More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Ms. spotlights stories of women making political change by holding office and pioneering legislation all over the world, from the local to the federal level—despite the sex discrimination they often face in their positions.
There are 13 states with efforts underway to put constitutional amendments protecting abortion access on the 2024 ballot. The residents of those states deserve to know the regressive forces, like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA-PLA) and its wealthy benefactors, that will be at play to deny them their basic rights and freedoms.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: Black women are underrepresented in political spaces and prove to be the most vulnerable in our democracy; despite Donald Trump facing trials in four other cities, he has specifically chosen to contest against Fani Willis, a Black woman serving as the district attorney; a free webinar about ranked-choice voting and its implementation at the Oscars; and more.
This year is the 30th anniversary of a remarkable electoral reform triumph in New Zealand. In 1993, a citizen-led reform coalition pulled off a heroic upset in a referendum that replaced American-style winner-take-all elections with a “mixed member proportional” (MMP) system. We had a front-row seat, as our leadership in America’s nascent proportional representation movement earned us an invitation to support the campaign with events, strategy sessions and media interviews across the nation.
We wanted to mark this milestone with our reflections about what it takes to win such a transformative national change – and how best to translate those lessons into the very different world of politics of the United States.
At the Radical Optimism Conference on Jan. 26, hosted by former U.S. Rep Carolyn Maloney, political activists from around the state rallied for recognition of the federal ERA, made plans for securing a New York state constitutional amendment, plotted strategies for the 2024 elections and committed themselves to showing strong support by recruiting signers for the national ERA petition, Sign4ERA.org.
“In 2024, women’s rights will be on the ballot,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority.
“If equality and the Equal Rights Amendment, in particular, weren’t so important, they wouldn’t be fighting so hard to keep it from us,” said Zakiya Thomas, president of the ERA Coalition.
(This essay is part of “The ERA Is Essential to Democracy” Women & Democracy collection.)
Opill, the first over-the-counter birth control pill, is set to hit drugstores, grocery stores and online shelves in the first quarter of 2024. But the real challenge lies ahead: Will it be affordable and truly accessible to all?
Opill is a progestin-only oral contraceptive pill, boasting a success rate as high as 98 percent in preventing pregnancies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hailed the approval of Opill as a breakthrough that could “reduce barriers to access” for those seeking contraception.
However, the promise of accessibility hinges on the crucial factor of affordability.
The 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey shows that trans people face steep economic and health disparities while anti-trans state laws have caused thousands to flee their homes.
As St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones told Ms., “Men run for office to be somebody; women run to do something.”
More and more, women serving as mayors are part of the feminist frontline for advancing equal rights and are leaders on issues of concern to women voters.
As seen throughout history, women mayors focus on feminist issues that many tend to overlook. Let’s bring intersectional issues to the forefront, and elect more women mayors to push forward our agenda.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: Denver Mayor Mike Johnston has hired an all-women team as his senior leadership staff; the impact of gender quotas in Burundi; the state of ranked-choice voting; the power of Black women’s leadership in early primary states; and more.
In 2018, we launched the Magnolia Mother’s Trust, the United States’ first modern-day guaranteed income program and the first in the world to focus solely on low-income Black mothers.
Our goal is simple: Provide the financial capital necessary for these mothers to dream a little bigger and breathe a little easier. We can give everyone that kind of wealth. And yes, I will play on the word here—we can guarantee it. If we are willing to understand, a little financial investment can change someone’s life, and allow them the flexibility, heart, and mind to build and define true wealth—equity, delight, honor and love.
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.
This week: E. Jean Carroll wins defamation case; over 64,000 pregnancies from rape in abortion ban states; Taylor Swift targeted by deepfake attack; House passes CTC expansion; states implement anti-trans laws; abortion rates have risen since 2020; Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the first anti-LGBTQ bill of the year into law; more than three in five Americans support Congress passing a law guaranteeing the right to an abortion; and more.