With Today at Ms.—a daily newsletter from the team here at Ms. magazine—our top stories are delivered straight to your inbox every afternoon, so you’ll be informed and ready to fight back.

Sakina Amiri, center, and other reporters from Etilaat Roz work in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 13, 2021. Amiri has since evacuated out of the country. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

BY ZAHRA NADER | As we celebrate World Press Freedom Day, it’s worth reflecting on how it’s become a rare privilege to spot a female face on Afghan television—whether they wear a face covering or not.

Now, even these brief glimpses of women on Afghan TV might disappear. Near the end of February, Sheikh Mohammad Khalid, the Taliban’s minister for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, gathered owners of media companies for a meeting in Kabul and issued a warning: Women working in media needed to start covering their entire faces, leaving only their eyes visible; otherwise, the Taliban would ban women from working in the industry.

(Click here to read more)

An Afghan woman shops at a market in Kabul on March 10, 2024. (Wakil Kohsar / AFP via Getty Images)

BY ANSELMA ELLINGWOOD | In a nationwide women’s consultation, Afghan women have expressed ‘dread’ and ‘anxiety’ over the potential international recognition of the de facto authorities (DFA), with 67 percent stating it would severely affect their lives.

Among the participants, a majority stated that if such international recognition were to occur, it should only be contingent upon the removal of all restrictions in place by the Taliban against Afghan women and girls.

(Click here to read more) 

Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis during a press conference responding to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit challenging the Uplift Harris program, a guaranteed income program, on April 10, 2024. Harris County officials called the lawsuit a targeted act. (Yi-Chin Lee / Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

BY JHUMPA BHATTACHARYA and SAADIA VAN WINKLE | Imagine being guided by cruelty so deep you are compelled to take the food out of the mouths of your hungry neighbors. You don’t need this food yourself—in fact, you’re going to turn around and throw it in the trash. For nearly 2,000 intended recipients of a guaranteed income pilot program for low-income residents that was set to distribute $500 monthly for 18 months in Harris County, Texas, this is their reality.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has blocked implementation of the program—a move upheld, at least temporarily, by the state’s Supreme Court just a day before initial payments were set to begin last week. 

(Click here to read more) 

Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on

Apple Podcasts + Spotify.

In this episode, taped in front of a live audience at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C., a panel of health and legal experts unpack what’s happening around the world—from Gaza, to Afghanistan and beyond. How can governments and NGOs best act to preserve health, enforce legal norms, and protect humanity in times of conflict, and what can we learn from the doctors and human rights advocates who have been on the ground in these situations?

We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!

READ THE REST | GET THE MAGAZINE | SUPPORT MS.

Enjoy this newsletter? Forward to a friend!
Was this email forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe.

Ms. Magazine
1600 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 801
Arlington, VA 22209
United States

Manage your email subscriptions here

If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please 

unsubscribe.