Monifa Bandele
- Hayeon Kwak
- Sep 25, 2023
- 3 min read
"Feminism is intersectional or it is nothing. We can't smash the patriarchy without tearing down white supremacy! The women's agenda prioritizes policies that do both" - Monifa Bandele
DOB: 1971 (52 years old)
Nationality: American
Monifa Bandele is a political activist from Brooklyn, NY where she was born to a family of empowering figures. Her mother and father were both social workers, and her grandmother pioneered a program in Pittsburgh to increase the number of fellow black nurses in her field. Through her family, she was able to understand the importance of having “support systems for women, children and families and just the role [they] played in helping to stabilize a lot of mothers in the community,” very early on, Bandele said in an interview with New York Amsterdam News.
Bandele attended Spellman College and went on to devote her life to political action for women, blacks, and children. One of the first organizations she supported was the Brennan Center for Justice as a national field director for eleven years. The Brennan Center for Justice aims to defend the system of democracy and justice in the US through legal and policy change, often fighting legal battles in court and working with government figures to advance legislation, and also acting as a messenger for the public, aiming to have more people involved and informed.
Now, she is the senior vice president and chief strategy officer at MomsRising, an organization centered around reproductive justice for women. MomsRising advocates for protections for women in the workplace and healthcare and the gap in healthcare quality people of colour receive. Currently, Bandele is a part of various projects through MomsRising. The organization is aiming to get its proposed legislation passed, such as the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (Pump) for Nursing Mothers Act and the Black Maternal Health ‘Momnibus’ Act of 2021. The Pump Act will protect working mothers who breastfeed their children and the Black Maternal Health ‘Momnibus’ Act of 2021 is a collection of bills centred on addressing racism against coloured people in healthcare. The group’s work also includes protecting abortion rights, especially for mothers. MomsRising played a big role in getting New York City’s mayor Eric Adams to sign seven maternal health bills to protect mothers and ensure safety for all by educating more people on maternal mortality, improving and providing reproductive health services, and much more.
Bandele was also a part of the Time’s Up Foundation and its affiliated branch, Time’s Up Now, an anti-sexual harassment group that formed as part of the #MeToo movement. She worked initially as a chief operating officer and later served as interim executive director from 2021 to January 2023, when the organization dissolved.
Previously, she was a director for the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, a director of development and communications for the People’s Hurricane Relief Fund, and a senior program manager at the National Coalition on Black Sivic Participation.
Even outside organizations, Bandele works tirelessly. For almost two decades she worked to combat police brutality against black people by encouraging members of her community to record police interactions and spreading awareness on social media. Last year, Bandele raised awareness of ‘Black Breastfeeding Week’ in her community to promote the benefits of breastfeeding among working black mothers. The low rates of breastfeeding in black communities is an issue Bandele has been struggling with for many years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breastfeeding provides undeniable health benefits for both mothers and babies. The complicated and time-consuming aspect of breastfeeding makes it difficult for many black mothers, who face the most discrimination in healthcare and workplaces, to choose to breastfeed.
Monifa Bandele’s dedication to causes and her beliefs make her a courageous and inspiring figure as both an activist and a mother of two girls.
Written by Hayeon Kwak
Comments