Tag: Democratic National Convention

The ‘New’ Masculinity Is Actually 50 Years Old

Since the presidential campaign shake-up in July, the national conversation about manhood has been abuzz with talk of a “new” masculinity, embodied by good, decent men like Tim Walz and Doug Emhoff. What’s actually new, though, is what’s coming into focus: the consequences of 50 years of men’s hard work to redefine manhood.

A growing number of men across all races and ethnicities have followed women in working to prevent domestic and sexual violence, protect reproductive rights and redefine and transform traditional ideas about manhood, fatherhood and brotherhood. Men are rejecting a fixed definition of masculinity and replacing it with an emotionally rich expression of masculinities.

Another Reason Project 2025 Is So Bad for Women? Guns.

If implemented, Project 2025 would be devastating for women, families and feminists everywhere. Voters—particularly women voters—need to understand these threats.

But while Project 2025’s abortion and LGBTQ+ rights plans have rightfully garnered outrage, there’s another, lesser-known threat to women, families and communities buried within these pages: a radical “guns everywhere” agenda.

The Feminist Fight for Gender Equity: Lisa Ann Walter and Advocates Renew Push for ERA Ahead of 2024 Elections

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, the battle to restore abortion rights has been front and center. Less visible are efforts to enshrine women’s equality into the Constitution—the continuation of a campaign that conservatives thought they killed more than 40 years ago. Not true.

Champions of the ERA have been working tirelessly to get Congress to publish the 101-year-old measure that would ban gender-based discrimination. Although women have made considerable strides over the last century, a constitutional right is the only guarantee they will make further gains and keep them in perpetuity.

The Political Life of Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’

The sonic power of Beyoncé’s “Freedom” has done the work in freeing our minds to imagine women’s leadership on the world stage. It has found new life articulating a “Freedom” agenda for presidential nominee Harris. Harris’ campaign insists on forward movement. This freedom story of the nation and the world is far from over. It’s this possibility of leadership that is quite on brand with Beyoncé’s “Freedom.”

Tim Walz’s DNC Speech Was a Masculinity-Themed Populist Pep Talk

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz introduced himself to the country with a rousing acceptance speech at the DNC. He used blunt, evocative language as one might expect from a man who’s been a high school teacher, Army master sergeant, football coach and politician.

Once he had established himself as a powerful, confident man and assertive leader, Walz was ready to pivot to Kamala Harris’ qualities of leadership and why he supports her, helping her to rebuild her identity as a tough prosecutor. Perhaps more than anything, this is the role that Walz plays on the Democratic ticket. His very presence and persona says to men—including some fairly traditional white men in the Midwestern battleground states—that Kamala Harris is someone they, too, can and should support. 

‘Suffs’ Celebrates 51 Years of Women’s Equality Day

This year we commemorate the 51st anniversary of Women’s Equality Day with perhaps more optimistic urgency than ever before.

Amid the buzz, there has been an overt, palpable melding of pop culture and politics. That includes on Broadway, where the two-time Tony Award winning show, Suffs, tells the story of the fight for women’s suffrage—and all the humanity and perfectly imperfect organizing strategies of the cadre of activists who won the right to vote for women—in song.  

How Kamala Harris Is Changing the 2024 Electorate

Vice President Kamala Harris has changed the face of the upcoming presidential election, but she also appears to be changing the face of this year’s electorate.

A pattern has existed for decades: When Democrats win the presidency, it is usually because of their support among women. With Harris in the race, the electorate is likely to be younger, more female and more supportive of abortion rights than it would have been with President Biden as the Democratic nominee, polls have found. In the eight days after Biden withdrew from the race and tapped Harris, the motivation to vote among people in five battleground states jumped 42 points. The shift in enthusiasm was even greater among women, but Harris maintained Biden’s level of 37 percent support among men too.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: Women-Led Convos at the DNC; Stacey Abrams and I Are Done With the Electoral College

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

This week: We recap the DNC; take a closer look at the 2024 Gender Parity Index, specifically in Michigan; analyze the results of the Alaska ranked-choice voting primary election for Congress and last month’s Rwanda parliamentary elections; and advocate for the importance of integrating a gender lens into all areas of philanthropy.

‘The Future Is Here!’: America Is Finally Ready for a Woman President

Eight years ago, Hillary Clinton made history as the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party. A proud feminist, she embraced the trailblazing nature of her campaign, portraying it as a quest to break the “highest, hardest glass ceiling.” But winning the popular vote still didn’t enable her to shatter the glass. A greater equality, the dream of generations of women, remained just that—a dream. Another woman would have to make it come true.

This week, in what might have been the waning days of her second term, Clinton declared in a full-throated speech at the Democratic National Convention, that “the future is here.” It is Kamala Harris, she said, who can smash that centuries-old ceiling once and for all.

Democratic Party Platform Centers Women’s Rights

At the DNC in Chicago, party leaders approved the 2024 Democratic party platform Monday evening, promising to protect and strengthen women’s rights. The 91-page document is a stark contrast to the Republican platform, which promises to continue the dismantling of women’s rights started during Donald Trump’s first term in office.

Here are some of the parts of the Democratic party platform focused on women’s rights—including restoring abortion access, protecting contraception access, and making the Equal Rights Amendment the law of the land.