Women in Politics

Ms. spotlights stories of women making political change by holding office and pioneering legislation all over the world, from the local to the federal level—despite the sex discrimination they often face in their positions.

A Government That Chooses War Over Childcare

PUBLISHED 4/10/2026 by

President Donald Trump made his priorities unmistakable when he dismissed federal support for childcare, telling his budget director: “Don’t send any money for daycare. … We’re fighting wars.” In choosing to fund a costly, unpopular war in Iran over investing in families, the administration is treating childcare as optional—something states should handle alone—even as costs soar beyond what most households can afford.

That decision comes amid a deepening affordability crisis. Childcare now routinely exceeds $1,000 a month per child, and by the government’s own benchmark, true affordability would require families to earn close to $400,000 a year.

While federal dollars have historically helped states provide care, the administration is pulling back—and even targeting states that are trying to expand access. The result is a widening gap between what families need and what the government is willing to support.

How Personal Loss Drove Rep. Lauren Underwood to Take On the Black Maternal Health Crisis

PUBLISHED 4/3/2026 by

Excerpted from Stuck: How Money, Media and Violence Prevent Change in Congress by Maya L. Kornberg (published March 10):

Black women are about three times as likely as white women to die of pregnancy-related health conditions.

One of the Black mothers to die tragically was Shalon Irving, Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.)’s friend. Irving was a successful scientist, who had befriended Underwood when they were both students at Johns Hopkins University.

Underwood remembered going to the funeral: “It was … unimaginable. Her baby was there, her mom was there, the director of the CDC was there. All of these other uniformed public health officials were there, and everybody was stunned. How could this happen?”

Underwood sponsored the 2021 Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act, which addresses inequities in housing, nutrition and transportation that shape maternal health outcomes, and which contains plans to improve maternal mental health resources and data collection and to combat racial bias in prenatal care.

Underwood’s advocacy is a direct result of her personal experience.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Election Is the Next Big Test in a High-Stakes Year for Democracy

PUBLISHED 4/1/2026 by

As attention builds toward the 2026 election cycle, the first major political test is already underway. Early in-person voting has begun for Wisconsin’s April 7 state Supreme Court election–a high-stakes contest that, despite its “nonpartisan” label, reflects the same ideological battles reshaping courts across the country.

The race pits two sitting Wisconsin Court of Appeals judges—Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar—against each other to fill an open seat left by conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley, who announced last August she would not seek reelection. Both candidates are women, so the April 7 result will not change one defining feature of the court: its overwhelming female majority. Women hold six of the seven seats, more than any other state supreme court in the nation (though all are white, in a state where more than one in five residents identifies as a person of color.) 

Though candidates do not run with party labels, Taylor is widely seen as the liberal-backed candidate, while Lazar, a member of the Federalist Society, aligns with conservative legal networks that have spent decades building influence in both federal and state courts.

Wisconsin is one of 23 states (and Washington D.C.) that have same-day registration, allowing you to register at the polls on April 7 when you go to cast your ballot. You can also register in advance of Election Day. The deadline for early in-person registration at your local clerk’s office is April 3 at 5 p.m. Early in person voting began on March 24 and runs through April 5. 

14 Powerful Lines From Justice Jackson’s Dissent on Conversion Therapy: ‘Like It or Not, Treatment Standards Exist in America’

PUBLISHED 3/31/2026 by

The Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ youth, ruling the law likely violates the First Amendment—a decision advocates warn will put young people at risk.

In a rare and forceful move, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson delivered her dissent from the bench.

We’ve pulled the most powerful, incisive—and yes, spiciest—lines from her 35-page dissent. Read, share your favorite line, and help lift up a dissent that refuses to mince words about what’s at stake.

Furious, Fearless and Defiant: Our Favorite Protest Signs From No Kings 3.0

PUBLISHED 3/30/2026 by and

On Saturday, March 28, 2026, millions showed up for the latest wave of No Kings protests, drawing an estimated 8 million people across more than 3,300 events worldwide.

The flagship event was held in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the site of a controversial immigration enforcement surge resulting in the deaths of two residents, Renée Nicole Macklin Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of federal agents.

Could This Be the Last Women’s History Month?

PUBLISHED 3/27/2026 by

Since 1987, the United States has celebrated Women’s History Month every March.

We have used this month to correct the record. To make sure that the women who built this nation—who are often systematically written out of history books and erased from the stories we tell ourselves about who we are—are named out loud and recognized. It is a national reminder that women are not a footnote to the American project. We are central to it.

But today, just shy of its 40th anniversary, Women’s History Month celebrations are quietly disappearing. Not because communities stopped caring—but because an administration decided that honoring women is a threat.

Harriet Tubman did not free herself and stop. Fannie Lou Hamer did not survive a Mississippi jail cell to just go home. Shirley Chisholm did not run for president, unbought and unbossed, so that we could sit down now.

It’s up to us now to saddle up and make sure that future generations of women and girls can not only know about the incredible shared history of the bad ass women that helped shape the world, but can feel the full freedom of it—which means we now have work to do. 

We ride at dawn.

Republicans Want Tougher Mail-In Voting Rules. SCOTUS Could Deliver.

PUBLISHED 3/24/2026 by

On March 24, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Watson v. the RNC, a case challenging whether states can count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, if they were postmarked on or before Election Day. Mississippi—along with Washington, D.C., and 13 other states—currently allows this practice, which Republicans are seeking to block.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaled like they’re going to agree with the Republican challengers.

In advance of this Supreme Court ruling, states can send out ballots earlier, expand early in-person voting, and remove requirements that you need an excuse to vote early or absentee.

The SAVE Act Is Designed to Erode Access to the Ballot. The Woman Who Built the Largest Voter Protection Operation in History Is Not Surprised.

PUBLISHED 3/23/2026 by | UPDATED 3/24/2026 at 8:44 A.M. PT

The Senate has begun debating the SAVE America Act—a bill that would require Americans to show a birth certificate or passport just to register to vote.

Rachana Desai Martin is not surprised. She has spent her entire career watching exactly this happen.

Desai Martin is one of the only people in the country who has spent her career building the infrastructure to protect both voting rights and reproductive rights. She has seen both fights from the inside. And what she sees—clearly, consistently, without drama—is that these are not two separate battles.

“At base, both of these things are really about power and control,” she told me. “When we’re advocating for reproductive rights, it’s to give people power over their own bodies and their lives and their families and their futures. When we’re talking about voting rights, it’s to give people the power to pick their representatives and have their government work for them.”

Same target. Same architecture. Same playbook.

Juliana Stratton’s Big Senate Win, Kristi Noem’s Next Steps and the Origins of Women’s History Month

PUBLISHED 3/21/2026 by

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!

This week:
—Illinois primaries feature a big U.S. Senate win for Juliana Stratton.
—The IPU/U.N. Women Report on Women in Politics presents a sobering global snapshot.
—Mississippi will remain the only state that has never sent a woman to the U.S. House.
—Ranked-choice voting is being used for student elections at over 100 colleges and universities.

… and more.