How Care Became a Key Issue This Election

In response to voters’ needs and demands, the issue of care has been receiving outsized attention during this year’s election season. 

“If there’s no one to work because there’s no one to care, then we have a problem,” said Ai-jen Poo, founder of Caring Across Generations.

“If the lack of affordable and accessible childcare is what’s holding women back from reaching their economic potential, then we should make childcare affordable and accessible,” said Reshma Saujani, founder of Moms First. “As we head into the final weeks of the election, one thing is clear: The conversation has shifted. Childcare has finally been elevated into the national conversation.”

Kamala Harris and the Political Power of Black Women: The Ms. Q&A with Kimberly Peeler-Allen

As we stand poised to potentially elect our first female president who is also a woman of color, we know this moment builds on a long history of other women and Black women trailblazers who have helped to pave the way.

Kimberly Peeler-Allen is the co-founder of Higher Heights, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to building Black women’s collective political power from the voting booth to elected office. Higher Heights has helped drive the national narrative about the power of Black women voters and has inspired countless Black women to step into their power whether as voters, activists or elected leaders. We discussed what it would mean to elect our first woman president who is multi-racial, why it is important to elevate Black women’s leadership, what issues are mobilizing Black women in this election, what biases and barriers women candidates face, the significance of the ERA on the ballot in New York and more.

Addressing the Sexism and Racism Aimed at Kamala Harris, Transcending Leadership Stereotypes and More: The Ms. Q&A with Anita Hill

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.