The Ms. Q&A

Questions from Ms.; answers from trailblazing feminists and equity leaders.

Can Unconditional Cash Transfers Help Reduce Poverty?

How transformative would an extra $1,000 a month be for low-income Americans? That’s the question OpenResearch, started by the founder of OpenAI Sam Altman, set out to answer with its three-year Unconditional Cash Study. Participants were given $1,000 per month with no strings attached and their experiences were compared against a control group that received $50 per month.

The study’s director, Dr. Elizabeth Rhodes, sat down with Ms. to discuss the study’s findings and how cash transfers can help inform government policy to alleviate poverty.

Some highlights:
— “There are some very transformative stories and some ‘I was able to buy shampoo’ stories.”
— “We saw small reductions, about 2 percent or 1.3 hours per week, in employment. … Do we care that single parents are working a few hours less and spending more time with their kids?”
— “Critics of cash transfers argue that people will not spend the money in socially optimal ways, but participants spent to meet their basic needs.”

‘You Only Get What You’re Organized to Take’: On Sustaining Social Change From the Bottom Up

Mainstream media, conservatives and politicians want people to believe that the poor will always be with us. But it’s a lie.

In You Only Get What You’re Organized to Take: Lessons from the Movement to End Poverty, Presbyterian minister and long-time anti-poverty organizer Liz Theoharis and writer-organizer Noam Sandweiss-Back deconstruct this fallacy and present dozens of examples of organizing by poor people to win affordable housing, accessible healthcare, high-quality public education, a living wage, nutritious food and most importantly, dignity.

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

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.”

Why Motherhood Is Harder in Some Countries Than Others: The Ms. Q&A With Abigail Leonard, Author of ‘Four Mothers’

“Parenthood is shaped by the broad systems our societies have built over time,” writes award-winning journalist and mother Abigail Leonard in Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries. “Many of the big decisions, like how much time to spend with their children and how to divide the emotional and physical labor with their partner, are heavily determined by the social structures of the place women give birth.” 

The ways this works to reinforce or expand ideas about gender, family, reproduction and out-of-home work are at the core of Leonard’s deeply reported interrogation of the social, emotional and physical toll of parenthood in Finland, Japan, Kenya and the United States.

Jackson Katz Calls on ‘Every Man’ to End Men’s Violence Against Women

In an online culture becoming increasingly dominated by the hypermasculine manosphere, men’s roles in preventing violence toward women are more important than ever.

As decades of progress against gendered violence crumbles around us, another man is speaking out: renowned anti-violence educator Jackson Katz in his new book, Every Man: Why Violence Against Women Is a Men’s Issue and What You Can Do About It. Co-founder of the pioneering gender violence prevention program Mentors in Violence Prevention, Katz has written an engaging, practical guide for men who want to end violence against women.

‘We Have to Have Hope and We Have to Fight Hard’: The Ms. Q&A With Trailblazing Former Rep. Barbara Lee

This Women’s History Month, as we honor the many women who have helped shape this country throughout the years, I had the opportunity to speak with one such history maker, former longtime U.S. Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).

As the first Black woman elected to the State Assembly, State Senate and Congress from Northern California and the highest ranking Black woman appointed to Democratic Leadership, Lee has had a trailblazing nearly three-decade political career.

“There are plenty of things you can do now, and I have found that lifts people’s spirits. They see that they can do something, and it keeps people engaged. Because that’s how democracy’s supposed to work. You’re not going to let a dictator take over, but they will take over, this will be an authoritarian government, which it’s close to being, if in fact we don’t do something,” said Lee.

On America’s 250th Anniversary, Let’s Remember Women’s Stories: The Ms. Q&A with Jill Hasday

The United States’ 250th anniversary in 2026 presents an opportunity to include women in the stories America tells about itself, according to Jill Hasday, author of the important new book, We the Men: How Forgetting Women’s Struggles for Equality Perpetuates Inequality.

We the Men tells the stories “of so many women who deserve to be remembered,” said Hasday. It also explores the ways in which forgetting women’s ongoing struggles for equality has perpetuated injustice and promote complacency. Remembering women’s stories more often and more accurately can help the nation advance toward sex equality.

Amid Right-Wing Attacks on Education, the American Association of University Professors Organizes for Academic Freedom

When the right-wing Heritage Foundation released its Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise—better known as Project 2025—in 2023, its authors laid out a comprehensive framework for undercutting democratic governance. Moreover, its authors made no secret of their antipathy to both public education and trade unions, putting the National Labor Relations Act and Fair Labor Standards Act in their crosshairs. They also made it clear that they support the elimination of the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau which works to ensure workplace safety and increase opportunities for female job advancement. 

And then there’s education, pre-K through college. The Heritage authors put forward an agenda that includes broadscale book bans and curricular limitations on classes in African American, Latinx, LGBTQIA+, Feminist, Ethnic, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. In addition, they support the cancellation of the federal student loan program; the revocation of Title IX policies meant to protect students from sex-based harassment, discrimination and violence; and an end to faculty tenure.

‘Money, Lies, and God’: The Rise of Christian Nationalism and the Battle for American Democracy

Katherine Stewart’s Money, Lies, and God exposes the alarming rise of Christian nationalism as a well-coordinated, anti-democratic movement seeking not just power, but the destruction of democracy itself. She describes this movement as “more political pathology than political program,” with its leaders intent on “burning down the house.” Stewart reveals how right-wing religious and political forces use disinformation, authoritarian alliances and targeted outreach—particularly through churches and media—to gain influence.

Despite internal contradictions, she warns that their strategy is effective: “A fractured and ill-informed public is easier to control than a well-informed one.”

However, she argues that a broad, pro-democracy coalition can push back, emphasizing the need to expose dark money, defend public education and strengthen the separation of church and state.

‘They’re Coming After Birth Control’: Rep. Lizzie Fletcher on the Fight for Contraceptive Rights

Despite overwhelming public support for contraception access, Republicans continue to block legislation protecting it. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher explains why the fight for birth control rights is more urgent than ever.

“The same people who have been crusading against abortion rights for decades aren’t stopping there. They have their eyes set on contraception and birth control.”