More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Stories covering the fight for gender-based rights across all regions of the world and stories of international coalitions advocating for global feminist change.
Feeling the optimism of the moment and the energy of a fired-up political base, Ms. spoke with Black feminist scholar Carole Boyce Davies on the legacy, meanings and promises of Kamala Harris’ presidential run.
“We have to be ready to see the new reality, and then to move with it.”
Posing women’s leadership writ large as an open and unanswered question—and questioning the electability of a candidate who has made a career of supporting women’s lives and fundamental rights in an election largely defined by these issues—is nothing short of irresponsible journalism. Women lead politics around the world every single day.
Black women are electable if we elect them.
The climate crisis is already quietly killing millions. It, along with other ecological crises, is set to potentially kill a billion humans and countless nonhumans—those least responsible for causing it. But here is a truth you will rarely hear: The death count predictions are premised on the current reproductive rights models, the ones that caused the crisis to begin with.
In late December 2023, 16-year-old Zahra* said a goodbye to her mother as she left home wearing a long, ankle-length dress. She went to her cousin’s shop in west Kabul, home to more than one million Hazara-Shias. Her mother didn’t see her again for two weeks.
They were among the untold numbers of young women arrested for what the Taliban deemed to be violations of their dress code or “bad hijab.” In January, some of those women told Zan Times about their horrific experiences of detention, abuse and torture in Taliban custody.
The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.
This week: News from Afghanistan, South Korea, Bulgaria, Serbia and more.
Albert Einstein once said, “In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.” This maxim guides Israeli-American visual artist Tamara Gayer in her work to promote peace between Israel and Palestine. Gayer actively works to build U.S. financial support and raise funds for two anti-war organizations, Standing Together and A Land for All.
She spoke to Ms. as the war entered its eighth month: “A thirst for policies and organizations that do not pit the needs of Palestinians against those of Israelis, and vice versa, fills a deep need.”
“Imagine if culturally we understood that protecting Black women meant protecting all of us,” said Patrisse Cullors, renowned for her activist work with Black Lives Matter, a global network she co-founded in 2013 with Alicia Garza and Ayo Tometi. “I think that’s what this show means to me.”
The show referenced here, “dedicated to all Black women and femmes around the world,” is the exhibit Between the Warp and Weft: Weaving Shields of Strength and Spirituality—an introduction to Cullors as an artist wielding her protection spell over Black women. The exhibit opens Saturday, June 15, at the Charlie James Gallery in downtown Los Angeles.
This month, citizens across Europe headed to the polls to vote for their representatives to European Parliament. Representatives are directly elected by voters in E.U. member states every five years, and European Parliament is responsible for passing a wide array of laws, including human rights and equality measures.
Far-right parties made significant gains, even going so far as to elect representative from neo-fascist parities. This will mean substantial setbacks in gender equality. In the past, far-right parties have cut funding for tackling gender-based violence, restricted access to reproductive healthcare and abortion, and suppressed speech around gender equality issues and LGBTQ+ rights.
On April 15, 2024, the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced an Uber driver to 15 years in prison with hard labor for attempted kidnapping, driving under the influence of drugs and document forgery. The victim, 24-year-old Habiba el Shamaa, died on March 14 after 21 days in a coma following critical injuries she sustained when jumping out of the moving vehicle.
Uber is partly to blame for the death of el Shamaa, but the larger misogynistic context that has normalized violence against women in the region should not be ignored. At the core of this violence in Egypt and throughout the region is the common belief that the home is a woman’s only legitimate space.
On June 2, over 60 percent of registered Mexican voters went to the polls for a monumental election, with over 20,000 public offices up for grabs at the federal and local levels. This election was historic, as a woman was elected to hold the highest office in Mexico for the first time. This transition did not occur naturally; it resulted from consistent, permanent debate at all levels by activists, institutions, academics and women in politics who worked together across party lines to close the political gender gap. Although there is still a long way to go to achieve substantive gender parity in public life, Mexico’s progress can and should be a valuable lesson to the U.S.