More Than A Magazine, A Movement
“There are no guns in Barbieland.”
The characters—and some of the audience, all of whom likely scanned the theater for exits before sitting down (it is the “real world” of America, after all)—sighed deeply, relieved the Kens couldn’t inflict the horrors we see in the news every day.
From the June 1984 issue of Ms. magazine:
“So little is known about the nurses of Vietnam that there are not even accurate statistics on how many were there. Official guesstimates ranged anywhere from 7,500 to 55,000. So, it is not surprising that as vets, they often feel invisible. Countless nurses did not know that they had been entitled to GI education benefits. Unfortunately, for most, the 10-year time period for qualification after leaving the service had expired.
“There were more amputees from Vietnam than any other war. … Nurses often suffered a more severe emotional mauling than soldiers who had respites from combat.”
More and more women have joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) since the country’s large-scale mobilization rapidly rolled out this past year, switching up the traditional wartime narrative that portrays women, and mothers with children especially, as victims of war instead of as agents of change.
(This article originally appears in the Spring 2023 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the issue delivered straight to your mailbox!)
Soldiers charged with crimes ranging from going AWOL and smoking marijuana, to rape and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, can request to leave the Army rather than go to trial.
Three women who challenge traditional gender roles in peace-building and peacekeeping on a daily basis: Anny Modi, Téné Maimouna Zoungrana and Colonel Stephanie Tutton are at the forefront of the humanitarian responses, mobilizing communities, advocating for human rights and the restoration of peace. Their stories testify to their contribution to fostering positive change within peacekeeping operations and demonstrate why we need more women in peace- and political processes and U.N. Peacekeeping.
Forty percent of active-duty service women in the U.S. are stationed in states with abortion bans, as are 43 percent of civilian women working in the military. The time, cost and stress of traveling out of state will no doubt take a tremendous toll not only on women seeking abortion, but on the military itself and national security.
“Women who are active-duty service members do not get to choose what state they live in, which means they could lose abortion access at the whim of any state with an abortion ban.”
Millions of troops and their families stationed on contaminated military installations were exposed to a deadly combination of toxins responsible for triggering fatal illnesses. North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune is perhaps the most notorious example of widespread contamination affecting U.S. army bases.
Congress passed the Honoring Our PACT Act in August to facilitate veterans’ access to improved benefits through the V.A. for service-connected toxic exposure. The bill recognizes 23 new diseases as presumptive conditions—but breast cancer still isn’t one of them.
The Taliban has broken its promise to girls who hoped to forge a path to a brighter future through education. In contrast, the U.S., by taking some simple and practical steps, can ensure that its promise as a beacon of hope and freedom translates to real opportunities for those who reach its shores.
From a feminist perspective, it is clear that it would be unjust to draft women against their will—not because “women are fragile” or in need of paternal care, but because we should not force anyone, regardless of gender, into war-fighting without their full consent. Instead of arguing about women joining the Selective Service, Democrats should join the bipartisan effort to abolish the Selective Service once and for all.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, more than 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have entered Poland. Coupled with the strict abortion laws in Poland and the overall circumstances surrounding the refugee crisis, hundreds of women and other pregnant individuals are now forced to carry their pregnancies to term.
