More Than A Magazine, A Movement
The Future is Ms. is an ongoing series of news reports by young feminists. This series is made possible by a grant from SayItForward.org in support of teen journalists and the series editor, Katina Paron.
It’s no surprise that access to abortion and reproductive rights are top of mind for young feminist activists. What’s unique is how these leaders, and others profiled in this year’s The Future is Ms. series, leverage the tools available to them to make change.
Check out our roundup of articles written by teen girl journalists.
Having Coco, 2, join their family inspired sisters Layla, 16, and Delara, 17, to start Coco’s Angels. The organization helps kids in foster care across L.A., through tutoring services, education funding and donation drives.
Layla and Delara began their first fundraiser with GoFundMe in 2020 raising over $60,000 and allowing them to order over 600 personalized holiday gifts for foster care kids. Since December 2020, the girls have raised over $125,000.
Alyson Nordstrom, 17, knew that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade would result in the girls and women of her community losing their rights to obtain an abortion entirely. Despite the challenges of fighting for a blue issue in a red state, Nordstrom helped form Teens for Reproductive Rights, a coalition of teens who organize fundraisers for abortion care, post infographics about current abortion restrictions in Tennessee and encourage teenagers to vote.
After reading about fellow students’ experiences with sexual assault, college student Morgan Aspinwall jumped to action. With support from I Have the Right To, an advocacy organization, she created a Google map indicating locations of reported cases of sexual assault and activism internationally.
Teen-led groups and organizations around the country are demonstrating the impact local period product drives have on curbing period poverty, ending period stigma, and the value of securing resources on a community and legislative level.
After realizing that gender equality wasn’t a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, Rosie Couture and her friend Belan Yeshigeta founded Generation Ratify, an organization dedicated to adding the ERA to the Constitution. Other women-led organizations, such as The Feminist Front and The Ruth Project, joined the fight.
“Advocating for the ERA means advocating for a fight that began with many of our grandmothers.”
When Title IX was passed 50 years ago this month, it helped girls gain access to spaces that they were not able to enter.
In my own family, Title IX changed the course of the lives of my activist grandmother, Silicon Valley executive aunt and my student-athlete cousin.
Anouk Yeh, Santa Clara County’s 2021-2022 inaugural youth poet laureate, is proud of the megaphone she’s given to incarcerated youth through weekly poetry workshops on Zoom.
When school went online during COVID lockdowns, Kimberly Vasquez’s unreliable WiFi started to hinder her schoolwork. Her grade point average dropped but her family could only afford the low-cost plan that wasn’t suitable for remote learning.
Vasquez, joined by Yashira Valenzuela and Aliyah Abid, organized to petition Comcast to make their plans faster and more economical for low-income families. After rallying at Comcast headquarters, the city’s largest provider made the most affordable option for internet run at twice the speed.
Eleni Livingston and Rana Banankhah, both 17 years old, are voting members of their states’ board of education. They help decide high school graduation requirements, determine teacher qualifications and develop state student assessments. They also bridge the gender gap in education leadership—since women make up only 31 percent of school district chiefs. Their experiences show the importance of student voices in policymaking.
“On the board it can be intimidating to go in, as a young woman, as a teenager, into an environment like that and jump right in and start advocating for my peers,” Livingston said.
“To be treated like an adult, even though I can’t even vote for [U.S.] president, was really eye-opening,” Banankhah said.
