Meet the New Feminists in Congress Who Are Fighting Back

The progressive women newly elected and sworn into office—including three non-incumbent senators and 16 representatives—offer a glimmer of “bright hope” as the country enters a second Trump administration.

All of these women know that they’re entering a complicated political landscape, one that’s heavily partisan and disheartening to many of their constituents. They’re also experienced and driven, ready to work across the aisle as necessary while remaining dedicated to important causes, from protecting abortion rights and supporting the LGBTQ+ community to advocating for gun control, judicial reform, affordable healthcare and public education. These women come from all walks of life, sectors of the workforce and backgrounds. Some worked retail or food service jobs to pay their way through school. Others have been lifelong public servants or dedicated themselves to volunteering. They’ve been working physicians, engineers, attorneys, climate change activists, CIA analysts, mayors, state representatives and senators, education advocates, executive directors of nonprofits and small-business owners. They are Black, white, Latina and Middle Eastern. Some are proud members of the LGBTQ+ community. Many are from working-class backgrounds. Some are mothers and even grandmothers. Several are first-generation college graduates or the children of immigrants.

Why Raising the Minimum Wage Beats Tax Breaks for Tipped Workers Every Time

It’s a brand new administration, and the new prez is determined to fight for the underdog—if his past pronouncements can be taken seriously. Case in point? Trump’s campaign declared last June, “When I am president, we will continue our fight for working families of America, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers.”

If the new Congress passes the bill, it should be a real boost for low wage workers who depend on tips to make ends meet—right? Well, not exactly. Cutting taxes on tipped wages sounds great, until you get under the hood and learn that most tipped workers don’t earn enough to pay taxes in the first place. It’s what you might call a phantom benefit, but it sounds good when politicians propose getting rid taxes on tips.

Burnout Is Real. The Remedy Is Pro-Democracy Work.

If experienced democracy activists and funders are feeling burned out, imagine how high school students are feeling.

You may find it hard to consider high school voter registration important when federal health agencies are ordered to cease external communications, when nondiscrimination efforts are stopped in their tracks, when security details are being ominously removed from public servants who face threats to their lives, or when Senate-confirmed inspectors general are fired late at night.

In the face of all this, though, high school voter registration remains important—because democracy is important. Because the power to press back against authoritarianism is in our hands. Because genuine progress is possible and individual and collective effort can make a real difference.

‘Set Up to Fail’: A Mississippi Mother on What the U.S. Gets Wrong About Poverty

A 38-year-old single mother in Jackson shares her struggles with poverty, systemic barriers and the daily sacrifices she makes to create a better future for her children—and why real change begins with investing in Black women like her.

Front & Center began as first-person accounts of Black mothers living in Jackson, Miss., receiving a guaranteed income. Moving into the fourth year and next phase of this series, we’re expanding our focus beyond a single policy intervention to include a broader examination of systemic issues impacting Black women experiencing poverty. This means diving deeper into the interconnected challenges they face—including navigating the existing safety net; healthcare, childcare and elder care; and the importance of mental, physical and spiritual well-being.

The Dangers of Weaponizing Health and Science: The Ms. Q&A with Dr. Michele Goodwin

Within the first few days of his second term, Donald Trump’s threat to the country’s health was evident. The Trump administration has already ordered federal health agencies to cease public communications, directed agencies to cancel meetings to review biomedical research, and pardoned 23 individuals who violently interfered with patients’ care at reproductive health clinics—all without a confirmed secretary for Health and Human Services (HHS). Trump has promised to let his HHS secretary nominee, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “Go wild.” RFK Jr. faces his first of two confirmation hearings this week, on January 29, and a vote will follow sometime in the coming weeks.

Ms. spoke with Dr. Michele Goodwin, the co-faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University and executive producer of Ms. Studios, to understand the devastating health consequences of a Trump-RFK Jr. team, where we can focus our energy in response, and how to hold on to hope over the next four years.

Reflecting on Trump’s Immunity Win Before the Supreme Court as He Strips Security Details From Former Government Officials Under Threat

Mere years after the Civil War, in United States v. Lee, the Court recognized that “[n]o man in this country is so high that he is above the law. No officer of the law may set that law at defiance with impunity. All the officers of the government, from the highest to the lowest, are creatures of the law, and are bound to obey it.” 

One week into the Trump administration, this wisdom rings hollow. 

From Playtime to Patriarchy: The Role of Toys in Gender Inequality

This “toy problem” doesn’t end in childhood—it grows up with kids and follows them into adulthood. When toys restrict a child’s imagination about their possibilities, it stifles development and creates a ripple effect. The path to gender equality must begin at the earliest stages of life—when children first engage with toys, books and screens.

Jodi Bondi Norgaard explores this in her new book More Than a Doll: How Creating a Sports Doll Turned into a Fight to End Gender Stereotypes.

Restoring ‘Truth’ or Restricting Freedom? The Real Impact of Enforcing Gender Binaries

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In a flurry of executive orders this week, President Donald Trump signed one that calls for “accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.” The order, called Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government, seeks to restore the gender binary. 

Let’s be clear: Women do not need to be protected from an inclusive definition of gender or trans people. Nonbinary and trans people exist. Their identities are valid, their rights matter and their existence does not threaten cisgender women or anyone else. 

Enforcing binary language lays the foundation for broader discrimination and exclusion, emboldening harmful policies in communities, workplaces and state governments.