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Upcoming Events

Downtown First Thursday (photo by: Scott Strazzantethe)

Downtown First Thursdays

On the first Thursday of every month, downtown comes alive with art, music, food, and culture. Enjoy special events, live performances, and exclusive deals from local businesses. Whether you're a resident or a visitor, Downtown First Thursdays offer a vibrant and unique way to explore the heart of the city.

SF City Hall in Red, White and Blue lights
Presentation: California Ballot Measures at the San Francisco Public Library

Get the total download on the California ballot measure landscape for the 2024 election from a specialized team of journalists—Emily Schultheis and Will McCarthy, newly appointed POLITICO reporters who are dedicated to covering “California’s deeply impactful ballot-measure campaigns.”

Gavel
October Commission on the Status of Women Regular Meeting

Join us in person or virtually for our October Commission Meeting. A preliminary agenda will be posted ten days in advance of the meeting, and the full agenda will be shared 72 hours in advance. 

Visit the Commission on the Status of Women's website for more details. 

SF City Hall in Red, White and Blue lights
Presentation: Know Before You Vote! with the League of Women Voters

Join a representative from the League of Women Voters, San Francisco office, who will present reliable, non-partisan information on 2024 ballot measures and how to find reliable online information on your own.

Past Events

Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2024 Launch
Domestic Violence Awareness Month 2024 Launch

DOSW Director Kimberly Ellis will be moderating a panel at Black Women Revolt Against Domestic Violence’s day-long summit at the Southeast Community Center. Join us for a powerful day of panels, discussions and more.

The First Guaranteed Care Income Pilot Launch
Women in Dialogue’s Guaranteed Care Income Pilot Launch Event

Celebrate with us this historic inaugural pilot. Being a mother is hard unrecognized work and many struggle to find the means to support their children.

Gavel
September Commission on the Status of Women Meeting Regular Meeting

Join us in person or virtually for our September Commission Meeting. A preliminary agenda will be posted ten days in advance of the meeting, and the full agenda will be shared 72 hours in advance.

Visit the Commission on the Status of Women's website for more details. 

Maya Angelou Monument
Maya Angelou Monument Unveiling with the San Francisco Art’s Commission

A community celebration is planned for Thursday, September 19, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Main Library.

Shift Happens
Shift Happens

Thank you for joining DOSW's annual Women's Policy Summit. Showcasing and flexing our civic, political and electoral muscles in creating a gender equitable future.

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Media

SF Examiner Feature Report: Post-Dobbs abortion demand strains SF providers
Report: Post-Dobbs abortion demand strains SF providers

San Francisco Examiner: Sept 21, 2024
The reproductive health-care system in San Francisco and the rest of the Bay Area is becoming strained, and some local women still face barriers to accessing abortion services, according to a new report.

Mission Local - Feb 9 2024
SFPD to improve lactation spaces after female officers speak out

Mission Local: Feb 9, 2024
The San Francisco Police Department laid out plans to overhaul some of the areas it has set aside for breastfeeding mothers Thursday in a Public Safety and Neighborhood Services committee hearing.

Read Full Article

SF Examiner Feb 1
'San Francisco honored to lead the charge' for abortion rights after Dobbs

San Francisco Examiner: Feb 1, 2024 
Bay Area public officials, including DOSW's Dir. Kimberly Ellis, and abortion rights advocates marked the 51st anniversary of the now-overturned Roe v. Wade by gathering this week in San Francisco and reaffirming their commitment to protecting and expanding the region’s access to women’s reproductive health care.  

Read Full Article

SF Examiner - Jul 3
How SF abortion access funding was spent, one year later

San Francisco Examiner: Jul 3, 2023 
Funding secured in last year’s City budget to help women access abortion in San Francisco will not be repeated in 2023, but advocates say the money bolstered work that will continue beyond this year.  

Read Full Article

Press Releases

2024 BAARC Report
New Report Finds Bay Area Abortion Care Infrastructure is Meeting Increased Demand, but the System is Strained in the Post-Dobbs Era

San Francisco, CA – September 17, 2024, the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women (SFD0SW) and the Gender Equity Policy Institute (GEPI) released a new report, Preparing for An Uncertain Future in Post-Dobbs America: A Landscape Analysis of Abortion Care in the San Francisco Bay Area, that investigates the state of reproductive rights and abortion care in the Bay Area through focus groups, expert interviews, and data analysis.

Prop O announcement, June 2024
Mayor Breed Announces the San Francisco Reproductive Freedom Act to Safeguard Access to Abortions and Other Vital Services

San Francisco, CA – Mayor London N. Breed, along with Supervisors Catherine Stefani, Myrna Melgar and Hillary Ronen, joined leaders and reproductive rights advocates today at the Planned Parenthood of Northern California to announce the San Francisco Reproductive Freedom Act, a new ballot measure put forth by Mayor Breed to ensure the reproductive freedoms and rights of women in San Francisco will remain protected as jurisdictions around the country continue to limit reproductive freedoms.  

W
San Francisco's Inaugural Missing Murdered Indigenous Peoples Dinner

San Francisco, CA - In acknowledgment of this epidemic and in solidarity with affected families, Indigenous Justice, in collaboration with the Department on the Status of Women (DOSW), announces its inaugural MMIP Dinner, scheduled for today, Monday, May 20th, 2024, inside the Main Rotunda of San Francisco City Hall.

Shift Happens
San Francisco’s Women’s Policy Summit Offers Glimpse into 2024 Election

San Francisco, CA - The only thing certain about the outcome of the 2024 General Election is that the intersection of gender and politics has almost never mattered more. San Francisco’s Second Annual Women’s Policy Summit - SHIFT Happens, co-hosted by IGNITE National and the Department on the Status of Women, is going to pop the hood on a range of topics around women’s activation in civic engagement and political empowerment in the lead up to the consequential 2024 elections, and will feature a diverse set of voices spanning multiple generations and expertise.

Press release March 8 2024
Mayor Breed on International Women's Day

San Francisco, CA – Today, Mayor London N. Breed issued a statement in celebration of International Women’s Day. San Francisco has been a City with a long history of supporting women’s reproductive freedoms and rights, equal pay, and gender inclusivity. 

Press Release Jan 31 2024
San Francisco Recognizing One Year of the Bay Area Abortion Rights Coalition

San Francisco, CA - Mayor London N. Breed will join Director Kimberly Ellis of the Department on the Status of Women, City and regional leaders, reproductive healthcare service providers, and community advocates to recognize the one-year anniversary of the San Francisco Bay Area Abortion Rights Coalition (BAARC) and its work to ensure access to abortion services throughout the Bay Area.

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