More Than A Magazine, A Movement
On Tuesday, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) introduced a joint resolution to affirm the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), removing the arbitrary deadline for ratification and recognizing the amendment as part of the Constitution.
“We as women have done our job, the states have done their job, and now it’s time for Congress to do its job and pass this resolution,” said Pressley.
Lawmakers in New York will soon vote on an Equal Rights Amendment that explicitly protects reproductive rights.
“The ERA covers everybody’s issues. It’s an opportunity for people to come together and break down some of the silos that usually divide us. It is the embodiment of the values of reproductive justice.”
Today, half of the world’s democratic governments are on the decline. Advocates questioned the correlation between regression on women’s rights and degraded democracies. A New York Times article asserted that such a descent is precisely when “curbs on women’s rights tend to accelerate.” However, that proposition should be considered in reverse.
As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Roe decision and continue to grapple with the new status quo, this much is clear: The tenets of reproductive health, rights and justice—and those of a healthy democracy—are not only inextricably interconnected, but essential to our nation’s promise.
I wasn’t about to explain to a 6-year-old that women had died, were beaten, starved themselves, were imprisoned and force-fed fighting for rights we still do not have over 100 later.
“Finding Ms. felt like coming home—to myself, to my voice, to my intuition, to my knowing.”
We asked what Ms. means to you—and we were moved by your replies. Ms. magazine has been at the forefront of feminist journalism for half a century. The magazine was a brazen act of independence in the 1970s. Our readers recognize the impact Ms. has made over the past 50 years.
To ring in the new year, we asked a few of our favorite feminists—reproductive justice advocates, scholars, legal minds, voting rights activists, Ms. staffers and environmental justice experts—what they are wishing for in 2023.
If 2022 proved anything, it’s that we must continue to organize and channel the collective rage that was triggered by the Court’s reversal of Roe, to not only restore abortion rights across the nation but to push forward toward our goal of full equality. There is no way the movement can be stopped.
It’s important to celebrate our wins and take stock of our losses at a time like this—because they are what will fuel us as we move forward into the new year and meet the new challenges it will bring.
Late afternoon on Wednesday, Dec. 21, feminist leaders and congressional members marched from the House steps to the Senate to demand a vote on the Equal Rights Amendment.
In response, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) promised he’d bring it up for a Senate vote before April of next year.
Looking back on 2022, we moved through multiple Equal Pay Days and April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month… July’s Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention… August’s Women’s Equality Day… October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month… and, just last week, United Nations Human Rights Day. Maybe one day, we won’t need all these special monikers (and painful reminders of just how unequal women are) for these months of the year.
Correct the record, and publish the 28th Amendment once and for all.
As the end of the year and the end of Congress’s lame duck session approaches, congressional leaders and women’s rights advocates are calling on the Senate to vote to list the time limit in the preamble of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), thus officially recognizing the ERA as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.
“[The ERA] would empower Congress to better enforce laws protecting women,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.). “And as we see the constant effort to whittle away at rights for women, everything from choice, they are bulldozing our rights into the ground.”
