Dear John,
Here we are still, after a week that has felt like an eternity.
We do not yet have a complete understanding of what happened to result in the re-election of Donald Trump to the presidency. There was a gender gap, with Kamala Harris securing a majority of women’s votes—in particular Black women, 91 percent of whom voted for her; and young women, 61 percent of whom voted for her, according to polling from Edison. But, as Jodi Enda of The Fuller Project wrote in Ms. this week, “women’s votes did not come in in big enough numbers for Harris to surmount Trump’s advantage among men in the nation as a whole and battleground states that decided the election.”
In the end, “none of it was enough to help Harris break the thick and, to date, impenetrable, glass ceiling that is the American presidency,” concluded Enda.
We do know that abortion rights and women’s rights were strong motivators for those who cast their votes for Harris, and that of the 10 states with abortion ballot questions, 7 passed constitutional protections for reproductive rights by decisive margins; Arizona (61-39), Colorado (62-38), Maryland (74-26), Missouri (52-48), Montana (57-43), Nevada (63-37) and New York (62-38). And yet here we are, with an outcome that means women will continue dying in states where bans remain in force, and facing an electorate that chose to put in power the very man who bragged about his role in overturning our constitutional right to abortion.
“While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” proclaimed Harris in her speech on Wednesday, as she called us all to action. “This is not a time to throw up our hands. This is a time to roll up our sleeves.” And in remarks given Thursday, President Biden echoed Harris’s: "Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable,” he said. “A defeat does not mean we are defeated."
In this dangerous and unpredictable moment, I want to make you a pledge. Unlike typical newsrooms, Ms. is motivated by the promise of movement journalism—journalism that aims to address communities directly affected by our country’s many injustices, journalism that recognizes that the mainstream media’s “objectivity” has often upheld the status quo. Unlike most typical newsrooms, we have access to and engage with writers from across the feminist movement, domestically and internationally—the very people driving the work and movements and stories on which we report.
We can do this because we’re funded by a vibrant membership community—we do not take corporate dollars, through ads or otherwise, nor do we take government funding. We need our readers’ support to do the investigative reporting and analysis that helps us all stay engaged in the feminist fight forward. So, if you’re not already a part of the Ms. community, we’d love to have you join us.
Women right now are risking everything in places like Afghanistan and Iran, daring to speak in lands where silence is survival. We can do no less here.
Our sleeves are rolled up. I hope yours are too.
Onward,
