A recent study found concentrations of 16 metals in 30 different varieties of tampons. Although there may be no need for immediate panic, consumers have every right to be angry. Where is corporate responsibility? Why so little transparency? How can the government step in?
Money & Jobs
Front & Center’s Next Phase: How We Fix Systems Designed to Fail Black Women
Front & Center is a groundbreaking Ms. series that offers first-person accounts of Black mothers living in Jackson, Miss., receiving a guaranteed income. Moving into the fourth year and next phase of this series, the aim is to expand our focus beyond individual stories to include a broader examination of systemic issues impacting Black women in poverty. This means diving deeper into the interconnected challenges they face, including healthcare, childcare and elder care, and the importance of mental, physical and spiritual well-being.
“When we started our Front & Center series three years ago, our goal was to give Black women living in extreme poverty—too often ignored in our politics and press—a platform to share their lived experience. … Instead of the narrow spotlight we’ve held to the singular program of the Magnolia Mother’s Trust guaranteed income pilot, we recognize that we must illuminate the full range of systems that harm our most vulnerable communities.”
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Keeping Score: Women Make History at the Olympics; Harris Picks Tim Walz for VP; States Attack Voting, Abortion and Contraception
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: Kamala Harris chooses Tim Walz; female Olympians make history; new Title IX rule faces legal challenges; JD Vance doubles down on supporting Project 2025; mandating in-person work hurts women; over 90 percent of women engage in civic actions; and more.
The Results of the Biggest Study on Guaranteed Income Programs Are Finally In
Since the 1960s, guaranteed income has been seen as a way to help communities of color, women and LGBTQ+ people. Each of those groups still faces large pay disparities in an economy built primarily to support white men.
For eight years, researchers have been quietly putting together the largest, most comprehensive study on programs that give people a monthly stream of cash—no strings attached. Over time, does that income transform people’s lives? The data is now in. Right away, the data clearly showed that cash helped people spend more on their basic needs.
‘I Earn a Profit. I Can Feed My Family’: How Microcredit Lending in Haiti Is Changing Women’s Lives
In 2020, the Raising Haiti Foundation began funding the provision of small loans ($25-$50) to 50 women clients in two communities: Medor and Sarrazin. Most of the women use their loans to become entrepreneurs, or to expand their current businesses, selling goods in local markets. Some use them to purchase livestock or crop seeds, improving their farming outputs.
This interview with recipient and entrepreneur Marimène Tijuste exemplifies some of the achievements of the microcredit clients.
“Having more and different types of products to sell in my business has changed my life. I have more clients. I earn a profit. I can feed my family. … Everything has changed for me!”
Keeping Score: Kamala Harris Launches Presidential Campaign; JD Vance’s Extreme Abortion Views; Republicans Attack Voting Rights, Title IX and DEI
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: Vice President Kamala Harris launched her presidential campaign with Biden’s endorsement; Trump’s VP pick JD Vance’s anti-abortion extremism; women’s health is suffering in the Southeast; the Supreme Court blocked an EPA air pollution plan; House Republicans attack voting rights and Title IX; rest in power, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and Dr. Ruth Westheimer; and more.
Climate Regulation and Reparations Should Focus on Fair Conditions for Pregnant People and Children
The climate crisis is already quietly killing millions. It, along with other ecological crises, is set to potentially kill a billion humans and countless nonhumans—those least responsible for causing it. But here is a truth you will rarely hear: The death count predictions are premised on the current reproductive rights models, the ones that caused the crisis to begin with.
A Year of Guaranteed Income Means ‘Freedom’ for This Single Mom and Her Son
Front and Center offers first-person accounts of Black mothers living in Jackson, Miss., receiving a guaranteed income. First launched in 2018, the Magnolia Mother’s Trust (MMT) is the longest-running guaranteed income program in the U.S. Across the country, guaranteed income pilots like MMT are finding that recipients are overwhelmingly using their payments for basic needs like groceries, housing and transportation.
“MMT has given me more freedom. Freedom of mind, freedom from stress. Freedom from thinking, ‘I know I have this bill coming but I don’t know if I’m going to have the money to pay.’ It’s a relief to know that I can just go to bed and wake up and know that at the end of the day, it’s going to be taken care of.”
Keeping Score: States Threaten Church-State Separation; Doctors Avoid States With Abortion Bans; N.Y. ERA Will Be on November Ballot
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: the Supreme Court ruled on the EMTALA abortion case, presidential immunity and criminalizing homelessness; Louisiana requires public classrooms to display the 10 Commandments; medical residents are avoiding states with abortion bans; Gen Z swing voters care about the cost of living, healthcare and housing; college-educated women now outnumber college-educated men in the workforce, but women’s wages still lag behind; and more.