Disabled couples are still forced to choose between love and survival due to an unjust “marriage penalty” baked into U.S. law that puts their benefits, healthcare and autonomy at risk.
Disabled Women
Quilt Honors Survivors of Forced Sterilization in California Prisons: ‘Together We Rise’
A new quilt commemorating survivors of forced sterilization in California prisons exposes a long, ongoing history of reproductive and medical violence against incarcerated and marginalized women.
This Is Not Just a Budget. It’s a War on Women.
They didn’t just vote to gut programs. They voted to gut women’s lives.
Last week, in the dark of night, House Republicans passed a budget bill that slashes billions in federal spending on Medicaid, SNAP (food assistance), childcare, home energy assistance and disability support. The budget bill will cut direct support to tens of millions of working-class families—and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, millions more will lose their health insurance through changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. This is not just cruel. It’s calculated. And it will hit women hardest.
We have one month to stop these devastating cuts.
I’m a Single Mom Raising Three Kids. A Year of Guaranteed Income Gave Us Breathing Room.
Front & Center began as first-person accounts of Black mothers in Jackson, Miss., receiving a guaranteed income. Now in its fourth year, the series is expanding to explore broader systemic issues affecting Black women in poverty, including the safety net, healthcare, caregiving and overall well-being.
“My name is Jasmine, and I’m 33 years old. I’m a mother of three—there’s Nehemiah, my oldest, who is 13. Then there’s my daughter, Harmoni, who is 9, and my youngest, Joshun, is 8 years old. …
“Finding reliable childcare has always been a struggle. There were times when I couldn’t get a job because I couldn’t find childcare or the process of securing a childcare voucher took too long. … My mom isn’t able to help due to being ill, and I don’t hear from my dad much. So, I don’t have a lot of people I can rely on.”
What We’re Up Against: The Challenge of Fighting for Women’s Rights in 2025
As we enter 2025 at what seems to be a heyday of impunity for human rights abuses worldwide, autocratic leaders worldwide are taking note. In countries rich and poor, these leaders are flexing their muscles by curtailing our rights—to speak our minds, control our bodies, vote our consciences and have access to fundamental things as safe shelter, clean water and affordable nutrition, education and healthcare.
At WomenStrong International, our partners across the globe are seeing this ramp-up of restrictions up close.
Ms. Magazine’s Top Feminists of 2024
From top athletes, to community activists, to badass lawmakers, here are our 25 picks for the top U.S. feminists of 2024, and two of the best things they did or said.
Featuring: Kamala Harris, the 27 women who sued the state of Texas for its abortion ban in Zurawski v. Texas, Sarah McBride, abortion providers and funders, Black women voters, Jasmine Crockett, South Carolina’s “Sister Senators” and more.
Close the Gender Giving Gap: Women Need More Charitable Support in Wake of the Election
Despite widespread recognition of gender-based violence, U.S. voters elected a president who a jury held accountable for sexual abuse and who openly disparages women—at once sending a chilling message to survivors and emboldening their abusers. Just days after the election, we heard from a survivor who reported that her boyfriend told her he could do […]
How Care Became a Key Issue This Election
In response to voters’ needs and demands, the issue of care has been receiving outsized attention during this year’s election season.
“If there’s no one to work because there’s no one to care, then we have a problem,” said Ai-jen Poo, founder of Caring Across Generations.
“If the lack of affordable and accessible childcare is what’s holding women back from reaching their economic potential, then we should make childcare affordable and accessible,” said Reshma Saujani, founder of Moms First. “As we head into the final weeks of the election, one thing is clear: The conversation has shifted. Childcare has finally been elevated into the national conversation.”
Building Families Is Under Attack
Mainstream conversations about becoming pregnant, giving birth and creating a family are full of ableist ideals about what everything should look like.
What if, instead of shaming mothers for needing support, we embraced the ups and downs of each birth and fertility story for what it is: a unique and personal story?
In the U.S., Marriage Functions More Like a Privilege—Not an Equal Basic Right
An excerpt from Allison Raskin’s new book, I Do (I Think): Conversations About Marriage.
“This elevation of marriage is a problem for multiple reasons, because as we know well by this point in the chapter, not everyone has the same level of access to it—legally or financially. The fight for true marriage equality didn’t end with the federal legalization of same-sex marriage, and it is impossible to ignore the classist, ableist and patriarchal forces at play when it comes to who can get married easily and what those marriages end up looking like. “