Tag: Rape Culture

Solutions to the Pay Gap for Native American Women Could Be Found in Their Tribes

November 30 marks Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day, spotlighting that those working full- or part-time are still earning only 55 cents for every $1 paid to non-Latino white men. Only Latinas have a wider gap. But 55 cents is, in many ways, an incomplete figure. 

There is much that is unknown about the nuances of the pay gap for Native American women. For years, the United States has failed to invest in data collection on Indigenous communities, making it difficult to reliably track wage gaps among the 574 federally recognized tribes.

Caring for Ethiopian Women in Conflict-Affected Communities

For two years, Tigray in northern Ethiopia was wracked by a brutal civil war that claimed 600,000 lives and left 2.7 million people internally displaced. During the fighting, rape was used as a weapon of war, and one in 10 women and girls of reproductive age experienced physical, psychological and sexual violence. One year on, sexual violence continues to be used to intimidate and terrorize women and girls who have been displaced by the conflict. 

MSI was the only organization providing sexual and reproductive care in Tigray during the conflict. Without more funding, the contraception, safe abortion and post-abortion care services that our outreach teams provide are at risk—and so are the health, lives and futures of the women of Tigray. 

Winter 2024 Sneak Peek: Inside a Violent Clinic Invasion

“On Oct. 22, 2020, a group of anti-abortion extremists forced their way into the Washington Surgi-Clinic, a facility that provides abortion care in Washington, D.C.” So begins investigative reporter Amanda Robb’s alarming account of a violent attack on an abortion clinic in the nation’s capital.

Here’s some of what else you’ll find within the pages of the upcoming Winter 2024 issue of Ms. magazine: how online abuse is used to intimidate, discredit and silence people; women activists in Afghanistan and Iran are calling on the international community to stop gender apartheid; and the top 10 most disappointing TV series cancellations of 2023.

Who Pays the Price for Men’s Wars?

The people who are least responsible for this war—women, children, innocents of all kinds—are bearing the heaviest burdens of this war.

I’m on the side of the women whose children’s lives have been stolen, of the women who were told to flee but had nowhere to go, of the women who fled but were bombed anyway, of the women who don’t have clean water or medicine or electricity or a safe place to hide, of the women who like so many women are desperate down to the marrow to protect their children, of the women who cannot do that one singular thing, of the women scrawling names on their children’s limbs so someone might be able to identify them, of the women who are pulling their children’s bodies out of piles of rubble, of the women who lost their lives to a war they didn’t start and wanted nothing to do with.

As the New York Adult Survivors Act Nears Expiration, Survivors of Dr. Robert Hadden Are Left in the Dark

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The New York Adult Survivors Act (ASA) expires on Nov. 23, 2023—yet the tens of thousands of patients of Dr. Robert Hadden have not been notified of his history of sexually assaulting women in his gynecology practice. Unless Columbia University urgently notifies these patients, survivors may miss the window to file civil suits.

Archdiocese of Baltimore Files for Bankruptcy to Evade Sexual Abuse Cases

The archdiocese of Baltimore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept. 29 to preempt child sexual abuse lawsuits which were expected to be filed once a new Maryland law removing the statute of limitations took effect on Oct. 1.

The scheme allows the church to protect its assets, limit financial settlements, and stop civil lawsuits which would air unsavory information about decades of child sexual abuse and the church’s complicity. 

No More Child Brides

Kriti Bharti founded her nonprofit, Saarthi Trust, in 2011 to fight child marriage and empower women and girls. Since then, she has helped legally annul 49 child marriages and prevented 1,700 more from being “solemnized” in ceremonial engagements. She has aided in the rehabilitation of 20,500 children and women, and has conducted orientation programs that resulted in 35,000 villagers taking oaths to resist child marriages.

“One day,” she said, “we should be able to say, ‘Once upon a time, there was something called child marriage.’”

(This article originally appears in the Fall 2023 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get Ms. in print delivered straight to your mailbox!)

How Congress Can Help Women and Girls in Conflict Zones

U.S. foreign policy prevents the protection of refugees, those in conflict zones, and those impacted by natural disasters. Yet the House Appropriations Committee has chosen to pass a budget that will defund the agencies and programs that are most prepared to expertly respond to the needs of girls and women on conflict zones.

It is far past time that Congress passes the Abortion is Healthcare Everywhere Act, which will repeal the Helms Amendment; and the Support UNFPA Funding Act, which would restore funding to UNFPA for the next five years. With the stroke of a pen, the Biden administration also has the power to issue guidance to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Helms Amendment interpretation, preventing a chilling effect and expanding the agency’s reach.

Surviving Hip-Hop: The Ms. Q&A with Drew Dixon

Our hip-hop series “Turning 50” concludes this week just as the official anniversary of hip-hop’s 50th birthday kicks off the weekend.

Ms.’ final conversation is with Drew Dixon—a producer, writer, activist, entrepreneur and former A&R executive. She’s been featured in multiple documentaries, including Max’s On the Record in 2020 and Ladies First this year on Netflix. The conversation featured here honors her role in U.S. culture: as a survivor of sexual harassment and assault, an activist, a truth-teller and a musical pioneer.

The Incarcerated Woman Who Wishes #MeToo Had Arrived Earlier

Celeste Blair landed in prison after a series of abusive relationships. She hopes the #MeToo movement saves younger women from a similar fate.

“They literally degraded me to the point that I felt like I was a convict and nothing more. … I’m hoping my granddaughter and my nieces are living in this new world where a girl has a lot more say.”