More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Women workers are women engaged in paid labor whose contributions are vital but routinely discounted because of gendered inequities in pay, safety and workplace power.
September saw one of the largest dropoffs of women from the labor force since the pandemic began. The last time women left the workforce in such large numbers was in September 2020—and that’s not a coincidence.
The start of school during the pandemic has now coincided twice with significant job losses for women, underscoring that sectors disproportionately employing women continue to be hard hit and childcare centers are struggling.
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 in this biweekly round-up.
This week: Biden administration reverses Title X gag rule; federal courts halt, then reinstate Texas’s six-week abortion ban; school districts crack down on BLM and pride flags; Playboy features first gay man on its cover; California overrides workplace NDAs *and* requires free menstrual products in schools; and more.
Being quarantined led to a devastating hit on U.S. marriages. By June 2020—just three months into the pandemic—there had been a 34 percent increase in couples contemplating divorce compared to 2019.
While financial stressors and health worries contribute to the breakdown of partnerships, in many heterosexual partnerships, it is the massive disparity in who does household labor, including childcare, that matters most.
President Biden signed an executive order implementing sweeping changes to the way the military justice system handles sexual assault cases. The reform “transfers key decision-making authorities from commanders to specialized, independent military prosecutors in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, murder, and other serious offenses.” The initiative, which consistently wins bipartisan support, is “the most significant transformation of the military justice system since … 1950,” according to the White House.
The reform effort has been led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and other survivors, advocates and members of Congress. “While it will take time to see the results of these changes,” said Gillibrand, “these measures will instill more trust, professionalism and confidence in the system.”
When asked how I navigated my career while being a single parent, I answer honestly: “Not well enough.” Now, legislation moving through Congress would make that struggle a little easier for working parents.
The vast majority of American voters—around 80 percent—are in favor of a national paid leave program. But its passage is not certain.
The Build Back Better Agenda marks an opportunity for America to support childcare and paid leave.
“These measures pay off for our economy — keeping workers employed, increasing earnings and productivity, and investing in our next generation.”
Front and Center highlights the success of Springboard to Opportunities’ Magnolia Mother’s Trust, which this year will give $1,000 per month for 12 months to 100 families headed by Black women living in federally subsidized housing.
“I have this ability through the money from the trust to provide for my family in a hard time, because before I got that call that I was selected to be part of the program I was really struggling to keep on top of my bills and responsibilities.”
For America’s moms, the last 18 months have been a crash course in the five stages of grief. And yet I was unprepared for a new, sixth stage of grief that hit me this week, as Congress threatens to abandon a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help millions of American families.
On Sept. 1, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed an unconstitutional Texas abortion ban to go into effect. While the Supreme Court did not rule on the law’s merits, the decision is a chilling harbinger of how they may rule in an upcoming case—Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—on whether previability abortion bans are unconstitutional.
Many are fighting back.
It’s important to raise awareness of birth control’s many benefits—from greater education access, to general well-being, to the management of chronic health conditions. But must also consider birth control is not available equitably to all.