New York

What This Moment Requires of Us: Women, Voting Rights and the Battle for Representation

PUBLISHED 2/6/2026 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:
—As February begins and we mark Black History Month, I’m reminded that the fight for a more representative democracy has always been carried forward by women who refused to accept exclusion as inevitable.
—”Republicans in Congress have unveiled a new bill that would impose the most extreme voting restrictions ever proposed at the federal level,” warns Democracy Docket of the so-called “Make Elections Great Again” (MEGA) Act.
—Washington, D.C.’s legendary delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, will not run for re-election this year after 35 years in office.
—Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Coral Gables resident who co-founded Latinas for Trump, is now concerned about the overt racial profiling and indiscriminate aggression against citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented people alike. 
—In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan leads polls and just secured the endorsement of incumbent Sen. Tina Smith in her bid for the Democratic nomination for Senate.

… and more.

A Catch-22 for Survivors of Domestic Violence: Trump Admin Simultaneously Slashes Housing and VAWA Funds

PUBLISHED 1/23/2026 by

Federally underfunded programs that support survivors of domestic violence have struggled to provide services for years. Now, the Trump administration’s budget bill threatens to sever the last lifelines many women’s shelters were clinging to: funding for the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care programs. 

Thanks to callous indifference from Republican lawmakers, obliterating women’s emergency services will leave the blood of women and children across the nation on their hands. In the U.S., domestic violence is typically treated with band-aid solutions rather than infrastructural change that would decrease need for places like shelters—something most lawmakers have never relied on themselves.

I Grew Up Wanting to Be Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I’m Coming of Age Under Trump.

PUBLISHED 1/19/2026 by

As a 17-year-old, marking one full year since Donald Trump’s inauguration, I have now spent half my life under his administration. I am growing into adulthood in a world where I may have to travel across state lines for an abortion; where I’ll be penalized more for my gender than men are penalized for their misconduct; where the very leaders meant to protect my rights are actively stripping them away. 

Keeping Score: Renee Good Fatally Shot by ICE; Women Work Longer and Are Paid Less Worldwide; N.Y. Fights Back Against Federal Childcare Freeze

PUBLISHED 1/15/2026 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—”We had whistles. They had guns,” said Becca Good, wife of Renee Good, who was killed in Minneapolis by ICE agent Jonathan Ross.
—In central Texas, five months after the Sandy Creek flooding, “many are still homeless, and only 36 percent of FEMA claims in our area have been approved,” said survivor Brandy Gerstner. “FEMA must be independent, fully funded and strengthened—because when it fails to function, real families pay the price.”
—Anti-Muslim and anti-South Asian hate increased around the election of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
—The Department of Veterans Affairs announced new abortion bans.
—Meta has removed the social media accounts of dozens of reproductive health and LGBTQ groups.
—Women worldwide earn just a third of what men do when unpaid domestic labor is taken into account.

… and more.

Recognizing Movements and Watching Elections: How We Build Lasting Political Power

PUBLISHED 1/9/2026 by

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, sports and entertainment, judicial offices and the private sector—with a little gardening mixed in!

This week:
—New York City’s council speaker Adrienne Adams offers an account of what changes when representation reaches governing power.
—2026 elections across the globe will be a big year for the health of democracy.
—Ohio joins the growing national effort to honor women’s political history.

… and more.

A Feminist Historian’s Year-End Reading and Viewing Guide

PUBLISHED 12/7/2025 by

As the year winds down, I find myself returning—as I always do—to the stories, performances and ideas that have shaped my teaching and thinking. Feminism’s past is never really past; it’s a living archive we carry with us, full of unresolved questions, missteps, breakthroughs and beautiful, complicated people. This year’s reading and viewing list reflects that sensibility.

Liberation forces its contemporary narrator—and its audience—to reckon with the impossible expectations we’ve placed on small groups of women in church basements.

Molly Jong-Fast’s memoir presses on the tender, maddening ties between feminist foremothers and the daughters who grew up in their shadow.

Sarah Weinman’s study of spousal rape laws exposes just how recently the law stopped treating wives’ bodies as open territory—while showing how fiercely survivors and advocates have had to push for change that should never have been controversial.

Where ACA Premiums Could Spike Most in 2026 if Congress Lets Enhanced Tax Credits Expire

PUBLISHED 12/4/2025 by , , , , and

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) offers premium tax credits to help make health insurance more affordable. Under original Affordable Care Act provisions, an income cap for premium tax credits was set at 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Above that threshold, federal financial assistance was not available, creating a “subsidy cliff.”

Enhanced premium tax credits expire at the end of this year. Enrollees currently receiving premium tax credits at any level of income will see their federal assistance decrease or disappear if enhanced premium tax credits expire, with an average increase of 114 percent to what enrollees pay in premiums net of tax credits.

The impact will be greatest for those whose unsubsidized premiums are highest: older Marketplace enrollees and those living in higher-premium locales.