This is a guest post by Donna Lieberman from the NYCLU as part of our #POWHERList series.

Women’s rights are on the ballot in a big way on November 4. Attacks on access to health care, lingering loopholes in state equal pay laws and faltering workplace fairness standards are bubbling under the surface on almost every major political stage across the country. New York is no different. But instead of covering the issues, the news media is focused on pitting the Working Families Party against the Women’s Equality Party.

What party you decide to vote for is beside the point in this election: The important question for voters at the polls is whether the candidate you choose to vote for will stand with women for all the freedoms and measures of equality that they deserve.

Today, too many outdated New York laws undermine women’s access to equal opportunity in the workplace, in health care, and in our homes. The Women’s Equality Act, introduced in 2013, provides common sense updates to existing New York law to ensure the state’s 10 million women – our sisters, daughters, mothers and wives – are not held back by discrimination. This critical legislation will remove barriers to economic security, preserve access to reproductive health care and help survivors of domestic violence. But for the last two years our legislators have failed to pass the bill because of political posturing.

Lawmakers who oppose a comprehensive package of women’s rights laws argue that these basic human rights are something they are willing to achieve piecemeal—rationing legal protections as though the livelihood and health of New Yorkers can be leveraged for political gain. But enough is enough.

This year alone, I have watched as women have been forced to fight for their rights on their own. Without the protections of the Women’s Equality Act, individual New York women have been forced to turn to the courts to achieve pregnancy accommodation, equal pay and even resist housing discrimination. Their battles underscore the fact that women’s health, rights and economic well-being are inherently linked.

Women give 100 percent every day to our families, our jobs and our communities. We can’t settle for less in return. It’s time for elected officials to prove that they are on our side. We need strong gender equity laws that reflect the complexity of women’s lives today.

From the boardroom to the doctor’s office, women deserve laws that support and protect our right to participate fully in the public sphere. Our vote is our voice. It is our chance to send a strong resounding message to our state leaders that we will not settle for anything less than full and equal protection under the law.

When women succeed, families succeed. And what is good for New York families is good for New York.

We are faced with a critical opportunity to help New York reclaim its place as a progressive leader in the national fight for women’s rights—but we can only do so if we hold our elected officials accountable and demand the economic security, right to health care and freedom from discrimination that every New Yorker deserves.

Join the NYCLU,  NYS PowHER, the Ms. Foundation and National Partnership for Women & Families today at 1PM for a live Google Hangout.