Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Tackling Structural Barriers—60 Years of the Voting Rights Act

PUBLISHED 8/8/2025 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:
—Sixty years have passed since the Voting Rights Act was passed on Aug. 5, 1965. The success of intentional policies like the Voting Rights Act grounds my belief that systems change is not only possible but necessary.
—This month marks the swearing in anniversaries for Supreme Court Justices Sotomayor, Kagan and Ginsburg.
—Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield will advance to the general election this November.
—Women won nearly 20 percent of seats in the Lower House in Jordan’s 2024 parliamentary elections, up from 13.8 percent.
—Women hold just 8 percent of negotiator roles, 9 percent of mediator roles, and less than 5 percent of peace agreement signatories in major conflict resolutions since 1990, despite evidence that their inclusion improves outcomes dramatically.

… and more.

Now Streaming: New Film ‘Lilly’ Tells Transformative Story of Equal-Pay Hero Lilly Ledbetter

PUBLISHED 7/18/2025 by

It’s tempting these dark days to dismiss the idea that any one person can make a difference. And yet, every day ordinary people fight injustice. And some days, those people persist long enough, resist long enough, that their fights rise to national prominence.

One such fight is chronicled in the new film Lilly, released in theaters this May and now available for rent. The brainchild of director Rachel Feldman, Lilly tells the story of Lilly Ledbetter, “an ordinary woman who became extraordinary,” in the words of Patricia Clarkson, who portrays her in the film.

‘Remember the Ladies’: Attacks on Gender Equity Remain a Core Feature of Surging Authoritarianism

PUBLISHED 6/3/2025 by

In the whirling, swirling hellscape of illegality and cruelty that is the current American political scene, it’s hard to keep track of all the individuals and groups demonized, deported and derided by an administration seemingly motivated by a Machiavellian desire for power that might make Machiavelli himself blush with shame. In the midst of an apocalyptic news cycle, one targeted segment of the population seems to be fading from view: women.

But let us not, as Abigail Adams wrote so many years ago, forget the ladies. “Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.”

The Woman Behind the Fair Pay Act Comes to Life in ‘Lilly’ Film

PUBLISHED 5/13/2025 by

It’s tempting these dark days to dismiss the idea that any one person can make a difference.

And yet, every day ordinary people fight injustice. And some days, those people persist long enough, resist long enough, that their fights rise to national prominence. One such fight is chronicled in the new film Lilly, in theaters beginning May 9. The brainchild of director Rachel Feldman, Lilly tells the story of Lilly Ledbetter, “an ordinary woman who became extraordinary,” in the words of actor Patricia Clarkson, who portrays her in the film.

Unfortunately, Ledbetter didn’t live to see the film arrive in theaters. She died in October 2024 at age 86. “She was so profoundly happy to know that her legacy would extend in entertainment form,” Feldman says, “particularly so that young women would absorb the story.”

‘This Is About Life or Death’: Leading Feminists Discuss Women’s Rights in Post-Roe America

PUBLISHED 5/7/2025 by

Clara Bingham, Jamia Wilson and Jessica Valenti on the state of abortion access and the feminist resistance rising up in every state in the U.S.:

“The 14th Amendment is what antiabortion activists are using right now to fight for fetal personhood. Anytime you see the 14th Amendment mentioned, that’s what it’s about.”

“We are no longer first-class citizens in banned states.”

“There are countries in this world where the pro-life movement is the movement that is about choice. … They’re surprised when they hear the framing of pro-life being used to dominate and control women’s bodies.”

“As terrible as things are every single day, in every single community and in every single state, there are rooms full of women, and there are rooms full of activists who are working their asses off, who are using their time, their money, their energy to make sure that if someone needs care, they can get it, whether or not we see it.”

Pauli Murray: The American Hero You Never Learned About (and the Federal Government Doesn’t Want You To)

PUBLISHED 3/26/2025 by

A few years ago, I went searching for Pauli Murray. By that point, the poet, civil rights activist and pioneering legal scholar had been dead for 35 years. But in researching her life for the book I was working on, I’d learned about the profound impact that her work had had on the very fabric of America and particularly on the country’s legal system. I was convinced that because of everything Murray had done—the extent to which she had shaped movements and laws and lives—she would have to be remembered prominently and publicly. It was probably just my own fault, I reasoned, that I hadn’t previously heard of her.

Like millions of others around the world, I have spent the last few weeks oscillating between fear, anger and sadness as I’ve watched the new U.S. administration neglect the core values of democracy and wreak havoc with the systems that have propped up this country for centuries. With no way of changing the mind of a morally bankrupt megalomaniac, I’m concentrating on what I can do. Since I’ve learned of her remarkable life, I’ve loved telling people about Murray; about the unlikely against-all-odds battles she faced head-on—public wars she waged while simultaneously grappling with her own often-debilitating private troubles. If the federal government chooses to ignore those upon whose shoulders we all stand, those of us who recognize the indignity of this will simply have to make up for it by telling their stories loudly, telling their stories often and then repeating them over and over and over again. It is, after all, what Pauli Murray would do.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: Women’s Rights Face Global Backlash 30 Years After Beijing Declaration; Washington Post Loses Ruth Marcus, a Leading Voice for Women

PUBLISHED 3/14/2025 by

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: Ruth Marcus details her decades-long history with The Washington Post and the deteriorating environment on the editorial page as its owner Jeff Bezos curried favor with Donald Trump; City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams launches campaign for New York City mayor; with Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.) not seeking reelection, the U.S. will lose two women U.S. senators after the 2026 elections; women serve as heads of state in only 25 countries, make up only 27.2 percent of Parliament, and hold 22.9 percent of Cabinet positions internationally; and more.

Universities Must Do Better for the Trans Community

PUBLISHED 2/1/2025 by , , , and

For the past decade, Americans have been fed a steady diet of transphobic hysteria, with 2024 being the 5th consecutive record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation. The election of Donald J. Trump was predicated on a fight against trans rights.

As professors at San José State University, we have seen the results of this type of targeted campaign. Recent and past events on our campus by transphobic individuals and extremist groups emphasizing bigotry and hate, turn university spaces into anti-intellectual theater and harm trans students. In so doing, they position our campuses too closely to intolerance.