More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Last week, Iran confirmed the arrest and detention of journalist Cecilia Sala—a rare official statement coming from Iranian authorities. Sala is in Evin Prison, a facility synonymous with the systemic repression of dissent.
At Women Press Freedom, we have called for international condemnation and for European and international leaders to take immediate action toward Sala’s release.
Jimmy Carter was one of the world’s most prominent male supporters of gender equality.
His overall record as president was decidedly mixed. But one overlooked aspect of his presidency was that he unabashedly championed women’s leadership, including Black women’s. By the end of his term, Carter had appointed more women and people of color to the federal judiciary than all previous presidents combined. Carter was also a founding member of The Elders, an international group of former political leaders, peace activists and human rights advocates.
And once he left office, Carter’s pro-feminist commitments deepened, as did his passion for pushing fellow religious believers to take on gender inequality directly.
Home is one of the most dangerous places on earth for women, a new United Nations report reveals. More than 60 percent of homicides of women are carried out by their intimate partners or by other relatives.
The femicide index just released by the U.N. Women entity found that at least 51,000 women were killed globally in 2023, and 6 out of 10 women who were victims of homicide were killed by their spouse or another family member. Femicide is the deliberate murder of females because of their gender.
Every day of 2024, Ms. writers and editors set out to create content that empowered, informed and infuriated readers. We sought out the truth, sounded alarms, asked tough questions, mourned feminist losses (and feminists we lost), looked to gender justice advocates abroad, and handed the microphone over to experts. Dear reader: As we enter a new year and a new era of the movement, we promise you more of this.
Explore the 30 most popular articles published this year on MsMagazine.com—the articles feminists most clicked, shared, studied, bookmarked and passed out at marches.
In her new documentary, Bread & Roses (available now on Apple+), filmmaker Sahra Mani reveals the fierce and courageous resistance of Afghan women defying the Taliban—who wish to make them disappear.
It’s a documentary about Afghan women, by Afghan women, at a time when the world had stopped seeing them.
Efforts are underway around the world to ban female genital mutilation/cutting, and 41 U.S. states have laws on the books to address it.
But the efforts of survivors and activists—and I’m both—have been hamstrung by the current wave of conservative opposition to medical care for trans youth, yet another ugly consequence of the crackdown on rights for transgender Americans. As we try to make sure that girls who are at risk of FGM/C, or who are dealing with the consequences of it, have the protections they need, those who oppose rights for trans people are weaponizing the laws we advocated for to deny trans youth the gender-affirming care they need.
U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We refuse to go back, and we refuse to let the incoming Trump administration quietly dismantle the progress we’ve made. We are watching. This is the War on Women Report.
Since our last report…
—Since the Dobbs decision, U.S. infant mortality rates were higher than usual, with hundreds more infants dying than expected. Abortion bans can hurt access to broader healthcare for both babies and mothers, including reducing a state’s number of maternal healthcare providers as bans lead to OB-GYN exoduses.
—Seven women, including three in Texas, have died after receiving inadequate miscarriage and abortion care.
—Trump’s win, after being accused of sexual assault by 27 women, sends a disheartening message to victims of sexual assault and advocates.
… and more.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: mass exodus from Twitter; the combination of inflexible hours and low pay creates significant challenges for women running for office; three-day intergenerational dialogue in Juba on women’s leadership and political participation; and more.
The 2024 U.S. election is over, but the online abuse of women in politics is set to intensify.
Around the world, a growing number of female candidates have been targeted by manipulated explicit content; and while the harm escalates fast, legal recourse is lengthy. Moreover, nearly any system that collects and shares location data can now be weaponized against its users. Digital surveillance can have a devastating impact on women, especially given the lack of robust legal or social protections against gender-based violence.
A number of President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet-level nominees have been accused of sexual harassment and assault, and one has faced allegations of child sex trafficking.
Here is what we have found.