“When and Where Do We Get to This Place Called ‘Fair?’” What Political Scientist and Survivor Vanessa Tyson Wants the Feminist Future to Look Like

PUBLISHED 8/22/2025 by

The professor, advocate and veteran of multiple political campaigns reflected in the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward on her journeys to both survivor advocacy and politics—and the ways in which our political structures reinforce the injustices survivors face writ large across the country.

Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, “How Feminists are Breaking the Cycle of Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (with Ellen Sweet, Jane Caputi, Vanessa Tyson, Victoria Nourse, and Debra Katz)” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Billboards, Trucks, Gas Pumps, Newspapers and Even a Boat: Mayday Health Advertises How to Access Abortion Pills Across the South and Midwest

PUBLISHED 8/22/2025 by

Boston-based Mayday Health’s in-your-face defiance of threats from red-state governors has ratcheted up in recent months. Mayday shares information on to access abortion pills in all 50 states, with the goal to “empower people to make their own informed decision about their own bodies.”

Taunting Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans, Mayday is currently sailing a boat in the Gulf of Mexico along the beaches from St. Pete’s to Clearwater for the month of August advertising mifepristone and misoprostol.

The 19th Amendment, Explained

PUBLISHED 8/22/2025 by

It took more than a century of fighting by generations of activists to achieve suffrage for all American women.

The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The amendment granting women the right to vote was enacted at the start of the Roaring Twenties, decades after a prolonged and meandering fight for enfranchisement. 

The 19th Amendment codified women’s suffrage nationwide, but long before its ratification, unmarried women who owned property in New Jersey could and did cast ballots between 1776 and 1807. Beginning in 1869, women in Western territories won the right to vote. And in the decade leading up to the 19th Amendment’s passage, 23 states granted women full or partial voting rights through a series of successful campaigns.

Remembering the Mother’s Letter That Secured the 19th Amendment

PUBLISHED 8/22/2025 by

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, sports and entertainment, judicial offices and the private sector—with a little gardening mixed in! 

This week:
—“Dear Son … Hurray and vote for Suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt.” On Aug. 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment when young legislator, Harry Burn, followed the advice of his mother, Febb Burn, and cast the decisive vote in favor. Febb—a college-educated widow who read three newspapers a day and strongly felt her mind was the equal of any man’s—had long impressed upon her son the importance of suffrage.
—California women are far more likely than men to be “energy burdened,” spending more than 6 percent of their income on home energy costs, including utilities for heating, cooling and power.
—RepresentWomen’s 2025 Gender Parity Index (GPI) offers encouraging news: Women’s political power in the United States is reaching new heights, with states like New Hampshire, Oregon and Maine achieving gender parity for the first time in history. But the United States still has a way to go, ranking 77th globally in women’s representation, but more importantly, it lags behind nearly all its major democratic allies.
—Economic struggle, especially among women, is profoundly shaping the political moment heading into 2026. Understanding the significance for female voters is not merely a political embellishment; it is fundamental to securing electoral victories in the midterm elections and effecting meaningful change.

… and more.

Women’s Equality Day: Celebrate the Victories. Confront the Backlash.

PUBLISHED 8/22/2025 by

Tuesday, Aug. 26, marks 104 years since the 19th Amendment was certified, recognizing women’s constitutional right to vote. But anniversaries like Women’s Equality Day are not just about looking back. They remind us of unfinished business.

The proposed SAVE Act threatens to make voting harder for students, married women, low-income voters and communities of color. Dark money is flooding state races aimed at rolling back abortion access, LGBTQ+ protections and civil rights. And without congressional recognition of the ERA, gender equality remains absent from the Constitution.

But wins are possible.

Of Course Trump Threatened Ballot Access on the 19th Amendment’s Anniversary

PUBLISHED 8/21/2025 by

The 19th Amendment turned 105 this week. Instead of marking progress, we’re watching Trump officials entertain the idea that women’s right to vote is negotiable. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amplified a pastor calling for repeal of the amendment, and when pressed, his office issued a half-hearted “of course” women should vote. We’ve seen this playbook before: Roe was safe, contraception wasn’t at risk—until both were.

Trump himself piled on this week, vowing to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterms. He can’t legally do it, but the threat is the point. Combined with the SAVE Act, which could disenfranchise married women who changed their names, the message is clear.

The anniversary of women’s suffrage is not just history—it’s a warning flare. The right to vote is under attack, and the fight this time is for all the marbles.

Hegseth’s Tacit Endorsement of Disenfranchising Women Should Alarm Every American

PUBLISHED 8/21/2025 by

Pete Hegseth’s church’s doctrine is clear: It teaches that wives should submit to their husbands and allows male church members to cast church votes for the whole household. Its co-founder Doug Wilson says that adopting the 19th Amendment—which granted women the right to vote—was a “bad idea.” 

When Congress returns in a few weeks, lawmakers should reject the SAVE Act—or be prepared to answer to millions of American women.

In the Ms. Archive: Does Feminism Have a Problem With Femininity?

PUBLISHED 8/21/2025 by and

Femininity has long been the elephant in the room of feminism.

On the one hand, femininity doesn’t just name what it means, culturally, to be a woman—femininity lies at the heart of many women’s own sense of self. And yet, feminists identify femininity as a source of oppression, a straight-jacket imposed on women to keep us in our place.

Victoria Nourse Helped Write the Violence Against Women Act. She Knows Policy Change Matters in the Struggle to End Gender-Based Violence.

PUBLISHED 8/21/2025 by

On the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, the Georgetown Law professor and vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reflected on how VAWA has shifted culture when it comes to gender-based violence—and what tools activists can use now to continue the work.

“No one would’ve thought someone like me would’ve been able to do the kinds of things I’ve done. My older sisters didn’t have the opportunities I have … but the world opened up. Things can change quite quickly in politics.”

“There’s just many, many reasons why ERA is something not to let go of. … They never really say women are unequal. They believe women are equal, but they say, ‘Oh, but transgender,’ ‘Oh, but something else,’ and so, they divide us. It’s really important for all of us to be united because Congress can change the deadline [in the preamble of the ERA].”

Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, “How Feminists are Breaking the Cycle of Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (with Ellen Sweet, Jane Caputi, Vanessa Tyson, Victoria Nourse, and Debra Katz)” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Over a Million Women Are at Risk of a Pay Cut Under a New Trump Rule

PUBLISHED 8/20/2025 by

The Trump administration’s Department of Labor recently proposed a new rule that would directly take earnings away from the more than 1.5 million home care workers in the United States, more than 80 percent women, and their families.

Between 2019 and 2040, the population of adults ages 65 and older is expected to balloon from 54 million people to nearly 81 million people, comprising an estimated 22 percent of the U.S. population. That means that the direct care workforce is projected to grow at a faster rate than any other occupation over the next decade.