Women’s History

Official histories have deliberately left important stories of women and marginalized groups out of textbooks, museums and elite institutions. Learning women’s history implores people today to acknowledge how long feminists have fought for equality—and the ongoing challenges they’re still resisting today.

‘Guerilla Storytelling’ and Joyful Resistance: Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández and the DWC’s Plan to Combat Project 2025

The Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) this week announced the election of Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) as DWC’s chair for the 119th Congress, which starts in January. Leger Fernández served as the DWC vice chair in the 118th Congress and will now lead the largest ever DWC, which includes a record-breaking 96 members in the new Congress. 

Ms. executive editor, Kathy Spillar, sat down with Rep. Leger Fernández, to discuss priorities for the DWC—both to fight back against what will be repeated attacks by the Trump administration on women’s rights and programs benefiting women and their children, as well as strategies for moving forward toward equality. 

Women’s Independence, Credit Cards and Economic Power: Celebrating 50 Years of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) of 1974 enabled women to get credit cards or a mortgage without a co-signer, making it a pivotal milestone for women’s financial independence. The 50th anniversary of ECOA being signed into law by President Gerald Ford fell just a week ahead of the recent presidential election, considered by many to be a referendum on women’s rights in a political climate still reeling from the revocation of Roe. That critical landmark for women’s autonomy was overturned by the Dobbs decision in 2022, one year short of reaching its own half-century observance. 

By focusing on women’s independence through the lens of economic power over the last 50 years, a new Smithsonian exhibit—”We Do Declare Women’s Voices on Independence,” commemorating ECOA’s passage—hones in on another essential factor in women’s ability to achieve freedom, security and power: financial independence.

Trump’s Chilling Promise to ‘Protect Women’ Puts ‘Women Not on a Pedestal, but in a Cage’

On the campaign trail, Trump boasted that under his presidency, “women will be happy, healthy, confident and free” and that we will also magically be freed from the stress of “thinking about abortion.” 

Trump’s back-and forth with women at his rallies may, at first glance, be viewed as an act of paternalistic beneficence for our collective best interest. After all, who would not prefer to be “happy, healthy, confident and free” over being “abandoned, lonely, and scared?” But, as history makes clear, paternalistic protectionism reinforces male supremacy. It is premised on the deeply subordinating and essentialist view that women are “weak and incapable of taking care of themselves.” Accordingly, we require protection for own good, with the resulting loss of self-agency and decisional autonomy.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland Advances Healing and Justice for Indigenous Peoples

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On Friday, Oct. 25, at Gila River Indian Community in Arizona, President Joseph Biden delivered a formal apology on behalf of the United States to an assembly of Native American leaders for the genocidal impact of 150 years of U.S. Indian boarding schools, which sought to erase Indigenous people, culture and languages.

“I formally apologize as president of the United States of America for what we did,” said President Biden. “It’s long overdue.”

This apology came as a result of years of work by Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo. The U.S. Department of the Interior oversees U.S. relations to American Indians, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians.

Feeling Sold Out by Your Own Country Isn’t New for Many Americans

In my university classes, I teach undergraduates about the ways in which people on the land that is today the United States have been accepted or rejected as American citizens, and how even those who have gained citizenship must continually fight for their status as full citizens. We discuss issues facing minority groups including indigenous, Black and LGBTQ Americans. And we discuss marginalized majority groups: women and working and middle-class Americans. Students learn how all these struggles persist over decades, if not centuries.

History and politics are cyclical. Logically, I know this is how the American story goes. (And so many stories across the globe.) But it still hurts anyway. There are big changes coming, but as the late civil rights icon, Rep. John Lewis, wrote in his masterful op-ed published posthumously: “The truth does not change.” It is on us to speak that truth to power. It is more important than ever to stay engaged, to resist the urge to flee or opt out of the political process when we get that taste of loss or rejection—a feeling that’s all too familiar for many Americans.

The ‘Woman in Charge’: Diane von Furstenberg’s Lifelong Commitment to Empowering Women, Fashion and Philanthropy

Though her fame as a designer came through the success of her iconic wrap dress, Diane von Furstenberg has said, “I don’t think I had a vocation for fashion; I had a vocation to be a woman in charge.”

Towards the end of the exhibit—on display at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles until Aug. 31, 2025—a QR code directs visitors to sign up for her more recent innovation: the “InCharge platform,” which serves as “a place to rally, where we use our connections to help all women be the women they want to be.” Its aim urges women to make “first a commitment to ourselves” by “owning who we are” and then to use the platform to “connect, expand, inspire, and advocate.” It is her latest project in a lifetime of advocacy meant to strengthen women.

Free Screening: World War I Documentary ‘The Hello Girls’ Introduces the First Women Allowed to Serve in the U.S. Military

In honor of Veterans Day (celebrated each year on Nov. 11), the nonprofit organization Foundation for Women Warriors is set to host a screening of the powerful documentary The Hello Girls on Nov. 6, 2024. This screening aims to shed light on the extraordinary stories of women who broke barriers and paved the way for women’s role in the military.

The documentary tells the inspiring tale of 223 women who answered President Woodrow Wilson’s call to serve their country during World War I. The Nov. 6 event will feature a screening of the documentary, followed by a panel discussion with experts on women’s history and feminism. Attendees will gain insights on the Hello Girls’ experiences and their enduring impact on society.

Hollywood’s Role in Perpetuating the ‘Angry Black Woman’ Trope

After Vice President Kamala Harris recently completed an interview with a combative Fox News host, pundits agreed she “gave a master class on what it means to be a Black woman in politics” by demonstrating cool, calm, effective leadership. The Grio’s Gerren Keith Gaynor noted she avoided the “angry Black woman” trope—a stereotype that not only permeates politics but has deep roots in the entertainment industry. 

In recent years, a more diverse and empowering portrayal of Black women on the big screen has celebrated complexity and identity. For nearly all of its existence, though, Hollywood has been anything but inclusive, often illustrating one-dimensional perspectives of Black women. The history of inadequate representation—and certainly positive representation—helped form the “angry Black woman” stereotype, among other false narratives. 

For Three Decades, ‘Remember My Name’ Has Memorialized Those Lost to Domestic Violence

Created in 1994 in partnership with the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) and Ms. magazine, the “Remember My Name” project continues to raise awareness of individuals who have died from domestic violence.

We owe it to those who have died because of domestic violence, to every survivor, and every person actively planning for their safety, to do better. As we near the end of Domestic Violence Awareness Month and reflect on the 30 years since “Remember My Name” launched, we remember the people who have died because of domestic violence by saying their names. Loudly. Often. We need people to hear their stories, demand better tracking and reporting at all levels to fully understand this crisis, and work towards a day where we can stop adding names to the list.