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By Pat Mitchell | “Action is the antidote to despair.”

I find this statement by the legendary activist/songwriter, Joan Baez, to be particularly relevant and inspiring in this time when it’s so easy to fall into despair. When I am engaged in activism—the purposeful resistance to the many push backs on rights and freedoms—I push aside despair and reclaim the hope that comes with action.

And it’s time for action! Time to stop the handwringing and worse, the silence, about what is happening in the U.S. that is having an impact everywhere in the world.

(Click here to read more) 

(Melina Mara / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

By Victoria Cornejo Barrera | When I was pregnant and working as a custodian in South Carolina, my employer sent me home after I asked for some simple changes to protect my health. Since my requests were so simple, I wasn’t expecting my employer to tell me to stop working. I was blindsided, made to feel like I was the one who did something wrong.

Looking for answers, I came across A Better Balance’s free legal helpline. They told me about a new law called the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which required that workers in my situation receive accommodations—including changes to their usual work duties—to stay healthy and on the job. I returned to work with the adjustments I needed, and worked right up until I had my baby. On top of this, my employer put up posters—one by every time clock—about the PWFA, so that other workers who might need pregnancy accommodations would know about it.

(This essay is a part of Ms. and A Better Balance’s Women & Democracy installment, all about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act—a groundbreaking civil rights law ensuring pregnant and postpartum workers have the right to reasonable workplace accommodations. Bipartisan, pro-family and boldly feminist, the PWFA is both a lesson in democracy and a battleground for its defense against antidemocratic attacks.)

(Click here to read more)

(Win McNamee / Getty Images)

By Maya Wiley | The Trump administration is trying to gut the Department of Education and divert funds to charter, private and religious schools that won’t be held accountable. This move threatens the progress we’ve made through civil rights efforts, especially in making schools more integrated and fair. The dismantling of key federal protections and funding will disproportionately hurt low-income students, students with disabilities, and communities already struggling.

We need to stand up, demand better resources for public schools, and refuse to let these harmful changes happen. We’ve fought for this before, and we can do it again.

(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.

As we reckon with an administration hostile to equal rights, feminists will continue to fight. To help keep hope, we must remember and celebrate recent wins.

One of those wins is the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which took effect on June 27, 2023. This is a landmark piece of legislation that prohibits discrimination and ensures workplace accommodations related to pregnancy for workers. But is the PWFA safe, or will it be threatened by the Trump administration’s crusade against reproductive rights and justice?

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