In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.
Lest We Forget
“I hope to spend my 82nd birthday in jail.” — Actor and activist Jane Fonda, in conversation with Robin Morgan for Women’s Media Center’s WMC LIVE podcast, opened up about her decision to temporarily move to Washington, D.C. in order to participate in civil disobedience and demand action on climate justice.
“Everything he says is a projection of himself. When he calls me ‘Nervous Nancy,’ I know he’s very nervous.” — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking to Jane Mayer at The New Yorker Festival, sounded off on Donald Trump.
Milestones
+ The next presidential debate will feature an all-female lineup of powerhouse moderators: Rachel Maddow, host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC; Andrea Mitchell, host of “Andrea Mitchell Reports” on MSNBC and NBC News’ chief foreign affairs correspondent; Kristen Welker, NBC News’ White House correspondent; and Ashley Parker, a White House reporter for The Washington Post.
+ New York City’s Central Park will see its first-ever statue honoring women in 2021, when the city will erect statues featuring suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth.
+ Late PBS NewsHour anchor Gwen Ifill will appear on a commemorative USPS Forever Stamp in 2020—the 43rd stamp in the Black Heritage series.
+ Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was selected this year as the recipient of the 2019 Berggruen Prize for Philosophy & Culture, a $1M award “given each year to thinkers whose ideas have profoundly shaped human ideals.” She was selected from a pool of over 500 nominees. “By grit and determination; brains, courage, compassion and a fiery commitment to justice; Ruth Bader Ginsburg rose from modest beginnings to become one of the most respected, and most beloved, jurists of our time,” Amy Gutmann, President of the University of Pennsylvania and Berggruen Prize Juror, said in remarks given following the announcement. ‘She inspires women and men of all ages to realize that a democracy thrives to the extent that it provides every citizen equal footing to achieve their dreams. Justice Ginsburg has few peers in advancing the cause of human equality through the law.”
How We’re Doing
+ New research from Power to Decide found that an estimated 876 clinics nationwide lost their Title X funding after President Trump’s dangerous domestic gag rule went into effect this year. According to their report, 17 Title X grantees, representing nearly 20 percent of all grantees, have exited the program since September, including Planned Parenthood, which previously served 40 percent of all Title X patients. In five states—ME, OR, UT, WA and VT—all Title X grantees have lost funding, and 15 states are losing all or some funding while an additional 15 are losing individual clinics.
