Tag: Obama Administration

Donald Trump’s Pants-on-Fire Claim That Kamala Harris ‘Became’ Black

Trump said Harris was Indian and then “made a turn” and “became a Black person.”

This is blatant mischaracterization of Harris’ heritage and how she has spoken about, and has identified with, her racial background and ethnicity. Harris, born of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, has long identified as a Black woman who grew up in a multicultural household. She attended a historically Black university, pledged a historically Black sorority, and has given interviews and written about her experience embracing her Indian culture while living as a Black woman.

Kamala Harris Is Older, Wiser … and Cooler

and

Kamala Harris has rapidly assumed the mantel of cool, youthful candidate. Among Gen Z, she is “brat,” with Charli XCX, Olivia Rodrigo and Beyoncé lining up fast for the cause. Among the older crowd, longstanding debate over whether the vice president qualifies as a Baby Boomer—born in 1964, she is just on the cusp—rages on. It is apparently a hill Gen X is prepared to die on, citing her penchant for Chuck Taylors as proof.

Either way, at nearly 60 years old, Harris has achieved what might have seemed impossible before this moment: She has changed the perception of what it looks and sounds like to be a vibrant and capable “older” woman. We see a woman who radiates from the certainty of age and of knowing herself. Quite frankly, it is a gorgeous sight.

At Its Moment of Peril, Democracy Needs Journalists to Be Activists

If U.S. democracy falls, one key enabler will have been the most consequential failure to date of a vital institution doing its job: journalism.

It makes my journalism friends profoundly and understandably uncomfortable to think of themselves as activists. But if they won’t use their platforms to raise the alarm loudly and persistently, beyond spotting some burning brush while ignoring the blazing forest, we—and they—are in deep, deep trouble.

Even if they do, we’ll all still be at risk, but at least the craft I believe in will have tried. And that will be a start.

Presidents Matter: Title IX, Sex-Based Violence and LGBTQ Discrimination

There’s so much at stake in the 2024 presidential elections, including the rights of women and LGBTQ people. President Biden has been a longstanding advocate for women’s right to be free from violence.

On the other hand, Republicans are pledging to eliminate Title IX protections against sex-based discrimination and sexual violence. The difference is clear.

Women’s History: 10 of the Most Iconic Ms. Magazine Covers 

From calling attention to the endless labor performed by women in the home, to being the first magazine to put the first female speaker on its cover, Ms. covers allowed the magazine to make a statement on newsstands—and bring feminist conversations into the mainstream.

In honor of Women’s History Month, here are our picks of 10 of the magazine’s most impactful covers. 

Charting the Future of Equal Pay

Today, women workers make 78 cents when compared to men, and 66 cents for Black women, 52 cents for Latinas and 55 cents for Native women. The earnings gap is even larger when the value of benefits, including health and life insurance and performance bonuses, is included in the equation.

Disclosure of pay data by gender and race to the EEOC may pave the way for transparency to the public at large—and much-needed action to close gender and racial pay gaps once and for all. It’s been 60 years. Isn’t that long enough?

(This article originally appears in the Spring 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

The Future of Pay Equity, 15 Years After Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

and

Fifteen years ago, we stood at the White House while then-President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. This law restored the rights of employees to have their day in court for ongoing wage discrimination taken away by the Supreme Court in the Ledbetter v. Goodyear case.

This bill was such an important victory for workers and gave employees who were experiencing ongoing pay discrimination their day in court.  However, the law did not give women new tools to combat the wage gap itself. Still, with all working women earning on average 77 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts—and the pay gaps even wider for women of color—it reminds us our work is still far from finished. We will not rest until we can enact more policies that give workers stronger tools to challenge pay disparities and other forms of employment discrimination.

Rest in Power: Rosalynn Carter—Feminist, First Lady, and ERA and Mental Health Advocate

In the many tributes written since Rosalynn Carter’s death on Nov. 19, one word often is used to describe her: trailblazer. Indeed, Rosalynn Carter was like no other first lady. She testified before Congress on mental health issues; made policy proposals on caregiving and established the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers in 1987; worked to advance women’s rights; and helped in the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Carter’s own words are the most powerful about her belief and commitment to equality. “Although there has been progress, women still struggle to take their full, rightful places in politics, the media, business and athletics. … I would like for people to think that I took advantage of the opportunities I had and did the best I could.”