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
+ Academy Award- and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in conversation with Ms. about her new animated short, Sitara: Let Girls Dream: “You know, people, people often ask me why I choose the subjects that I do and it’s really based on my barometer of anger. If something makes me very angry, that’s what I really want to focus on.”
+ Speaker Nancy Pelosi, announcing that the House is drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump: “His wrongdoing strikes at the very heart of our constitution. Our democracy is what is at stake. The president leaves us no choice but to act because he is trying to corrupt, once again, the election for his own benefit.”
Milestones
+ In Massachusetts, the First Circuit Court ruled this week in the first-ever legal challenge in the country to a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights—extending protections for domestic workers to au pairs in the Bay State.
+ The annual worldwide 16 Days of Activism campaign against gender-based violence has been underway since late November. This year’s theme is “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands against Rape!“
+ Feminist author, academic and historian Marilyn Yalom died on Nov. 20 at 87. The French language and literature professor, who began her feminist scholarship at Stanford University’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research, was best known for books like A History of the Breast and A History of the Wife.
How We’re Doing
+ Uber just released a Safety Report that lays out sexual assault statistics from riders and drivers for the past two years—and steps the company is taking to make those numbers smaller and smaller. Some major findings: According to Uber’s internal data across 2017 and 2018, non-consensual kissing occurred in one of every 2,000,000 completed rides, and non-consensual touching occurred in one of every 800,000; during one of every 4,000,000 trips, there was an attempted rape, and someone was raped during one out of every 5,000,000 rides.
+ New data from the Asia Foundation shows a growing support for women’s education and employment in Afghanistan. According to “Afghanistan in 2019: A Survey of the Afghan People,” the approval and support for women’s education reached nearly 87 percent this year, and a record number of Afghans (76%) support women working outside their homes.
+ New research from the American Association of University Women detailed how workplace sexual harassment impacts women’s physical and mental health, job choices, prospects for career development and overall workforce participation—finding that negative consequences from harassment reduce women’s lifetime earnings and contribute to both the gender and retirement wage gaps. You can read “Limiting Our Livelihoods: The Cumulative Impact of Sexual Harassment on Women’s Careers” on the AAUW website.
