Older Women and Aging

Who Cares for Aging America? Still, Overwhelmingly, Women

PUBLISHED 4/17/2026 by

Women continue to provide the majority—61 percent—of unpaid caregiving in this country. They are the appointment schedulers, medication managers, financial coordinators and emotional anchors. They are the ones who leave work early, rearrange schedules, and absorb the invisible labor that keeps older adults safe and supported.

Caregiving can be an act of profound love. It can strengthen bonds, preserve dignity and allow older adults to remain in the homes they cherish. But it can also take a toll.

Women who juggle caregiving alongside careers and parenting face higher risks of burnout, depression and chronic health conditions. The triple role of worker, mother and caregiver is not simply demanding—it is unsustainable without meaningful support.

We are on a demographic collision course in this country. Birth rates are falling, while the “Silver Tsunami” is rising. By 2030, older adults will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history. This means fewer young people, more aging adults and a caregiving crisis that is already straining families and healthcare systems. We cannot build a sustainable care economy on invisible, unpaid labor. If we fail to modernize and invest in real care infrastructure, we will continue asking women to absorb a crisis that belongs to all of us.

Forget the ‘Manosphere’—The ‘Meno-Sphere’ Is the Voting Bloc With Real Power

PUBLISHED 4/7/2026 by and

A recent report from centrist think tank Third Way predicts many of the “swingy, moderate, low-propensity young men” who supported Trump will sit out the midterms this year.

So who should progressive political strategists and hopefuls turn their attention to? The oft-forgotten, invisible aging woman, or, what we like to call the meno-sphere.

There are many good reasons to prioritize the electoral and mobilization potential of women over 50. Back in 1992, The New York Times published a piece called “Mighty Menopause,” which posited that the then-rise of Baby Boomer women in politics was a direct result of hormonal shifts and that the “biological changes wrought by menopause” ultimately bolster women’s “interest in power and increase their ability to use it.”

If ever there were a moment to prove that to be true, it’s now—as our daughters’ and granddaughters’ rights are rolled back, as communities are terrorized, as the power elite’s willful alignment with the rot becomes clearer by the day.

Symptoms, Hormones and the Fight for Better Care: What Every Woman Should Know About Menopause and Perimenopause

PUBLISHED 4/7/2026 by | UPDATED 4/14/2026 at 10:54 A.M. PT

When it comes to the menopause and perimenopause landscape, many women are left navigating symptoms without clear, trustworthy information.

This conversation aims to change that—offering evidence-based insights, practical guidance and a broader look at the systemic reforms needed to improve menopause care.

March 31, Join Ms. Live: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Menopause, From Symptoms to Systemic Reform

PUBLISHED 3/25/2026 by

Despite affecting roughly half the population, menopause remains under-researched, underfunded and often stigmatized—leaving many without adequate medical guidance or institutional support.

On Tuesday, March 31, Ms. magazine will convene a panel of physicians and policy experts to demystify menopause, addressing everything from symptoms and treatment gaps, to the broader structural changes needed.

The virtual event, “All You Ever Wanted to Know About Menopause, From Symptoms to Systemic Reforms (2026 Edition),” will take place at 5 p.m. PT / 7 CT / 8 ET. Registration is free and open to the public.

The panel will feature:
—Huong Nghiem Eilbeck, M.D., M.P.H., a physician affiliated with Pandia Health and AltaMed Health Services, with additional clinical experience across maternal health and labor medicine. She holds certifications from The Menopause Society and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
—Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, executive director of partnerships and strategy at Ms., executive director of the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Center at NYU Law, and a leading voice on menstrual equity. Her forthcoming book, When in Menopause: A User’s Manual and Citizen’s Guide (October 2026), expands her work connecting reproductive health to policy and democratic participation.
—Sophia Yen, M.D., M.P.H., a physician trained at MIT, UCSF and UC Berkeley, and CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health, a birth control delivery company. Yen specializes in adolescent medicine and reproductive health, with a clinical focus that spans contraception, menstrual regulation and broader gynecological care.

Yeah, the ’90s Were Cool, but We’re Ready to Fight Now

PUBLISHED 3/20/2026 by

“Mom, what were you like in the 90s?” The question has gone viral—and the response, a flood of celebrity flashback montages, captures the likes of Halle Berry and Courteney Cox in their Kodachrome heyday, set to (what else?) the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris.” The trend dovetails FX’s Love Story, the trashy yet wildly popular mini-series purporting to depict the behind-the-scenes courtship and ill-fated marriage of Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr.

I always appreciate when Gen X, the perennially forgotten generation, gets its props.

Cover Reveal and Spring 2026 Issue Sneak Peek: ICE Is ‘the Army of the Patriarchy’

PUBLISHED 3/17/2026 by

In early February, while the nation was still reeling from the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents, Loretta Ross and Jackson Katz—two feminist academics with decidedly different backgrounds and identities—discussed how U.S. federal agents became the enforcement arm of the nation’s racism and misogyny.

You’ll find this, and more, in the Spring 2026 issue of Ms.

Trump Touts a ‘Roaring Economy.’ Families Say Otherwise.

PUBLISHED 2/25/2026 by

In his State of the Union address, President Trump opened by boasting about a roaring economy, falling inflation and a richer and stronger nation. But those claims ring hollow for many Americans who feel economic security slipping further out of reach, a reality made worse by the policies he and his Republican Congress have championed.

In Tucson, Ariz., Angelica Garcia begins most mornings waiting for her Lyft app to ping. She’s a driver raising three children in a two-bedroom apartment that costs $1,400 a month. Her summer electric bills hover around $300. At the grocery store, it costs her over $100 just to cover basic essentials. Angelica and her children rely on Medicaid and SNAP. Medicaid covered her daughter’s broken arm and her son’s tonsil surgery. “It’s been a blessing. A godsend,” she says.

But her representative in Congress, Juan Ciscomani (R), voted to cut Medicaid and SNAP and to impose new work requirements.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, a retired woman named Jill is enrolled in a Marketplace healthcare plan that once cost her $75 a month thanks to enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. But when Republicans voted against extending those subsidies, her premium jumped to nearly $800 a month.

Her representative in Congress, Marianette Miller-Meeks (R), voted to let those subsidies expire.

In Eau Claire, Wis., Erin Klaus has spent 17 years building up and running her small business. Erin’s representative in Congress, Derrick Van Orden (R), voted to protect Trump’s tariffs—tariffs that made small businesses like hers pay upfront, even as multinational corporations are better positioned to shift supply chains or pass along costs.

Midlife Women Are a Sleeping Giant Voter Bloc in 2026—Even as the SAVE Act Puts Them at Risk

PUBLISHED 2/20/2026 by

Since 2024, there has been handwringing among politicos about the rightward shift of young male voters in the United States. And now, a new report from the centrist think tank Third Way predicts many of the “swingy, moderate, low-propensity young men” who support Donald Trump will sit out the midterms this year.

At the same time, it’s crickets when it comes to understanding the political engagement of midlife and older women. Even as “organized gangs of wine moms” dominated headlines in recent weeks, I’ve found vanishingly little interest in analyzing how that demographic energy might translate to electoral clout.

Community Groups Sharing Free Abortion Pills Expand to States Where Abortion Is Legal But Out of Reach

PUBLISHED 2/19/2026 by

In response to abortion bans and restrictions, feminists across the country have created networks of community groups that share abortion pills by mail, free of charge, with people who need them. Mostly run by volunteers, these mutual aid networks have served over 100,000 people since 2022. 

“Everybody deserves bodily autonomy,” said one volunteer, who got involved out of rage after the Supreme Court revoked women’s constitutional right to abortion in 2022.

Increasingly decentralized and moving closer to the people they serve, these community providers are expanding their reach. While originally focused on states with bans and severe restrictions, they are now increasingly serving people in states where abortion is legal, but may not be affordable or accessible.

A Letter to My Future Self in a Time of Undoing

PUBLISHED 2/10/2026 by

This essay is one of three “Letters to My Future Self” included in Flipping the Menopause Script Is Essential to Democracy. Through personal reflection, political memory and spiritual inquiry, these letters consider menopause and midlife as thresholds—moments of undoing, reckoning and renewal. They invite readers to see aging not as decline, but as a site of transformation, agency and hard-won power.

“Since we were born in 1967 … we were told, implicitly and explicitly, that we were the first generation of Black children born into the fullness of freedom promised by law. The first generation of Black women was meant to be fully protected by the government. Free to vote without obstruction. Free to be educated without limits. Free to open a bank account, hold a credit card and own property. Free to marry who we loved. Free to live without our rights being constantly renegotiated.

“That was the promise we inherited. …

“Menopause sharpened my understanding that rights, like bodies, require attending to and care. That neglect is a political choice. That erosion is not accidental. That what happens to aging bodies mirrors what happens to democracies that refuse to honor those most impacted by time, labor and sacrifice. So I am writing to you, Future Me, because I want us to meet each other awake.

“Who are we when I finally arrive?

“Are we softer without being smaller? Stronger without armor? Have we learned how to rest without apology? Have we let go of the belief that our worth must be proven through exhaustion? …

“If you are an ancestor now, please remind me of what mattered most. Not the accolades. Not the fear. Not the scarcity. Remind me that I belonged to myself. That I belonged to my people. That I trusted the wisdom of my changing body.”

(This essay is part of the latest Women & Democracy installment, published in the middle of Black History Month, in partnership with Black Girls’ Guide to Surviving Menopause. Menopause is not only a physical transition—it is also cultural, social and political. Recognizing its full scope is essential to advancing true health and civic equity.)