In each situation of Ms., we observe analysis on our progress within the battle for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and preserve tabs on the feminist motion’s many milestones. We’re Preserving Rating on-line, too—on this biweekly roundup.
Lest We Overlook
“When individuals ask me, ‘Are you proud to be the primary Mexican American elected to the Texas Senate?’ I’d say, ‘Nicely, sure, however I’m additionally disgusted. I’m disgusted as a result of it took so lengthy.‘
“In your entire historical past of the state of Texas, solely 24 ladies have served within the Texas Senate—solely 24, together with the eight who serve right this moment. Twenty-four ladies have served with 952 males throughout 88 legislative classes … so it’s bittersweet. You rejoice since you did it, however you’re upset and unhappy that it took so lengthy.”
—Texas state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, the primary lady dean of the Texas Senate and the primary Mexican American lady elected to the Texas Senate.
“I wish to see no abortions be authorized, ever. If you’re a case the place a lady’s life is in danger, the place the doctor believes that she will not safely carry her little one in her womb, or she might lose her life—we wouldn’t contemplate that an abortion … it’s a ‘maternal-fetal separation.’”
—Kristan Hawkins, the president of College students for Lifetime of America, on the Nationwide Professional-Life Summit.
“It’s a actually profound second in time for American ladies. One in three ladies in the US of childbearing age resides beneath an abortion ban. And all of those ladies are in danger. However the larger danger is that if now we have a Republican White Home, a Republican-controlled Senate, a Republican-controlled Home of Representatives, we’re going to see what’s taking place in Texas unfold all throughout the nation.”
—U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) reacting to a brand new Biden marketing campaign advert on abortion, that includes Dr. Austin Dennard,, an obstetrician, gynecologist and affected person plaintiff in Zurawski v. Texas
“Younger individuals should not have some fantasy that they will vote after which every thing goes to be fantastic. … Younger individuals see the failure of our establishments, the inadequacy of what’s really an inspirational democracy, not a full democracy that it needs to be. Younger persons are voting anyway. They see states making it arduous for younger individuals to vote—focusing on Black and Indigenous, disabled and rural voters—and they’re voting anyway. … Younger persons are knowledgeable, engaged, intersectional, pissed off, they usually’re voting anyway.”
—Kimberly Inez McGuire at a panel dialogue hosted by the Guttmacher Institute.
“For hundreds of years, ladies—significantly Black ladies, ladies of coloration and LGBTQ+ people—have performed the work of preserving and defending our nation, and it’s long gone time to make gender equality the legislation of the land. The ERA would strengthen efforts to fight intercourse discrimination, shut the gender pay hole, defend LGBTQ+ rights, handle gender-based violence, defend reproductive freedom, and extra. This situation transcends occasion and is about affirming the fundamental dignity, humanity, and equality of everybody who calls America residence.”
—A press release from the congressional leads pushing for ratification of the ERA, one 12 months after they launched their invoice to enshrine the ERA because the twenty eighth Modification.
“I’m alone and scared.
“The place is my mother.
“I wish to stay.”
—Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick, whereas she was within the hospital with pregnancy-related hypertension and pulmonary edema. An abortion would probably have saved her life. As a substitute, two weeks after Roe was overturned, Yeni and her child Selene each died preventable deaths.
Milestones
+ E. Jean Carroll gained her defamation case towards Trump, with Trump ordered to pay her over $83 million in damages.
“This win, greater than some other factor, after we wanted it essentially the most—after we misplaced the rights over our personal our bodies in lots of states—we put out our flag within the floor on this one. Ladies gained this one. I believe it bodes effectively for the long run,” Carroll mentioned. Though it is going to take time earlier than she receives the cash, she’s pledged to make use of it to do “one thing nice.”
+ The New York state Senate handed a invoice designed to guard the privateness of abortion care sufferers, by proscribing tech firms’ skill to promote shoppers’ well being information.
+ A federal decide briefly stopped a voter suppression invoice from taking impact in North Carolina. The invoice targets individuals who register to vote after which solid their ballots the identical day throughout the early voting interval, and will have led to hundreds of ballots, disproportionately from Black, Latina and younger individuals, being unnecessarily tossed out.
+ On the fifteenth anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Honest Pay Act, the White Home introduced a brand new rule forbidding federal businesses from contemplating wage historical past when setting pay for brand spanking new staff.
+ The Home of Representatives handed the Tax Reduction for American Households and Staff Act of 2024 in a massively bipartisan vote. The invoice contains an enlargement of the kid tax credit score that may make an unlimited distinction for low-income households. If the Senate acts shortly to move the invoice, it may raise 400,000 youngsters out of poverty.
+ Over 64,000 ladies and women in states with abortion bans have endured pregnancies ensuing from rape since Roe v. Wade fell. Throughout the 14 states, there have been an estimated 520,000 whole rapes, and 91 % of the pregnancies passed off in states with out abortion exceptions for rape. Texas tops the record, with 45 % of these pregnancies.
+ As well as, Texas’ teen start fee rose for the primary time in 15 years after the state instituted an abortion ban. Latinas have been disproportionately affected, presumably as a result of they’re additionally the group least more likely to have medical health insurance in Texas.
+ The Pennsylvania Supreme Courtroom got here near ruling that abortion is protected by the state’s structure, and allowed abortion suppliers to problem a ban on Medicaid protection of abortion. “With abortion care more and more out of attain, significantly for individuals working to make ends meet, this can be a essential step to making sure that the sum of money somebody has doesn’t decide their choices for care. Just some quick months in the past, Pennsylvania voters took to the polls to reject anti-abortion judges—this Supreme Courtroom choice reveals the ability of these outcomes,” mentioned Nourbese Flint, president of All* Above All.
+ AI-generated, sexually express deepfake photos of Taylor Swift went viral, with one seen over 45 million instances within the 19 hours earlier than X suspended the perpetrators. 4chan customers made the pictures by exploiting a now-eliminated loophole within the Microsoft platform Designer, displaying how scarily straightforward it now could be to provide nonconsensual sexual photos of actual individuals.
+ A person in Colorado stole greater than 200 newspapers from distribution packing containers to stop individuals from studying the front-page story a couple of sexual assault investigation on the residence of the town’s police chief. Three teenagers, together with the chief’s stepson, have been arrested after a then-17-year-old woman reported being raped not less than 3 times.
+ Fifteen states have opted out of a brand new EBT program that gives eligible households with $40 per little one monthly throughout the summer time. Within the 35 collaborating states, the Division of Agriculture expects it to assist 21 million youngsters. In Mississippi, nonprofit Springboard to Alternatives is providing money to households, stepping as much as present crucial assist after Gov. Tate Reeves didn’t assist low-income youngsters.
+ Trans individuals in Florida are not capable of replace the gender marker on their driver’s license. “It’s fairly probably that officers might use this coverage to harass any individual whose license has a intercourse designation they disagree with, together with guests from out of state,” warned ACLU senior coverage counsel Arli Christian.
+ Broadway star Chita Rivera died in January, at age 91. The singer, dancer and actor was identified for her roles in West Aspect Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago and plenty of extra. All through her profession, she gained a number of Tony awards, and acquired the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
+ Missouri abortion advocates have launched a 2024 poll measure marketing campaign—however are together with a fetal viability line that will enable bans after viability. Some advocates are cautious that enshrining viability language within the state structure may result in pointless restrictions sooner or later.
+ In California, 130 previously incarcerated ladies are suing the state’s Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation and greater than 30 correctional officers. The ladies report widespread sexual abuse, violence and systemic failures to reply to stories of sexual abuse.
“Each lady’s worst nightmare is being locked inside a facility full of sexual predators with no technique of escape. And that’s precisely what every of those ladies, and sure hundreds extra, have been subjected to for many years,” mentioned legal professional Doug Rochen.
+ Over 260 members of Congress filed an amicus transient asking the Supreme Courtroom to guard entry to mifepristone. “A long time after FDA’s preliminary approval—but by some means in an emergency posture—the district court docket and the Fifth Circuit intruded into FDA’s drug approval course of, casting a shadow of uncertainty over its selections. The perils of this unwarranted judicial intervention into science-based determinations can hardly be overstated,” they wrote.
+ Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signed an govt order banning DEI applications at faculties and universities throughout the state. Stitt argued that he’s “defending tax {dollars},” however solely round $10 million was spent on DEI previously decade—simply three-tenths of 1 % of upper schooling spending.
+ White Home Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has named a brand new briefing room lectern after Alice Dunnigan and Ethel L. Payne, the primary Black ladies of the White Home press corps.
+ Regardless of pessimistic predictions, the U.S. economic system had a 3.1 % GDP enlargement in 2023, pushed by robust shopper spending. Median family wealth rose by 37 % between 2019 and 2022—the biggest three-year enhance on report, in line with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
+ Nikki Haley has gone additional than some other feminine Republican presidential candidate, however remains to be solely polling even with Trump amongst ladies.
+ Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed the first anti-LGBTQ invoice of the 12 months into legislation, banning trans individuals from utilizing restrooms matching their gender id in faculties and government-owned buildings.
+ Lia Thomas has sued swimming’s governing physique for discrimination after the group barred her from competing in ladies’s occasions as a trans lady.
+ Taylor Swift turned the first individual to ever win the Grammy for Album of the 12 months 4 instances, and took the chance to announce her subsequent album, “The Tortured Poets Division.”
+ For the primary time, ladies gained each single class in the principle telecast of the Grammys.
Feminine artists win each single class in the principle telecast on the #GRAMMYs for the primary time ever. pic.twitter.com/gKmYqKEMV8
— Speak of the Charts (@talkofthecharts) February 5, 2024
How We’re Doing
+ Ladies make up lower than 20 % of state legislators within the Southeast. Regardless of a report variety of ladies elected to state positions not too long ago, states like Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee lag behind. West Virginia has simply 13 % ladies lawmakers.
Structural limitations like part-time roles and many journey, in addition to bias and discrimination from voters, make it harder for ladies with youngsters to run for workplace. And Black ladies are significantly underrepresented. In Mississippi, white males are 28 % of the state inhabitants however over 60 % of the legislature. Black ladies are underrepresented by an element of three.
+ The variety of abortions in 2023 is more likely to be increased than in 2020. Within the first 10 months of the 12 months, there have been an estimated 878,000 abortions—94 % of 2020’s whole. And this quantity doesn’t embrace abortion care exterior the healthcare system, which has probably elevated considerably as states carried out abortion bans.
“A rise in abortion numbers is a constructive improvement if it means persons are getting the healthcare they need and want. Nevertheless, regardless of a rise in abortions in contrast with 2020, we all know that many individuals in 2023 needed to overcome immense limitations to entry care, typically touring throughout state strains to take action,” mentioned Guttmacher information scientist Isaac Maddow-Zimet.
+ Nearly one in 5 sufferers should now journey out of state to get an abortion, double the speed of interstate journey in 2020.
+ A survey discovered that ladies of various generations within the workforce (Child Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z) are extra aligned than generational stereotypes assume.
Societal perceptions of success—like a excessive revenue, a high-ranking title and a snug life-style—have been related, and essentially the most important private definition of success for all 4 generations concerned wholesome work/life steadiness. Nevertheless, Child Boomers and Gen Z have been extra probably than the center two generations to outline success by reaching the highest of a corporation. A majority of respondents reported going through obstacles of pay inequity and restricted illustration of girls in decision-making roles.
“As ladies rise in our careers, we regularly achieve this with a way of shortage and competitors with each other that we’ve been conditioned to simply accept—together with generalized biases between generations. These survey findings underscore the ability of unity and the shared challenges and aspirations that join ladies throughout generations,” mentioned Amanda Herring, CEO of Fe league.
+ Three in 5 Individuals consider that Roe v. Wade being overturned has been dangerous for the nation, which is twice the share of those that suppose it has been good for the nation. Greater than three in 5 assist Congress passing a legislation guaranteeing the fitting to an abortion.
Up Subsequent:
U.S. democracy is at a harmful inflection level—from the demise of abortion rights, to an absence of pay fairness and parental depart, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and assaults on trans well being. Left unchecked, these crises will result in wider gaps in political participation and illustration. For 50 years, Ms. has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Modification, and centering the tales of these most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we’re redoubling our dedication for the following 50 years. In flip, we want your assist, Help Ms. right this moment with a donation—any quantity that’s significant to you. For as little as $5 every month, you’ll obtain the print journal together with our e-newsletters, motion alerts, and invites to Ms. Studios occasions and podcasts. We’re grateful to your loyalty and ferocity.
