Women Saving Democracy: A Secretaries of State Explainer

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.

The Prosecutors Pledging Not to Enforce Abortion Bans: ‘Courageous Leadership the Moment Demands’

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.

Harnessing the Power of Women Voters

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.

‘The People’s Lawyers’: Attorneys General Letitia James and Dana Nessel on Reclaiming and Rebuilding U.S. Democracy

On Sept. 7, Ms. recorded a “fireside chat”-style discussion with Attorneys General Letitia James (N.Y.) and Dana Nessel (Mich.)—two trailblazers in the fight for justice and democracy—moderated by election administration expert and governor of the United States Postal Service, Amber McReynolds.

Here are our favorite moments of that conversation.  

Demystifying Cyber: Tennisha Martin, the Ethical Hacker Who Founded BlackGirlsHack

It will take a paradigm shift to defend our national security moving forward. Women and people of color should be at the forefront of this effort. Demystifying Cybersecurity drives a critical conversation on race in the cybersecurity industry, and shining a light on Black experts in their fields.

This month: Tennisha Martin, the executive director and founder of BlackGirlsHack, a national cybersecurity nonprofit dedicated to providing education and resources to underserved communities and increasing diversity in cybersecurity.

In 1953, ‘Queen-Crazy’ American Women Looked to Queen Elizabeth II as a Source of Inspiration

For many American women, at a time when women were expected to conform to traditional roles of a housewife and homemaker, Queen Elizabeth II was ascending the throne of a powerful country. In the words of one psychologist interviewed for a 1953 Los Angeles Times article, for the first time “the women of America have found a heroine who makes them feel superior to men.”