More Than A Magazine, A Movement
As politicians praise mothers with platitudes, the U.S. continues to underfund childcare, undervalue care work and ignore the real economic needs of women.
It’s time to turn Mother’s Day into a rallying cry for women’s economic justice and real investment in care.
As reproductive rights continue to be under siege, we remember Katharine Dexter McCormick, a key figure in expanding access to birth control pills in the U.S.
At one point in the late 1940s or early ’50s, McCormick had been one of the richest women in America, but what made her truly remarkable was what she did with that wealth: Defying countless contemporary social norms, mores and medical taboos, she provided almost all of the funding necessary to make oral contraception a reality. McCormick’s fortune, fearlessness and feminism mean that she can lay claim to being the mother of the modern pill. Her name is barely known.
With just 3.5 percent of the population engaged in sustained, strategic resistance, history shows democracy can prevail over authoritarianism—starting right where you live.
An excerpt from Jill Elaine Hasday’s latest book, We the Men:
“From the start, women mobilizing for equality have endeavored to enrich and expand America’s dominant stories about itself. But attempts to focus public memory on women have repeatedly faced determined and protracted opposition, for generations and to the present day.
“Consider the opposition to placing Harriet Tubman’s image on the $20 bill.”
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: The 2024 election is not yet over for North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs; Kat Abughazaleh in Illinois and Deja Foxx in Arizona are redefining what it means to run for office; debunking any suggestion that women and racial minorities are not electable; and more.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: Remembering Abigail Adams’ warning to her husband, “Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could”; Susan Crawford won the most expensive judicial election in American history; Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) is leading the push to allow proxy voting for expectant mothers in Congress, but some of her Republican colleagues are standing in the way; new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney eliminated the position of minister for women and gender equality and youth from his Cabinet; and more.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris did not lose to Donald Trump because they were women; Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows announces run for governor; it’s looking increasingly likely that a woman may be elected in 2026 in Alaska; women will disproportionately feel the effect of Trump’s tariffs; and more.
This Women’s History Month, we remember President Jimmy Carter’s role in establishing this official observance of women’s achievements, his related support for the Equal Rights Amendment, and some unsung heroes in the Senate Wives Club who were instrumental in gaining Carter’s support for an ERA milestone that advanced, but ultimately failed to achieve, ERA ratification.
The contributions of Senate wives in the 1970s, particularly their efforts to help delay the ERA’s ratification deadline, often go unrecognized even today.
Women—especially Black women—are still fighting for equal rights and opportunities in the U.S. Meanwhile, members of Congress are threatening to undermine the hard-fought, fundamental right to vote for all Americans, including millions of women, under the guise of misleading allegations of voter fraud. And they’re ironically calling it the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act.
Make no mistake: The SAVE Act is not going to “save” anything. This legislation would create unnecessary barriers to registering to vote in every state. It would require all voters to provide proof of citizenship documents in person when registering to vote or updating their registration—provisions that effectively end online, automatic, and mail-in voter registration. Women who change their name after marriage or divorce would face unnecessary barriers to registering to vote.
Liberation—running off-Broadway through April 6—offers a timely exploration of feminism, generational divides, and the persistent struggle for women’s rights, showing how much has changed … and yet how much remains the same.