Workers’ Rights

Keeping Score: Threats Against Abortion Clinics Doubled in 2025; Sounding the Alarm on ‘Horrible Conditions’ of Delaney Immigration Center; Pride Celebrations Around the U.S.

PUBLISHED 6/10/2026 by

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:
—”Trump only seems to have the capability to fire female secretaries,” observes AOC.
—Two-thirds of abortion clinics reported violence or harassment in 2025.
—The TAKE IT DOWN Act (Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act) took effect last month. It requires social media sites to take down non-consensual sexual imagery within 48 hours.
—Members of Congress visited the Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Center after detainees started a hunger strike to protest inhumane conditions.
—The Trump administration announced an investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who Trump sexually abused and defamed.
—Harvey Weinstein’s New York rape trial resulted in another mistrial.
—A North Carolina bill would allow deadly force against patients seeking abortion care.
—Healthcare premiums have skyrocketed, forcing 21 percent of HealthCare.gov enrollees to lose coverage.
—Women freelancers charge an average of 19 percent less per hour than men.
—Americans are struggling to access disability benefits after cuts to the Social Security Administration.
—Social media platforms are enabling anti-LGBTQ hate and censorship.
—Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) reintroduced the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act to ban the death penalty at the federal level. Last month, the DOJ announced they would bring back firing squads and potentially electrocution and lethal gas for executions.
—A comprehensive calendar shows all the Pride parades this month, across the country and globe.

… and more.

Trump’s White House UFC Fight Was a Master Class in Fake Populism

PUBLISHED 6/9/2026 by | UPDATED 6/15/2026 at 10:45 A.M. PT

The White House UFC spectacle has come and gone—but the questions it raised about masculinity, power and political culture remain.

In a post-event column for The Guardian, writer Moira Donegan argued that the event reflected a governing style rooted in spectacle and domination, writing that Trump’s embrace of public displays of violence evokes “the dysfunctional Roman emperor” more than a democratic leader. Arts & Entertainment
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Trump’s White House UFC Fight Was a Master Class in Fake Populism
PUBLISHED 6/9/2026 by Jackson Katz | UPDATED 6/15/2026 at 9:22 A.M. PT
Updated June 15 at 8:40 a.m. PT: The White House UFC spectacle has come and gone—but the questions it raised about masculinity, power and political culture remain.

In a post-event column for The Guardian, writer Moira Donegan argued that the event reflected a governing style rooted in spectacle and domination, writing that Trump’s embrace of public displays of violence evokes “the dysfunctional Roman emperor” more than a democratic leader.

Josh Hokit speaks with President Trump following his win in a fight during the UFC Freedom 250 event on the South Lawn at the White House on June 14, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC)
The concern, she suggested, is not simply the fight itself but what it symbolizes: a vision of power that treats aggression, conflict and public humiliation as signs of strength.

The spectacle arrives amid continuing attacks on reproductive rights, gender equality initiatives and social programs that disproportionately affect women and families. In that context, the celebration of cage fighting on the grounds of the White House feels less like a harmless entertainment event than a cultural statement about whose values matter and which forms of power deserve public admiration.

The UFC event was never just about athletics—it was political symbolism. And for many observers, the image of fighters trading blows outside the executive mansion served as a stark reminder that authoritarian politics often rely on spectacles of strength, especially at moments when leaders have less to offer on the material concerns facing ordinary people.

A Visual Depiction of Lactation Rooms in the U.S.: Inside the Spaces Where Mothers Pump

PUBLISHED 6/6/2026 by

My latest book Milk Factory is the first visual study of America’s lactation rooms. Photographing spaces where mothers pump—disparate sites such as a prison, corporate offices, a farm laborer’s tent, schools, an airport and the U.S. Capitol—I reveal the hidden architecture of care. I wanted to give participants a record of their labor and make that labor visible to others.

Born out of my own experience, Milk Factory is personal and political. It challenges romanticized portrayals of motherhood and breastfeeding, underscoring the complexity and labor behind an act that is widely expected but rarely supported.

The FIFA World Cup and the Art of Looking Away

PUBLISHED 6/4/2026 by

When the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) unveiled the first wave of celebrity promotions for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the messaging was familiar: unity, celebration and global connection through sport.

Held every four years, the world’s largest international soccer (also known as football) tournament brings together national teams from around the globe to compete for the championship title. The right to host the World Cup is awarded through a competitive FIFA bidding process, with the 2026 tournament being awarded to a joint bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico.

But beneath the glossy advertisement campaigns and official anthems lies an institution repeatedly tied to corruption scandals, labor exploitation and human rights controversies that cannot be danced away by celebrity performances and spectacle marketing.  

Loving the game should not require ignoring the systems surrounding it. Because behind every glittering opening ceremony is an uncomfortable question FIFA would rather audiences not ask: Who is paying the price for the spectacle?

Too often it is people whose labor, rights and well-being are treated as expendable.

A (Brief) History of Women’s Rights, 1600 to Present

PUBLISHED 6/3/2026 by and

From the Haudenosaunee women who successfully challenged warfare in the 17th century, to today’s feminist organizers defending democracy, reproductive freedom and civil rights, the struggle for women’s equality has never been a straight line. It is a story of persistence, resistance and collective action spanning centuries.

Compiled by editors at Ms. and researchers from the National Women’s History Alliance, this women’s history timeline traces the interconnected histories of feminism, abolition, labor organizing, civil rights, reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ liberation and democratic participation.

No timeline can fully capture more than 400 years of feminist history, let alone every movement, leader, victory and setback that has shaped the ongoing fight for equality. Rather than offering a comprehensive account, this chronology highlights pivotal moments and turning points that help tell the story of how women have expanded the boundaries of freedom, democracy and human rights in the United States and beyond.

The timeline is part of Ms. magazine’s FEMINIST 250: Founding Feminists project, a multimedia essay series marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by examining the women and feminist movements that have worked to make the nation’s founding promises more fully realized. Through reported features, essays, interviews and historical analysis, FEMINIST 250 explores not only where we have been, but where we must go next to achieve true equality.

FEMINIST 250’s Parts 2 and 3—Feminist Lessons and Feminist Futures—drop this month on MsMagazine.com.

Virginia Just Became the First Southern State With Both Paid Leave and Paid Sick Time

PUBLISHED 4/22/2026 by | UPDATED 5/20/2026 at 11:57 A.M. PT

Advocates fought for paid leave in Virginia for more than eight years. The state’s former governor, Glenn Youngkin, vetoed paid leave bills two years in a row.

But the story changed when Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) took office in January 2026.

She not only called on the Legislature to pass these policies, but campaigned on paid leave as a core part of her platform. She also included paid leave as part of her plan to build “an economy where every Virginian can earn a good living, afford to take care of their families, and know they’ll have a secure retirement.” With the support of a strong coalition, Virginia’s Legislature responded by once again passing paid sick time and paid family and medical leave legislation.

Each year, American families lose $22.5 billion in wages due to a lack of paid leave. At a time when families are already struggling with rising costs of gas, groceries and housing, this is money that they cannot afford to go without.

Symptoms, Hormones and the Fight for Better Care: What Every Woman Should Know About Menopause and Perimenopause

PUBLISHED 4/7/2026 by | UPDATED 4/14/2026 at 10:54 A.M. PT

When it comes to the menopause and perimenopause landscape, many women are left navigating symptoms without clear, trustworthy information.

This conversation aims to change that—offering evidence-based insights, practical guidance and a broader look at the systemic reforms needed to improve menopause care.

Equal Pay Is Getting Pushed Further Away. We’re Pushing Back.

PUBLISHED 3/25/2026 by and

Amid the celebrations of Women’s History Month, it is a bitter irony Equal Pay Day—marking how far into the year women must work to earn what men did in the previous year—has been pushed back to March 26. The end of the month is shadowed by the knowledge that the gender pay gap still exists and is widening.

Black women, women with disabilities, moms and all women of color are paid significantly less than white men in comparable positions. Affordability is already a concern, with prices rising at the gas station and the grocery store. The pay gap is compounding these concerns to create further financial disparities for women of color.

A Reckoning Long Overdue: Dolores Huerta’s Moment of Truth Must Also Be Ours

PUBLISHED 3/20/2026 by

Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta has shared a devastating truth she carried alone for 60 years: that her closest colleague, mentor, boss and the internationally revered face of the farmworker movement, César Chávez, sexually abused her. As she approaches her 96th birthday, and in the wake of a New York Times investigation revealing that she was not alone—that Chávez also preyed upon other young women, including underage girls—Dolores made the painful, courageous decision that she could no longer keep this secret.

Across Latino, immigrant, labor, civil rights and farmworker communities—and far beyond—hearts broke and jaws dropped. César Chávez had ascended to the pinnacle of untouchable legend. And from that height, there was a long, painful fall.

There will be many debates about what comes next: what to do with the written history, the plazas, streets, schools, parks and holidays that bear Chávez’s name; how to reconcile the image so many of us learned with the disturbing portrait described by Dolores and the other survivors. I will leave the deeper historical reckoning to others.

But it feels both fitting and just that the holiday bearing his name be revised to Farmworkers Day—El Día del Campesino—and that every boulevard, park and street honor Dolores Huerta instead.