More Than A Magazine, A Movement
If media commentators want to provide their audiences with deeper insights into the nature of the dangerous escalation in violent rhetoric and action that has accompanied the rise of Donald Trump and the radicalization of the GOP, examining the relationship between masculinities and violence is a good place to start.
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 in this biweekly round-up.
This week: President Biden orders that abortion care be provided when necessary in the Veterans Health Administration; federal judge rules that religious employers don’t need to include HIV prevention drug PrEP in health insurance coverage; New Mexico to built $10 million abortion clinic near its Texas border; 650 U.S. locations change names with anti-Indigenous roots; South Carolina House passes abortion ban; Minnesota sees the U.S.’s largest-ever strike of private-sector nurses; and more.
For every dollar a white man makes, a Black woman earns 63 cents.
Along with severe wage inequality, Black women continue to be disproportionately overrepresented in low-paying, service-oriented jobs. More than one-third of the essential workers—many of them the people who have powered our country throughout the pandemic—are Black women. COVID-19, inflation and stagnant wages have laid bare how necessary it is for our elected representatives to act by voting to increase the minimum wage and creating a robust paid family and medical leave package accessible to all.
Young people can play a crucial role in saving U.S. democracy and defeating candidates that threaten our future of free and fair elections.
State attorneys general are touted as the “people’s lawyers”—yet the majority are white and male.
The office of attorney general is the central legal division of the states and exists in all 50 states. Attorneys general dictate the state’s law enforcement priorities as well as where resources flow. Almost half of all U.S. states have never had a woman in the role.
Ever since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June, the national gaze has shifted towards state-level leadership.
The secretary of state is vital to the effective functioning of state government. Responsibilities of the secretary of state vary but, overall, administering election law is one of their most pertinent duties. Only 22 percent of our nation’s secretaries of state are women. In 2022, 27 states are holding elections for the position of secretary of state.
A growing group of prosecutors is pledging to use their discretion to not prosecute abortion cases.
“It is my hope and belief that more prosecutors will take a stand and be on the right side of history on this issue,” said Miriam Krinsky, executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, a nonprofit that supports elected prosecutors who are looking to reimagine the justice system.
Reflections from a former secretary of state—on her time in office and her work today as an advocate and champion for free and fair elections.
“Government shouldn’t be a hands-off, secret system where only a few are allowed to participate. I saw the need for different voices and ideas.”
Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election inspired threats and harassment against election officials—most of whom are women. As we head into the midterms, here’s how we can support these essential workers.
In 2017, a year into the presidency of Donald Trump, three notable women—Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, former Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards, and executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Ai-jen Poo—looked to harness the sudden rage and confusion felt by women across the U.S. Garza, Poo and Richards announced the start of a women’s equality organization called Supermajority, a multiracial coalition of women organizing around issues like paid leave and affordable healthcare. The group’s name hearkens to the fact that women make up more than half of the U.S. population.
These days, Amanda Brown Lierman is the executive director of both Supermajority and the Supermajority Education Fund, a sister nonprofit organization for research, education and development programs that prepare women civic leaders. And Lierman and her team have their eye on the prize: the 2022 midterms.