VCU's campus team with Abigail Spanberger! (Wayne Clampitt)

Across the country, 2025 delivered a wave of feminist victories. And the Feminist Majority wasn’t just watching these wins unfold; we helped drive them.

Virginia made history this year when Abigail Spanberger became the state’s first woman governor, powered decisively by women voters, 65% of whom cast their ballots for her. The state also saw an unprecedented shift in the House of Delegates. What began as a slim majority grew into a nearly two-thirds supermajority, with Democratic seats increasing from 51 to 64 out of 100. 

Pennsylvania voters retained all three progressive Supreme Court justices—Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht. These justices have played a crucial role in safeguarding reproductive rights for Medicaid recipients through Pennsylvania’s Equal Rights Amendment and have been instrumental in halting attempts at extremist voter suppression. Their continued presence on the bench keeps these protections secure.

This year, Vote for Equality (VFE), the political arm of the Feminist Majority, organized on 30 key college campuses across Virginia and Pennsylvania, mobilizing student voters, especially young women, in two of the most closely watched state elections in the country. The impact was unmistakable: historic margins, flipped seats, and victories that will shape policy for years to come.

Behind these wins were hundreds of young feminist organizers.

VFE recruited, trained, and equipped student leaders to register voters, mobilize college students, and educate young voters about what was at stake in this election. VFE hired 150 students across 14 Virginia campuses and 16 Pennsylvania campuses. 

The student organizers tabled in quads and student unions, spoke in front of club meetings and residence halls, held late-night planning sessions, and stayed outside polling locations until the final ballots were cast. Their work fueled record-breaking youth turnout, including an extraordinary 82% of women under 30 voting for Spanberger in Virginia. In tight races across both states, that surge made the difference between narrow losses and decisive wins.

These victories aren’t abstract, they change real lives. They affirm a truth our movement has long understood: when feminists organize, when young women vote, and when our community rises together, we win, every time.

The momentum of 2025 is real, and we’re ready to build on it in 2026.

Vote for Equality, www.voteforequality.us, is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Lincoln University's campus team tabling in the quad! (Jada Bradley)

Ms. executive editor Kathy Spillar, Democracy Forward president Skye Perryman, Contrarian editor-in-chief Jennifer Rubin, and Contrarian publisher Norm Eisen (Nina Zacuto)

The Feminist Majority Foundation hosted the 2025 Global Women’s Rights Awards in Los Angeles on November 18, bringing together activists, journalists, and supporters for one of the feminist movement’s most energizing nights of the year. This year’s program centered on a clear and urgent theme of defending democracy and advancing equality.

In a political climate defined by rising authoritarianism and attacks on reproductive healthcare, FMF positioned this year’s awards as both a celebration of resistance and a rallying call. Speakers throughout the evening reminded us that democracy cannot survive without gender equality and an independent press. All of the speakers and honorees work at this intersection of protecting democracy while advancing women’s rights. 

2025 Honorees 

Jen Rubin and Norm Eisen of The Contrarian

The Contrarian is an independent publication whose fearless reporting has become essential in an era defined by disinformation and democratic backsliding. Represented by co-founders Jennifer Rubin and Norm Eisen, The Contrarian was celebrated for its unique position at “the intersection of media, the law, and storytelling.” The publication’s journalism challenges entrenched power, exposes authoritarian tactics, and elevates voices too often sidelined in national discourse. 

Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward

Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, was honored for her organization’s sweeping legal strategy to defend civil liberties and gender equality nationwide. Under her leadership, Democracy Forward has challenged attacks on abortion access, efforts to dismantle social safety net programs, and a broader wave of authoritarian policymaking. Perryman embodies the “bold, swift action” required in this political moment. 

Bess Wohl, Whitney White and Lisa Cronin Wohl with Liberation

The Broadway production Liberation uses storytelling as a form of political resistance. Playwright Bess Wohl, director Whitney White, and writer and activist Lisa Cronin Wohl were celebrated for creating a work that centers women’s histories, bodies, and stories at a moment when all three are under cultural and political assault. In her remarks, Bess Wohl captured the stakes of their work: “Theater is dialogue. Autocracy is a monologue.”

A woman wearing a Burka takes her baby to receive medical care. Kabul, 1998 (Feminist Majority Foundation)

AREZU FAYYAZI | NOVEMBER 13

On November 5, 2025, in Herat, Afghanistan, the Taliban imposed a new edict requiring women to wear a burqa before entering public hospitals. Women patients, visitors, and even medical staff must now wear a burqa to be allowed inside any public healthcare facility. A burqa is a full-body covering that leaves only a small mesh screen to see through, and it is neither rooted in religion nor traditional Afghan culture.

Under the Taliban regime, women’s access to healthcare was already severely affected by restrictive policies, movement bans, and the closure of clinics due to funding cuts. The new restrictions only deepen the crisis, adding yet another layer of hardship for Afghan women who are already confined to their homes and pushed to the margins of society. The forced burqa mandate further erases Afghan women’s visibility, pushing women into even greater invisibility.

A woman in Herat shared, “This is suffocating for us.” Since the forced burqa mandate took effect, Herat has already seen a 28% drop in patient admissions for urgent care. In just one week, the number of women accessing healthcare facilities has fallen sharply.

According to Doctors Without Borders Program Manager Sarah Chateau, “Each restriction placed on women as patients translates into delayed or denied medical care. We know this will have severe consequences for children and mothers who already face enormous barriers to accessing health services in Afghanistan.” She adds that “access to care is determined by clothing rather than medical need.”

Taliban continues to harass and threaten women with violence if they do not wear their burqa or cover themselves completely. In some cases, women are being forced to purchase burqas in shops, an added financial burden at a time when many families are struggling due to widespread job losses, aid cuts, and bans on women’s employment.

Another woman explained, “It is an impossible situation for me because I’m not used to wearing a burqa.” Before the Taliban’s return in 2021, Afghan women had the freedom to choose their clothing and move through society without such restrictions. Herat has already recorded a 28% decline in women seeking care.

Stand in solidarity and support Afghan women who are raising their voices against gender-discriminatory policies as they fight to reclaim their autonomy and dignity in a society that seeks to silence and marginalize them.

PETITION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Sign below to add your name to this urgent call — we're delivering this petition directly to the United Nations Secretary-General and to the President of the General Assembly to make sure our voices are heard at the highest level. Every signature shows the growing public demand for action. The more names we gather, the stronger our message will be.

António Guterres, Secretary-General,

Annalena Baerbock, President, General Assembly,

I, the undersigned, urge the United Nations to take immediate and historic action to stand with the women and girls of Afghanistan, who are living under a system of gender apartheid instituted by the Taliban regime.

Specifically, I call on the United Nations to:

1. Formally recognize gender apartheid as a crime against humanity in international law and include it in the new Crimes Against Humanity Convention.

2. Refuse recognition and prevent the Taliban from occupying Afghanistan's UN seat, as this would confer legitimacy on a regime engaged in crimes against humanity.

3. Increase humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, with priority given to women and girls as both distributors and recipients of aid.

4. Ensure Afghan women are meaningfully included in all international discussions on Afghanistan's future—political, economic, social, and humanitarian.

The Taliban has issued nearly 150 edicts systematically erasing women and girls from public life. And preventing girls and women from education, work, and taking away their freedom of movement is not only unjust—it violates their fundamental human rights under international law. 

These actions constitute systematic oppression and domination of women and girls, committed with the intention of maintaining the dominant regime, and therefore amounting to apartheid and persecution under international law.

The United Nations must act with moral clarity and legal resolve.

The eyes of the world—and the hopes of Afghan women—are upon you.

Sincerely,

GIOVANNA DESTEFANIS | NOVEMBER 13

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has removed its boxed warning from more than twenty hormone-based therapies used to treat menopause symptoms, marking a major change in how the agency regulates these medications. The FDA’s update applies to products that deliver estrogen or estrogen-progestin combinations through pills, patches, gels, or sprays. The boxed warning, also known as a “black box” warning, is the FDA’s most serious caution, and has appeared on estrogen and combination hormone therapies since 2002. 

In the 1990s, more than 1 in 4 women took estrogen either alone or in combination with progestin. The assumption was that it would reduce rates of heart disease and dementia in addition to treating menopause. The warning was added after the Women’s Health Initiative study linked hormone therapy to increased risks of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, and dementia. The average age of women in the study was 63, which is over a decade past the average age of a woman experiencing menopause at 52. 

Dr. Steven Fleischman, President of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, noted that the warnings made patients hesitate to take the medication even when their condition was severe. This fear of potential risks to the fetus led to pregnant women to refuse necessary medical treatment, resulting in serious harm.

Agency officials said the change reflects new research showing that the risks seen in older women in the 2002 study do not apply equally to younger women, especially those under 60 or within 10 years of menopause. For those patients, the FDA said, hormone therapy remains an effective and generally safe option for easing hot flashes, night sweats, and other symptoms.

The boxed warning will be replaced with language advising patients and doctors to consider age, medical history, and timing when deciding on treatment. Other cautions will remain in place, including guidance that women with a uterus should use combined estrogen and progestin therapy to reduce the risk of uterine cancer. 

The FDA’s decision marks an important shift toward restoring trust in women’s medicine.This change could encourage more open conversations between patients and doctors, improve access to safe and effective therapies, and highlight the ongoing need for greater research and resources dedicated to women’s health.

Photo by Tomasz Zielonka on Unsplash

Last week, the current administration made another attempt to erase women from American History by signing off on the demolition of the East Wing of the White House. The East Wing, infamously referred to as the“people’s house,” will be replaced with a privately-funded $300 billion ballroom, which the President hopes will modernize the East Wing. 

The East Wing has long been the home of the First Lady, which Eleanor Roosevelt first professionalized during her husband’s presidency. Before then, First Ladies did not have a designated space; instead, they worked out of their bedrooms, sitting rooms, and other small spaces they could find. The East Wing, from that day forward, became a space for Women’s History that was not just for show, symbolizing a substantial move towards empowerment. 

Eleanor Roosevelt transformed this space into a site of activism supporting women’s groups from the Girl Scouts, to the Women’s Trade Union League. The issues they discussed were not ornamental or superficial, but were political, economic, and life-changing. Famously, Betty Ford argued for a pay increase for her staff and Michelle Obama led her “Let’s Move Campaign.”

The creation of the East Wing as a professional space allowed First Ladies, and women alike, to be more than just their husbands’ wives. Instead, they could become the passionate activists they were born to be. Disposing of the East Wing actively erases women’s involvement at the White House and that First Ladies can have meaningful agendas. 

It was Betty Ford who tirelessly fought to end sex-based discrimination and said, “if the West Wing is the mind of the nation, then the East Wing is the heart.” Michelle Obama used this space to highlight the importance of public health, and Jill Biden used this space to engage in her work with military families and education. An unnecessary ballroom should not be used to erase the life-changing work that the East Wing has represented. 

It is our duty to preserve this country’s history in the fight for women’s equality. The White House is the people’s house, and women’s history is American history. The East Wing, a symbol of this history, should not be overlooked in favor of a ballroom that will only promote exclusivity. 

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