More Than A Magazine, A Movement
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. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.
This week: stories from Iran, Gaza, the International Olympic Committee, and more.
Even when it’s created at great personal risk, nothing can negate the power of art. So, too, the importance of friendship, which impacts our choices, shapes our ideas about the past, present and future, and changes lives.
These are central themes of The Friend’s House Is Here, a U.S.-Iranian co-production that won the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast at Sundance this year. In their presentation of the award, the jury praised the film’s ensemble cast “for delivering performances that each of us could find ourselves in, revealing a story that is frighteningly universal. The ensemble injects the world with gravity, love, and humor, and shows us the way community and connection are often our key to survival.”
In a case of life imitating art, the film circulates through its own act of defiance: It had to be smuggled out of Tehran for it to be shown at Sundance.
(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)
As mass protests and a deadly crackdown grip Iran, human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh speaks from Tehran while her husband, activist Reza Khandan, calls in from Evin Prison—offering a rare, firsthand account of repression, resistance and the stakes for democracy inside the country.
“My message has always been to use all non-violent means to persuade governments to uphold democracy and human rights. Small actions can have big impacts.”
“… You can’t bomb a country into democracy.”
Organizers of the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics are touting “the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history,” reflecting years of pressure from athletes who have questioned why women and men do not always have the same number of events or chances to participate.
These gains did not happen on their own—they are the result of sustained advocacy by women athletes who have pushed the International Olympic Committee to expand women’s participation, add events, and commit to gender equity in both athlete quotas and medal opportunities. Even as parity edges closer, competitors and supporters continue to call out the remaining gaps—keeping the pressure on Olympic leadership to deliver full equality across all sports.
Like a 19th-century sugar cane plantation brought to life, Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show staged a visually rich jíbaro vision of Puerto Rico—the foundational cultural figure representing the island’s self-sufficient, hardworking mountain farmers—in Santa Clara, Calif., a region long shaped by Spanish colonization and U.S. expansion, on land where Ohlone (specifically Tamien/Tamyen) people lived alongside coastal Miwuk, Patwin and Yokut communities.
The show’s imagery underscored layered histories of colonization and empire that resonated beyond the stadium.
A love letter to Puerto Rico, its diaspora and Latino people across the globe, the performance suggested that love was indeed stronger than hate, as millions danced to the sounds of freedom, whether they recognized it or not.
As countries across Europe roll out national programs to confront misogyny in schools, the United States still lacks a coordinated response.
Responding to school-based gender harassment, the politicization of gender issues, and the mental health crisis among youth requires an organized, collective effort.
A gripping portrait of a Juárez factory worker who becomes an avenger after systemic violence against women goes unpunished, The Huntress (or La Cazadora) explores how myth, motherhood and desperation collide in a city where justice is scarce.
(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)
Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!
This week:
—As February begins and we mark Black History Month, I’m reminded that the fight for a more representative democracy has always been carried forward by women who refused to accept exclusion as inevitable.
—”Republicans in Congress have unveiled a new bill that would impose the most extreme voting restrictions ever proposed at the federal level,” warns Democracy Docket of the so-called “Make Elections Great Again” (MEGA) Act.
—Washington, D.C.’s legendary delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, will not run for re-election this year after 35 years in office.
—Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Coral Gables resident who co-founded Latinas for Trump, is now concerned about the overt racial profiling and indiscriminate aggression against citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented people alike.
—In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan leads polls and just secured the endorsement of incumbent Sen. Tina Smith in her bid for the Democratic nomination for Senate.
… and more.
Featuring the cases of Amber Heard, Gisèle Pelicot, Brittany Higgins, Colombian journalists at Volcánicas and others, Silenced traces a global pattern of defamation suits used to punish survivors and the reporters who amplify their stories.
It’s a fitting but frustrating coda that Silenced itself faced legal threats right after its festival premiere.
(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)
Afghanistan. Myanmar. Syria. The Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Over the last 80 years, there has rarely been a situation of atrocity that has not been marked by the commission of crimes against humanity. These crimes, defined by their widespread or systematic nature, target civilians and devastate societies.
Yet, while the international community has created legal regimes to address war crimes and genocide, we lack a global legal architecture for the prevention, suppression and punishment of crimes against humanity, leaving millions across the globe at risk and justice elusive for survivors.
The start of negotiations for such a treaty is not just overdue; it is of historic importance. Late last month, the United Nations General Assembly launched a four-year process to prepare for and negotiate a new global treaty to prevent and punish crimes against humanity by 2028. If it is crafted with ambition and resolve, it can be a game-changer for international accountability, strengthen the rules-based order and offer hope and justice to victims and survivors.