More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Addressing obstetric violence requires enduring solutions rooted in cultural transformation. In 2002, Alyne da Silva Pimentel Teixeira, a 28-year-old Afro-descendant woman in Rio de Janeiro, sought medical help for severe abdominal pain during pregnancy. Despite her critical condition, she was left unattended for hours and mistreated, ultimately leading to her tragic death. Some might believe […]
The thread of social stigmatizing and racism has long woven through the fabrics of science and medicine. Sarah Baartman, an indigenous South African woman born in 1789, was subjected to profound cruelties, specifically associated with her body size and shape—placed at first in a cage alongside a rhinoceros, and later in circuses and so-called “freak-shows” throughout Europe under the name Hottentot Venus.
To this day, women experience weight discrimination at significantly higher rates than male peers.
I first interviewed Anita Hill over 10 years ago for my book What Will It Take to Make a Woman President?: Conversations About Women, Leadership and Power, where we discussed the various factors involved in why the U.S. had not yet elected a woman president and what could be done to move us closer to this milestone, as well as pave the way for more women leaders.
Now, as the U.S. is poised to possibly elect Kamala Harris as not only its first woman president but its first Black and South Asian woman president, I wanted to talk to Hill again to get her insights on this potentially history-making moment.
Black women have long been on the frontlines of social movements—driving change, innovation and progress in our communities and beyond. From the streets to the voting booth, from community centers to the halls of Congress, Black women have made invaluable contributions to advancing justice for our families and communities at large.
Despite our invaluable contributions, organizations led by Black women and geared towards women of color often grapple with underfunding, skepticism and being considered an afterthought.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: Black women are underrepresented in political spaces and prove to be the most vulnerable in our democracy; despite Donald Trump facing trials in four other cities, he has specifically chosen to contest against Fani Willis, a Black woman serving as the district attorney; a free webinar about ranked-choice voting and its implementation at the Oscars; and more.
Antoinette Bonnie Candia-Bailey, a beloved professor at an historically Black University in Missouri, committed suicide on Jan. 8, reportedly as a result of racism by the school’s president. Harvard University president Claudine Gay recently resigned amid accusations of plagiarism. Many view her resignation as an illustration of the broader issue of marginalizing Black women within the predominantly white male academic space.
Academia is not inherently designed for the success of Black faculty. These institutions were initially created for and catered to white people, placing BIPOC in a position where they must succeed within systems not designed for their success. Centering Black scholars in roles critical to the institution involves challenging the role of white supremacy addressing systemic issues within academia that create unrealistic expectations.
On Sunday, Jan. 7, the annual Golden Globe Awards aired live from Los Angeles. From Barbie vs. Oppenheimer, to Timothée Chalamet vs. Nicholas Cage, this night had a lot of steep competition. But many could not have predicted the biggest “beef” to occur on that stage: host Jo Koy vs. everybody else.
Many critics, viewers and audience members sitting in the Beverly Hilton were not impressed with the opening monologue by the 52-year-old comedian, finding his jokes sexist or just unfunny.
Awareness of the U.S. maternal health crisis has increased—but a parallel crisis of human rights violations against pregnant and postpartum people remains invisible or misunderstood. By convening two People’s Tribunals to End Obstetric Violence and Obstetric Racism before the end of the year, we aim to change that. The first will happen on Oct. 6 in New York City at the NYU Law School, and the second on Dec. 1 in Memphis, at BRIDGES USA.
We cannot fix the maternal mortality problem without fixing the human rights problem at its core.
Black women across America face many health crises buoyed by systemic failures ever-present since our country began. The fact that health disparities persist and widen is an indictment on our system and those whose health and well-being it prioritizes—but more is possible.
Closing the Medicaid gap is arguably one of the quickest ways to make our nation’s health system more equitable.
In 2021, more than 360 Black women died of maternal health causes across the country, according to the CDC—up from just over 290 in 2020 and more than 240 the year prior.
Despite advancements in medicine and technology over the years, the racial gap in who is suffering the most severe consequences of childbirth is growing, and most Black maternal and child health experts point to systematic racism as the root cause.