She Wins: Here’s to Powerful Black Women Leaders on Screens

PUBLISHED 1/7/2023 by

The 80th Golden Globes is days away. Viola Davis is the only Black female actor nominated in the Motion Pictures-Drama category.

In The Woman King, Davis plays the Agojie general of an all-female warrior unit and embodies the fierceness of this leader, while delivering a performance characterized by maternal softness and emotional vulnerability—traits often reserved on screen for white femininity. While not nominated for any Golden Globes this year, Bridgerton received 15 Emmy Award nominations in 2022 and this spring another powerful Black woman graces the screen, Queen Charlotte. Bridgerton is an opportunity to reevaluate diversity, equity and inclusion on the screen. Casting people of color provides jobs to talented actors who would otherwise be overlooked, but mere “inclusion” in the frame is insufficient.

January 2023 Reads for the Rest of Us

PUBLISHED 1/6/2023 by

Each month, I provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups. Here’s to a new year and, hopefully, a better one for us all. I wish you a year of peace, collectivity, good health, bountiful joy and, of course, fantastic reading! You can start with these 33 titles that I am most excited about this month. 

Denying Access to Abortion Is Femicide

PUBLISHED 1/6/2023 by and

It has been just over two years since the imposition of a near-total ban on abortion across Poland. The ban removed almost all conditions in which a woman can access abortion care, leaving millions of women in the dark when it comes to deciding what happens to their bodies. 

It is more critical than ever that we stand up to support access to life-saving abortion care, especially those with the power to liberalize laws. There are millions of lives depending on it. 

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: How the House Speaker Delay Hinders Democracy; Two Women Are Now First and Second in Line for U.S. Presidency

PUBLISHED 1/6/2023 by

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

This week: as the House begins its fourth day of speaker voting, a reminder that ranked-choice voting could save time and energy; Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has been elected president pro-tempore, making her third in line to the presidency; the percentage of women in Congress is just 27.9 percent; and more.

Rest in Power: Barbara Walters—Legend, Inspiration and Friend

PUBLISHED 1/5/2023 by

The death of Barbara Walters is such a loss. We were professional colleagues and towards the end of our sometimes overlapping journeys as women in media, we became friends … not the kind of ‘share everything with’ friend, but a friendship based on the recognition that we had faced similar challenges and learned along the way the importance of showing up for other women.

I never aspired to ‘be’ Barbara, but like every woman in media then and now, I benefited from the battles she took on, the challenges she met and overcame, and the sacrifices she made to do the work she loved. I miss her on television and in my world.

How ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’ Made Me a More Empathic Doctor

PUBLISHED 1/5/2023 by

Watching the novel-turned-television show Fleishman Is in Trouble now, I am struck by how Rachel’s traumatic birth left the Fleishmans in trouble. Her birth story helped me realize how much my own traumatic birth transformed me as a doctor.

The show helps us feel the absurdity in insinuating that Rachel could have moved on from her delivery simply and gracefully, content to be alive and physically unscathed, perhaps attending therapy to help her cope. Taffy Brodesser-Akner shrewdly summed this all up when she wrote, Rachel “was what this doctor thought she was. She was nothing. She was just a woman.”

We Need to Push Harder for Women’s Representation in Leadership

PUBLISHED 1/5/2023 by

Yes, it’s great that we have three more women governors now, a new record. And that an additional two seats in Congress will be held by women.

But when you look at those numbers more closely, the picture isn’t quite so bright: Women are still nowhere near where we deserve to be. More than 50 percent of the U.S. population is female, so it begs the question: Why are we still so underrepresented in these influential roles? And more importantly, what can we do to ensure that we finally achieve equal representation?

The PUMP Act Is Here. Now, We Normalize

PUBLISHED 1/4/2023 by

Last week, President Biden signed off on a $1.7 trillion spending package that has everybody buzzing about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. Less discussion has surrounded another piece of legislation included in the omnibus, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections (PUMP) for Nursing Mothers Act—a long-awaited victory for all breastfeeding, chest-feeding and exclusively pumping parents working outside of the home.

Why is there so much resistance to women pumping in the workplace?