I saw Betty Ford in person for my first and only time in November 1977. She was seated next to Rosalynn Carter, and they shared the stage with Maya Angelou and New York’s Bella Abzug, the former congresswoman who had written the legislation governing the National Women’s Conference in Houston. The current and former first […]
Year: 2011
A Russian Front in the Abortion Wars
In June, The New York Times’ Sophia Kishkovsky published a piece about alarming news that’s been buzzing in reproductive rights circles for the last couple of weeks–Russia has embraced its very own anti-choice movement, and it looks strikingly like ours here in the U.S. This is not news to me. I encountered the nascent Russian […]
NEWSFLASH(MOB): Protest Homophobia at Women’s Soccer World Cup
As we in the U.S. celebrate our women’s national soccer team’s advancement to the semifinals at the World Cup tomorrow in Germany, the international gay rights pressure group AllOut.org reminds us to keep speaking out against homophobia in the sport. Specifically, it’s time to step up the pressure against Nigerian women’s coach Eucharia Uche, who, […]
Join the Fight to Help Burma
When the world last heard from Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights activist and feminist hero from Burma (Myanmar), she had been released from a collective 15-year house arrest and was beginning to rebuild the National League for Democracy, the political party she founded. She has since visited rural parts of […]
Don’t Ms.: Let’s Talk About Sex, Feminist Art Galore, and more!
Ms.’s weekly events post has been on a hiatus lately, but never fear–it’s back! The week ahead offers lots of opportunities to get your feminist art fix. New Jersey: Original posters dating back to the 1980s and new artwork by the legendary Guerilla Girls will be on display at the Mason Gross School of Art […]
Betty Ford’s Death Illustrates What Has Been Lost in Our Political Culture
How much I appreciated your gracious letter telling of plans for the Western Regional Conference on Abortion and inviting me to attend. Although my upcoming personal and official commitments will not permit me to be with you, I am grateful for this opportunity to convey my warmest greetings to all attending and my hopes for […]
Quidditch’s Title IX (and Three-Quarters): Anyone Can Ride a Broomstick
With excitement building for the final Harry Potter movie, we’re hosting a week of posts about the series on the Ms. Blog. Today we’ve got a report on gender equity at the heart of the hardest-core Harry Potter fanbase: the people who actually play Quidditch. For the uninitiated, “Muggle” Quidditch is a land-based version of […]
New Hampshire Defunds Planned Parenthood
It seems some Republican lawmakers oppose not only abortion, but ways to prevent abortion as well. Last week, New Hampshire’s all-Republican executive council canceled the state’s contract with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE), cutting $1.8 million in funding for the state’s six clinics. Since the cut, clinics have stopped dispensing contraceptives. Planned Parenthood […]
Anti-Trafficking Enforcement in U.S. is an Abysmal Failure
It’s been over a decade since the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) was passed into law, and a new report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics reveals that astonishingly little has been done since. The TVPA defines a human trafficking victim as A person induced to perform labor or a commercial […]
Global Women’s Progress Report
I have criticized sloppy statistical work by some international feminist organizations, so I’m glad to have a chance to point out a useful new report and website. The Progress of the World’s Women is from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The full-blown site has an executive summary, a […]