Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: New Ranked-Choice Voting Ballot Initiative in Colorado; the ‘Electability’ Debate for Women in Politics

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: a new ranked-choice voting ballot initiative in Colorado, the “electability” debate for women running for office, the Democratic Party is challenging long-held beliefs regarding the electability of women candidates, and more.

Transphobia in Women’s Sports Is Dangerous for All Women

Olympic athlete and women’s boxing gold medalist Imane Khelif recently became a target for anti-trans activists and know-it-all couch potatoes. They decided Khelif was a man based on her perceived appearance and strength, rather than actual facts. So hyped are the anti-trans police that any woman who doesn’t seem to conform to gender norms is suspect and fair game, particularly if she’s public and successful. This is dangerous for all women, no matter their gender identity, and especially women of color.

If we accept transphobes’ arguments against all trans women in all sports, we inevitably accept a set of assumptions that harm women, trans and cis alike.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: The Quest for Gender Parity in the Paralympics; Women’s Critical Role in the Labor Movement

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: More women are elected to higher office in countries with parliamentary systems than those with presidential systems; Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Washington, D.C., all have ballot measures proposing ranked-choice voting this November; a record 45 percent of the total Paralympic competitors are women; and more.

Keeping Score: Court Blocks Student Loan Relief Plan; Former N.Y. Cop Sentenced 10 Weekends in Jail After Child Rape; Trump’s ‘Tampon Tim’ Jab Backfires

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 reaffirmed her candidacy for president at the DNC; Republican-appointed judges strike down Biden’s student loan relief plan; a new law bans women from speaking in public in Afghanistan; working moms earn just 71 cents per dollar earned by dads; understanding the orgasm gap; gold-medalist boxer Imane Khelif fights back against racist and sexist abuse; new reproductive rights bills signed into law in Illinois; and more.

New Taliban Law Mandates Afghan Women Be Silent and Completely Covered in Public. It’s Time to Codify Gender Apartheid.

Afghan women’s voices and bodies are deemed ‘intimate’ by the Taliban and banned from public.

While the international community condemns these brutal and oppressive restrictions, it now faces a critical challenge: how to effectively respond to the Taliban’s gender apartheid policies and increasing human rights abuses. The need for the international community to codify gender apartheid as a crime against humanity grows more urgent.

Fall 2024 Issue Sneak Peek: Women Are Voting Like Their Lives Depend on it

Every four years the fall issue of Ms. is—to be perfectly honest—pretty much the same. We do our best to explain what’s at stake in the upcoming election and how the outcome will affect our lives and future. This year that wasn’t necessary. Project 2025 did the job for us.

The list on our Fall cover is just the beginning. What else does Project 2025 have in the crosshairs? Ms. contributor Carrie N. Baker read the “misogynist manifesto” front to back so you don’t have to.

Join the Ms. community today for our special election-year price of $20.24 and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox! When you become a member, you’re supporting independent, feminist media—and becoming part of a global community of feminists who care about the issues that matter to you.

Whatever Happened to CEDAW?

It’s been 45 years since the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, often described as an international bill of rights for women. Yet some younger feminists haven’t even heard of it.

The vast majority of the world’s nations—96 percent—have ratified CEDAW. The U.S. is not a signatory because it has never made it to the Senate floor for a ratifying vote—making it only industrialized democracy in the world that has yet to ratify it.

(This article originally appears in the Summer 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

When Black Feminist Movements Receive Sustained and Abundant Resources, the World Wins

As the world approaches a critical juncture with over half its population heading to the polls by the end of 2024, philanthropy faces a pivotal moment.

While conservative foundations intensify funding to restrict rights, progressive donors often stall. Black feminist movements, working at the forefront of transformative change, receive a shockingly small fraction of philanthropic funds—between 0.1 to 0.35 percent. There is an urgent need for philanthropy to support these efforts in the face of growing global challenges and anti-rights organizing.

(This essay is part of a Women & Democracy package focused on who’s funding the women and LGBTQ people on the frontlines of democracy. We’re manifesting a new era for philanthropy—one that centers feminism. The need is real: Funding for women and girls amounts to less than 2 percent of all philanthropic giving; for women of color, it’s less than 1 percent. Explore the “Feminist Philanthropy Is Essential to Democracy” collection.)