Summer 2024

Stories that appeared in the Summer 2024 edition of Ms. Join the Ms. community today here and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox! 

Whatever Happened to CEDAW?

It’s been 45 years since the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, often described as an international bill of rights for women. Yet some younger feminists haven’t even heard of it.

The vast majority of the world’s nations—96 percent—have ratified CEDAW. The U.S. is not a signatory because it has never made it to the Senate floor for a ratifying vote—making it only industrialized democracy in the world that has yet to ratify it.

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

Finding a Snowball in a Blizzard: The State of Breast Cancer Screening

Approximately 50 percent of women (or those assigned female at birth) have dense breasts, and having dense breasts automatically puts them at a higher risk of cancer. Most significantly (and independent of the higher cancer risk), both dense breast tissue and cancer show up as white in a mammogram, which means that mammograms are unable to properly view 40 to 50 percent of breast tissue.

So what are we left with? A reality in which millions of women are left uncovered and unprotected against early detection for breast cancer.

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

Remembering the Late Faith Ringgold—the Black Feminist Artist Who Knew Who She Was

The late Faith Ringgold was a feminist, an activist, a teacher, a mother and an artist known for her innovative use of mediums, ranging from the more traditional oil on canvas, murals and mosaics, to story quilts, protest posters and soft sculptures.

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

Three New Best-Selling Books on Menopause

A new, modern menopause movement is underway, mobilized by a diverse coalition of doctors, journalists, and social and racial justice activists.

In particular, we recommend: The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change With Purpose, Power, and Facts by Dr. Mary Claire Haver; Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy by Dr. Sharon Malone; and The Menopause Brain: New Science Empowers Women to Navigate the Pivotal Transition with Knowledge and Confidence by Dr. Lisa Mosconi.

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

Menopause Is Fueling a Movement

A new generation of women are demanding that the next chapter of their lives no longer be ignored, overlooked or squandered.

Dr. Sharon Malone, author of Grown Woman Talk, will be in conversation with Jennifer Weiss-Wolf at Ms. headquarters (433 S. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, Calif., 90212) on Thursday, June 27, at 8 p.m. PT—or come at 6 p.m. to watch the presidential debate! RSVP for the free event here.

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

A Violent Denial: Combating Silence Around Hamas’ Sexual Violence and Preventing Future War Crimes

Feminist lessons of war are traumatically and often fatally difficult to come by. In her 2023 book, Twelve Feminist Lessons of War, Cynthia Enloe offers a list that includes: “Women’s wars are not men’s wars,” “wounds are gendered” and “feminists organize while war is raging.” She declares that “feminist lessons are for everyone.”

Cochav Elkayam-Levy is still figuring out the feminist lessons to be learned from the Oct. 7 attack. As she has come to accept, this will be her life’s work.

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

Summer 2024 Issue Sneak Peek: Menopause Is Fueling a Movement

According to the Ms. Summer 2024 cover story: “Menopause is not an afterthought for us. Nor can we continue to tolerate being society’s afterthought.”

In the upcoming issue, you can also read about the coalition of governors that’s determined to protect the abortion rights and reproductive freedom of all Americans; best practices for early cancer screening; and combatting the silence around Hamas’ sexual violence on and following Oct. 7.

Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox! When you become a member, you’re supporting independent, feminist media—and becoming part of a global community of feminists who care about the issues that matter to you.