A March 24 program co-hosted by the Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues and Ms. will explore attacks on reproductive freedom, voting rights and gender equality, as well as strategies for feminist resistance.
Feminist advocates and scholars will gather virtually later this month for a conversation on the future of women’s rights and democracy in the United States, featuring legal scholar and Ms. contributing editor Carrie N. Baker.
The online program—“Understanding and Counteracting the Growing Threats to Women’s Rights and Democracy”—will take place Tuesday, March 24, at 12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT / 11:30 a.m. CT) and is co-hosted by the Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues (CWI) and Ms. magazine. Register here, then look for a confirmation email containing the link to join the meeting.
Baker, a professor and chair of the Program for the Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Smith College and the Sylvia D’Lugasch Bauman professor of American studies, will present research and analysis on the mounting political and legal threats facing women’s rights in the U.S. Her talk will draw on her extensive scholarship and journalism on reproductive rights, democracy and feminist movements.
Baker’s remarks will examine a range of challenges facing gender equality today, including attacks on reproductive rights, voting rights, family and economic protections, and broader threats to democratic institutions. She will also discuss efforts by activists to advance constitutional equality, including the ongoing campaign for recognition of the fully ratified federal Equal Rights Amendment and strategies for using state ERAs to expand protections for women.
The discussion will address both overt and more subtle efforts to roll back women’s rights, while also highlighting ways feminists can respond through organizing, advocacy and political engagement—particularly important in light of this year’s November midterms, which will determine congressional control, as well as set the tone for the rest of Trump 2.0 and beyond.
Her 30- to 40-minute presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session with participants.
Baker is the author of Abortion Pills: U.S. History and Politics (Amherst College Press, 2024)—available online and open source—which traces the legal and political battles over medication abortion in the United States. A prolific feminist journalist, she has written for Ms. since 2010, serves as a contributing editor and co-chairs the Ms. Committee of Scholars. She also hosts the radio program Feminist Futures on WHMP.
This summer, Baker and other Ms. editors will lead a Ms. Writers Workshop at Smith College, training feminist scholars to write for the popular press. (Applications are now closed; the deadline to apply was March 16.)
The March 24 event will be highly interactive, with Baker welcoming questions and suggestions from participants about how feminist movements can confront democratic backsliding, push for expanded rights, and work toward full implementation of gender equality in law and practice.
Event Details
- What: “Understanding and Counteracting the Growing Threats to Women’s Rights and Democracy”
- Speaker: Carrie N. Baker, J.D., Ph.D.
- When: Tuesday, March 24, 2026, 12:30–1:30 p.m. ET
- Format: Virtual presentation with audience Q&A
- Hosts: Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues (CWI) and Ms. magazine
