passionate about politics, and it’s been truly wonderful to be unapologetic about causes I care so much about. As soon as I realized what I was afraid of, the cost to me personally compared to the cost of not taking action sort of made it a no-brainer.

I still know many people that think “my voice doesn’t matter,” and I hope that going forward I am able to continue to talk to those people about why it does. There is power in numbers and in working together, and not only does that work make a difference, but it feels great to find like-minded people interested in working toward a common cause.

Kaitlyn Burch, Portland, Oregon

I felt very helpless after the 2016 election, and posting about my feelings on Facebook never really helped. And after all the hardships we’ve faced this year — the pandemic, the wildfires, the country erupting in outrage over the police killing of its Black citizens — the election felt more dire than ever. I think the depths of the fear and anxiety I felt fueled my desire to fight for a better world.

Initially, writing letters to voters appealed to me because I’m kind of shy, so it was a way to reach voters without having to talk to them. But then the outcome of the election felt so dire, it made me put aside any discomfort I had about phone-banking and contacting voters directly. They needed to know how important their vote was, what was at stake. I would tell people that their vote mattered to people all over the country. I was very nervous my first couple calls, but then I realized that if people don’t want to talk to you they will just hang up, and if they do want to engage, it’s a very rewarding conversation. Talking to voters actually helped me have conversations with people in my close circle who hold different political views than me.

I think my new normal is that of a political activist, and I am still figuring out what that means. I feel a big commitment to not be complacent and to hold elected officials accountable to create policies that move us forward.

Urmila Padmanabhan, Fremont, California

I am an immigrant from India who came to the U.S. in 2000. From 2000 until 2016, there were times when I was really bothered by U.S. politics (like the Iraq War), times when I was thrilled and times when I was too busy to keep up with the political world. Then the 2016 election happened. It was the first time I was able to vote, and the outcome changed everything for me.

So this year, I got involved early. I signed up in June writing letters to voters, then in mid-July, I started texting. As an introvert, I felt more comfortable texting and writing letters and postcards than phone-banking. I joined about six different nonprofit organizations' text teams. In several groups, I became a text team lead or captain, which means I also helped answer questions for other texters. On average, I texted about 70 hours a week. I started texting in July with about 2,000 to 3,000 texts every day and on Election Day, I texted about 70,000 people.

Even though one of the reasons I got involved was to fight the xenophobia I was seeing, I still signed postcards with a generic Anglo-Saxon name. I was also constantly haunted by the fear that all this activism wasn’t going to move the needle much. But every time I wanted to stop, I’d read the news and it would make me feel like there was a boulder sitting on my chest. So I kept texting and writing postcards to distract myself. I texted mainly by myself, but I also had the good fortune of “meeting” (on Slack) many other wonderful women volunteers, which was very inspiring. There was a sense of camaraderie and higher purpose in all these groups that regularly pushed me to give more than I thought I could. Toward the end of the election cycle, I also organized a texting Zoom party, where me and my friends chatted and laughed as we texted. I wish I’d organized more of those because that was the texting session I enjoyed the most.

To be honest, now that the election is over, I still do not feel very empowered. A lot of the races I worked on, we lost. While I had many horrible interactions with people from “the other side of the aisle,” I also had several pleasant conversations with people who disagreed with me. Although I’m not really sure yet what shape my activism will take in the future, I try to keep the pleasant ones in the forefront of my mind and I plan to remain committed to pushing for progressive policy goals.