Education

Keeping Score: Rep. Jasmine Crockett Questions Trump’s ‘Fitness to Serve’; Women Carry Two-Thirds of Student Debt; Congress Votes to Criminalize Revenge Porn

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week: HHS promotes conversion therapy-like policies and opposes gender-affirming care; new executive order could lead to discrimination from credit lenders; Trump guts the Women’s Health Initiative; Wyoming abortion clinic celebrates a TRAP law injunction; Olivia Rodrigo received Planned Parenthood award; and more.

I Didn’t Know I Was a First-Generation College Student Until After I Crossed the Stage

I didn’t know I was a first-generation college graduate until after I shouldered my way across the stage with my degree. Six years, three schools, multiple majors and one abortion later, I’d done what only 27.4 percent of students like me manage to do: finish. I didn’t get there because the system worked. I got there in spite of it.

Fewer than one in three first-generation students graduate in four years. Without DEI programs and support, too many are left to navigate impossible odds alone—without the guidance, resources or safety nets they deserve.

Trump’s Attack on the Education Department Will Disempower Parents

In a North Carolina coastal community, an elementary school may be forced to end its free monthly dinners where parents come together with teachers to talk about their children’s academic progress, as well as their mental and physical health.

In a rural corner of Texas, local high schools may have to stop participating in a partnership connecting students with local colleges, trade schools and career opportunities—even though parents insist that college and career readiness is the biggest need for their kids.

In Idaho, an elementary school may be forced to stop its after-school program, which parents named as a major help.

These parent-empowering initiatives are now under threat because each of these schools receives federal dollars from the Education Department for their “community school” programs—federal dollars that are now on the chopping block.

Ms. Global: Canada Scraps Gender Equality Minister, Brazil Celebrates Trans Rights at Carnival, And More 

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The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. As the world continues to reel from Trump’s haphazard tariffs—for which women, families and everyday citizens will pay the price—Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.

This week: news from the U.K., Brazil, Canada, and more.

On the Fifth Anniversary of COVID-19, the Crisis for Women and Girls Isn’t Over

Five years ago, the world was upended by the COVID-19 pandemic—a crisis that transcended borders, affecting every facet of our lives. Today, while much of the world has moved on, the scars remain deeply etched in the lives of women and girls in the Global South. The crisis for us has not ended; it has merely been pushed into the shadows. As we mark World Health Day on April 7, it is imperative to confront the ongoing struggles of women and girls in the Global South and demand urgent action.

Protecting All Students Requires Listening to Them: Reflections on the Implementation of Ohio’s Anti-Trans ‘Bathroom Bill’

Picking up the few remaining “all gender restroom” signs that had hung outside bathrooms at the College of Wooster in Ohio for over a decade, I found myself in a moment of reflection. My own students had worked so hard to have the signs installed, just to be removed last month in compliance with Ohio’s so-called Protect All Students Act, which was signed into law late last year.  More commonly known as the “Bathroom Law,” the act requires all schools—K-12 to college, public and private—to “designate specified facilities for the exclusive use of students of either the male biological sex or the female biological sex.”  

No one is being “protected” by these recent laws and proclamations. Instead, there are many students actively being hurt in their implementation and aftermath. When I think back to the important work my students did over a decade ago, it feels blatantly disingenuous to see those efforts superseded by politicians in the name of “protecting all students.” What those lawmakers have done is put some students in far more vulnerable positions; and educational institutions have been forced to forgo the needs of their students in order to comply.