Author: Ms. Magazine Editors

A current list of Ms. print and digital editors can be found on the masthead.

Kathy Spillar on ‘Velshi’: A Warning About the Right’s Agenda for Women

This weekend on Velshi with MS NOW (formerly MSNBC) anchor Ali Velshi, Kathy Spillar—executive editor of Ms. and executive director of the Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.)—joined to discuss a sweeping new policy blueprint from the Heritage Foundation that lays out a vision for reshaping American family life and rolling back women’s independence.’

Velshi summarized the underlying logic of the proposal starkly: “You cut off opportunities outside the home. You make the public sphere hostile to women’s independence. You create a system where the only viable path left for women is dependence on a man for survival. In other words, you drag the country back to a time when women had fewer choices.

“Women today have opportunities their grandmothers could only dream of. From the perspective of the new right, that’s the crisis.”

Spillar said the report spells out a broader political strategy. “They are determined to use whatever levers of power they have under the Trump administration—to change tax laws, to provide incentives for women to have more children, to get married younger and to stay married, even in bad relationships,” and added the proposed policies primarily target heterosexual, middle- and upper-income families.

“This is the game plan of an authoritarian regime,” she said. “It’s designed to support an authoritarian government that has control over its women—and therefore over its men as well, making men more compliant because they now have larger families who depend on them economically.”

Young Feminists Prepare to Gather in D.C. for National Leadership Conference, March 28-30

Hundreds of student activists will gather in Washington, D.C., later this month for the 2026 National Young Feminist Leadership Conference, a three-day event focused on organizing, policy advocacy and building the next generation of feminist leaders. (There’s still time to register!)

Hosted by the Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.), the conference will take place March 28-30 at the DoubleTree Crystal City in Arlington, Va., bringing together high school and college students from across the country.

Thursday, March 5, in St. Paul, Minn.: Elaine Welteroth and Janell Hobson on the Power of Feminist Media

The Luann Dummer Center for Women at the University of St. Thomas will host a Women’s History Month event on Thursday, March 5, featuring a moderated conversation between Elaine Welteroth, former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, and Dr. Janell Hobson, writer and contributing editor at Ms. magazine.

The event, titled “Ms. Magazine to Teen Vogue: Essential Feminist Journalism,” will explore the long history and present necessity of feminist voices in an evolving media landscape. The conversation will be moderated by Nina Moini of Minnesota Public Radio and will include an open audience Q&A.

‘My Heart Breaks for the Survivors’: Hillary Clinton Defends Anti-Trafficking Record, Demands Transparency in Epstein Probe

The following statement was delivered by former Secretary of State and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at the start of a closed-door deposition before the House Oversight Committee, as part of its ongoing inquiry into the federal government’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.

In the statement, Clinton tells lawmakers she had no knowledge of Epstein’s or Ghislaine Maxwell’s criminal activities and does not recall ever meeting or speaking with Epstein, flying on his planes or visiting any of his properties. She says she has no new information to provide to the committee.

Her testimony is both a denial of involvement and a broader political and policy argument—one that defends her record on combating human trafficking, criticizes the committee’s approach and calls for wider accountability in Epstein-related investigations and anti-trafficking efforts. Clinton characterizes the subpoena as part of a partisan investigation designed to create “political theater” and distract from what she describes as more relevant lines of inquiry, particularly those involving former President Donald Trump and others named in Epstein-related materials.

How Junk Science Is Driving Reproductive Health Policy: A Live Conversation With Guttmacher Institute, Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute and Ms. (Online; Tuesday, Feb. 17)

As false claims and junk science increasingly distort public understanding of reproductive health, leading experts are coming together to confront the growing threat mis- and disinformation pose to access, policy and democracy itself.

On Feb. 17, the Guttmacher Institute, Ms. magazine and Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law will co-host a virtual webinar examining how misinformation is reshaping debates around contraception, abortion and sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States.

The New Misogyny, Violent Extremism and What It Will Take to Stop It: RSVP for a Live Conversation (Online or in L.A.; Wednesday, Feb. 18)

Across ideologies, the clearest and most consistent predictor of mass shootings is not political extremism alone—it is rising gendered grievances, patriarchal backlash, and perpetrators’ histories of gender-based violence and misogyny.

That is the focus of Miller-Idriss’ groundbreaking new book, Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism.

On Feb. 18, 2026, Miller-Idriss and Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar will explore how misogyny fuels radicalization, how gender-based grievances are weaponized by extremist movements, and why confronting patriarchy is essential to preventing future violence. Join us in person or online.

Iranian Feminists Urge World to ‘Join Hands With Us’

A powerful call from a collective of Iranian feminists in the diaspora:

“‎‎We, a group of Iranian feminists, at a time when the Islamic Republic has cut off the internet and all channels of communication with the outside world while carrying out a brutal massacre of protesters, extend our hands to feminists around the world. We call on the global civil society and feminists to stand with the people of Iran and to use all available independent national and international mechanisms to stop the regime’s machinery of killing and repression.”