TABLE OF CONTENTS
Letters Keeping Score
National	Global
The Dividends of Health Reform Misogyny Is Bad Business Young Feminists Have Their Day Sisters Act Short Takes Calendar	From Slum to Statehouse; The Michelle Obama of Belize Behind Closed Doors A Serious Crisis Indeed Short Takes
FEATURES
Ms. Special: Election Section Women's Lives in the Balance | By Beth Baker What's at stake for women voters? Oh, just little things such as legal equity, health care and decision-making over our bodies. Women on the Run | By Deborah Walsh and Katherine Kleeman Women are running for office in record numbers this year. Will they change the political process as well as policy? Know Your November Ballot Learn about many of the state ballot initiatives and referenda that affect women's lives—and find out which ones Ms. endorses! Women's Studies So You Want to Change the World? Nine scholars reflect on the burgeoning global, activist field of women's studies and how it's transforming students, universities, communities and feminism itself. 40th Anniversary We've Only Just Begun | By Katherine Spillar Ms. has chronicled how women have gone from second-class citizens to fierce feminist warriors—and we continue to sound the alarms, rally the troops and celebrate progress. Halfway Into a Feminist Century | By Gloria Steinem Previous social movements have taken 100 years to fully succeed; so what leaps are we going to take during the next 50 years of feminism? The "Happy Birthday!" Letters Our readers tell us how Ms. magazine changed their lives.
DEPARTMENTS
Essay When We Met That Girl | By Lettie Cottin Pogrebin A cofounding Ms. editor recalls how she worked with Marlo Thomas to help create the children's classic Free to Be…You and Me.	Book Reviews Lynell George on Janell Hobson's Body as Evidence: Mediating Race, Globalizing Gender Aryn Kyle on Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior Liza Featherstone on Lynn Povich's The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace Mark Anthony Neal on Patricia Hill Collins' On Intellectual Activism Veronica I. Arreola on Jessica Valenti's Why Have Kids?: A New Mom Explores the Truth About Parenting and Happiness Bookmarks Great reads for fall 2012 DVD Watch Feminist films available for home viewing. Backtalk Run, Fundraise, Vote! | BY DONNA BRAZILE Women can make a huge difference in this and future elections. No Comment