California

‘We Have to Have Hope and We Have to Fight Hard’: The Ms. Q&A With Trailblazing Former Rep. Barbara Lee

This Women’s History Month, as we honor the many women who have helped shape this country throughout the years, I had the opportunity to speak with one such history maker, former longtime U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).

As the first Black woman elected to the State Assembly, State Senate and Congress from Northern California and the highest ranking Black woman appointed to Democratic Leadership, Lee has had a trailblazing nearly three-decade political career.

“There are plenty of things you can do now, and I have found that lifts people’s spirits. They see that they can do something, and it keeps people engaged. Because that’s how democracy’s supposed to work. You’re not going to let a dictator take over, but they will take over, this will be an authoritarian government, which it’s close to being, if in fact we don’t do something,” said Lee.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: N.M.’s Deb Haaland Is Running for Governor; Stacey Abrams to Keynote Democracy Solutions Summit

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

This week’s Weekend Reading includes a piece by RepresentWomen staff members on women and the presidency, women and 2026 races for the Senate, Deb Haaland’s run for governor, women and mayoral races, the U.S. women’s soccer team, losses for women in the German elections, deep fake technology and women candidates, and a link to register for RepresentWomen’s virtual Democracy Solutions Summit from 3 to 5 p.m. EST, March 4-6, featuring an incredible lineup of women experts!

Rolling Up Our Sleeves, Part 2: Enlisting Blue State Government

A fierce feminist resistance is ready to defend women’s rights at the federal level—and creatively expand equality protections in the states. This is the second in a four-part series on the steps activists are taking to fight for our rights amid Trump’s attacks on democracy.

Part 1 covered the organization Democracy Forward and its new initiative Democracy 2025, which is working to counter the Trump administration’s antidemocratic acts with swift legal challenges and other strategic responses. This follow-up discusses the Democratic governors and attorney generals who are working to “Trump-proof” their state’s existing laws and fight for legal protections for their residents. Next Wednesday and Thursday, Part 3 will tackle more specifics of state law and advocacy, while Part 4 will get into the issue of federal funding under Trump.

What Women Do With Political Power—and Why It Matters More Than Ever

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!

This week:
—Lifelong feminist, activist and former president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, died.
—A new report is sobering for anyone who have assumed increased women’s leadership was inevitable.
—Alaska’s legislative session begins, where women hold the majority of seats in the House and bipartisanship is flourishing.
—In New Mexico, women lawmakers have changed the legislative culture, addressing sexual harassment and championing policies to reduce child poverty and protect reproductive rights.

… and more.

We Heart: Altadena Girls Is Turning Nail Polish and Curly Hair Products Into Healing Tools for Fire Survivors

With 40,000 acres burned and more than 13,000 buildings destroyed in the SoCal wildfires, which have decimated whole neighborhoods of Los Angeles over the last two weeks, most recovery efforts have focused on providing shelter and food for the 10,000-plus people evacuated from their homes.

Fourteen-year-old Avery Colvert, whose school was destroyed in the fire, started the donation drive Altadena Girls to help young girl survivors find less obvious (but equally comforting) items. While GoFundMe has countless pages of drives for individual families who lost their homes, Altadena Girls sent out a call on Instagram for supplies like nail polish, pimple patches and curly hair products.

“For teenage girls who have lost everything, feeling like ourselves again is also really important for our mental health.”

The Most-Read Stories of 2024

Every day of 2024, Ms. writers and editors set out to create content that empowered, informed and infuriated readers. We sought out the truth, sounded alarms, asked tough questions, mourned feminist losses (and feminists we lost), looked to gender justice advocates abroad, and handed the microphone over to experts. Dear reader: As we enter a new year and a new era of the movement, we promise you more of this.

Explore the 30 most popular articles published this year on MsMagazine.com—the articles feminists most clicked, shared, studied, bookmarked and passed out at marches.

In the Ms. Winter Issue, We’re Rolling Up Our Sleeves

Now what? That’s what feminists have been wondering since we lost the bright promise of a Kamala Harris presidency on Nov. 5.

We asked Ms. contributing editor Carrie Baker to point the way. For the upcoming issue, she spoke to some of the many leaders and organizations preparing to safeguard decades of hard-fought gains for women and girls, now threatened by the Trump administration and its Project 2025. What she uncovered is a fierce resistance ready to defend our rights at the federal level—and creatively expand equality protections in the states.

All this and so much more awaits you in the Ms. Winter 2025 issue. And, for a limited time, you can get a year of Ms. for just $20—a 43 percent discount from our usual price!

Beverly Hills Blocks All-Trimester Abortion Clinic

In a stark reminder that threats to abortion access lurk even in progressive strongholds, California Attorney General Rob Bonta has taken unprecedented legal action against Beverly Hills for systematically obstructing the opening of an abortion clinic. This battle in one of America’s wealthiest cities highlights how the war on reproductive rights extends far beyond red state borders.

The ‘Woman in Charge’: Diane von Furstenberg’s Lifelong Commitment to Empowering Women, Fashion and Philanthropy

Though her fame as a designer came through the success of her iconic wrap dress, Diane von Furstenberg has said, “I don’t think I had a vocation for fashion; I had a vocation to be a woman in charge.”

Towards the end of the exhibit—on display at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles until Aug. 31, 2025—a QR code directs visitors to sign up for her more recent innovation: the “InCharge platform,” which serves as “a place to rally, where we use our connections to help all women be the women they want to be.” Its aim urges women to make “first a commitment to ourselves” by “owning who we are” and then to use the platform to “connect, expand, inspire, and advocate.” It is her latest project in a lifetime of advocacy meant to strengthen women.

Post-Election Reality Check: Tracking Feminist Setbacks, Resilience and Victories

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 this biweekly roundup.

This week’s special post-election edition is tracking the 2024 election’s bright spots, feminist victories and a full rundown of the challenges and dangers we now face.