At 65 years old, Olympic gold medalist, self-affirmed Republican and reality-show star Caitlyn Jenner has opened up about her gender identity. She chose to “reemerge” as her femme self earlier this week on the cover of Vanity Fair, with a request for people to “Call Me Caitlyn.” While we at Ms. applaud her courage in […]
Author: Emily Zak
10 Ways to Keep Up the Feminist Fight in 2014
The progress the feminist movement made in 2013 illuminates the progress we still need to make. In the following list, we celebrate the good of this year, and suggest where the road to equality should take us next: Women were allowed into combat this January, but the prevalence of sexual assault on the job—nearly one […]
It’s Just Sick to Withhold Paid Sick Leave
As temperatures dip lower this holiday season, many of us will get sick. Whether we can afford to stay home from work may depend on where we live. Seven U.S. cities, Washington, D.C., and the state of Connecticut guarantee workers paid sick leave. The rest of the country does not. New Jersey’s largest city, Newark, […]
Gender Wage Gap: Near Equity for Young Millennials, But Then It Gets Worse
A new Pew Research Center survey shows that young U.S. women today are near wage parity with men. But don’t clap yet—the gender wage gap widens with age. Among 25-to-34-year-olds, women workers earn 93 cents to every dollar earned hourly by a man, but by the time women reach their mid-30s their relative earnings start to […]
We Heart: Affordable Contraception, Thanks to ACA
The rolling out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this year, despite website difficulties, has already been quite beneficial for women. A study just released by the Guttmacher Institute shows the law has greatly improved millions of women’s access to affordable contraception. A year after the ACA started requiring private insurance companies to cover contraception […]
Fast-Food Protests on Thursday: It’s About More Than Money
The walkouts started a year ago. Fast-food workers, long frustrated with low wages, organized protests that began in New York City and spread to a nationwide grassroots movement, culminating in a one-day strike in 60 cities this past August. We at Ms. were so impressed and supportive that we featured a cover story on these […]
U.N. Day Recognizes Violence Against Women
I think it’s better to be a man because a woman always hears inappropriate comments from men. It happened to me at school. Teachers won’t give out your grades if you don’t sleep with them. When my friends apply for a job, if the employers are men, when they don’t give in to their advances […]
NEWSFLASH: Filibuster Busted For Most Presidential Appointees
For years, lawmakers have used filibusters, and merely the threat of them, to block presidential nominees from taking office. But the U.S. Senate decided Thursday in a 52-48 vote to require a simple majority vote–rather than three-fifths–to end the stalling of voting when it comes to making appointments for most executive and judicial positions. It […]
Remembering Larry: Murdered for His Gender Expression
In 2008, 15-year-old Larry King was shot and killed by classmate Brandon McInerney, whom he* had, on a dare, asked to be his Valentine days before. The new documentary Valentine Road tells the story of these two boys, both of whom who grew up in situations full of abuse and alienation. King, though, had started […]
How’s the Gender Wage Gap in YOUR State?
For more than a decade, U.S. women have earned, on average, 77 cents to every dollar earned by a man. Today the same disparity remains, but varies greatly by state and race, according to a study released last week by the National Women’s Law Project (NWLP). Wyoming’s pay gap is the widest: Women working full time […]