Author: Martha Burk

Martha Burk is money editor at Ms.
What's at Stake: LGBTQ Civil Rights

What’s at Stake: LGBTQ Civil Rights

When it comes to LGBTQ rights, President Trump says one thing but does another. The National Center for Transgender Equality cites at least 69 anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ actions since Trump took office.

Questions for 2020 Candidates:
* Do you support or oppose a constitutional amendment to outlaw same–sex marriage?
* Do you support including LGBTQ citizens in laws that prohibit workplace and housing discrimination? Have you, or would you, co–sponsor the Equality Act to do that?
* Do you support President Trump’s rollbacks of transgender rights in the military, health care, and access to homeless shelters?

Education-and-Title-IX

Education and Title IX: Back to “Separate But (Un)equal”

Despite its success, Title IX remains under constant attack, with rules and enforcement depending on which party controls the government.

Single-sex education has sprung up in the majority of states in violation of Title IX.

In addition to being against criminal law, sexual assaults are a violation under Title IX. The Trump administration has dealt enforcement the biggest setback in decades.

Our-Sick-System-of-Sick-Leave-Maternity-Leave-and-Family-Leave

Our (Sick) System of Sick Leave, Maternity Leave and Family Leave

There are no federal laws guaranteeing sick leave or maternity leave for employees in the United States.

And on the subject of paid parental leave, once again, the U.S. lags behind the world. Out of 193 countries in the United Nations, only a handful lack a national paid parental leave: New Guinea, Suriname, a few South Pacific island nations—and the United States.

It’s up to women to pose the hard questions and determine wheth­er a candidate supports family-friendly work­places or not.

What’s at Stake: Your Family’s Child Care

What’s at Stake: Your Family’s Child Care

About half of child care providers have been forced to close due to COVID-19, and many face the possibility of permanent closure. The COVID-19 pandemic could lead to a permanent loss of nearly 4.5 million child care slots, leaving millions of families without the child care they need to return to work.

Right now Congress is appropriating literally trillions to keep businesses afloat in a post-corona economy. Are families less important?

Trump's "Opening Our Country" Council: Where are the Women?

Trump’s “Opening Our Country” Council: Where are the Women?

“What I want to know is: Where are the women?” asked Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) before walking out on an all-male opening panel in a 2012 congressional hearing on contraception coverage in Obamacare. Fast forward to 2020—and Maloney’s question still resonates. President Trump announced his “Opening Our Country Council” last week—with 220 men and a paltry 20 women.