October 20, 2021


With so much at stake for women and for equality, Ms. will be reporting on policy initiatives and progress within Congress and the Biden-Harris administration—as well as tracking the backlash to equality. Every Wednesday, we will keep you updated, informed and ready to push forward!


Think Build Back Better Is Expensive? Wait Till You Hear the U.S. Defense Budget. [[link removed]]

BY MARTHA BURK | The highest profile hot-button argument on Capitol Hill these days is over President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) plan to fund a robust “caregiving infrastructure.” If passed, the government would spend $3.5 trillion over the next decade on domestic programs, including establishing universal pre-kindergarten, subsidizing childcare, extending the expanded child tax credit, subsidizing free community college, providing 12 weeks of paid medical and family leave, help for low wage workers in home care and closing the Medicaid insurance coverage gap.

The main objection to BBB by Republicans and so-called “moderate” Democrats is the price tag—$3.5 trillion over 10 years. Broken down, it’s $350 billion per year. If that sounds like a lot of money, it is—until you compare it to the boys and their toys.

Last month, the House voted 316–113 to pass a single year $777.9 billion defense policy bill for 2022 that would increase service members’ salary by 2.7 percent and fund 13 additional combat ships. That’s more than double the yearly cost of the Build Back Better plan. And know this: The Pentagon asks for (and gets) more money every year, while BBB is a fixed amount over 10 years.

It goes without saying that BBB disproportionately benefits women, who have left the workforce in droves during the COVID-19 pandemic as it disrupted school and childcare arrangements. The numbers are grim: Overall, the U.S. economy added 194,000 new jobs in September, the second straight month of low growth after a summer where we were averaging about 1 million added jobs monthly. All of the September gains went to men—women actually lost 26,000 jobs.

( To read more, click here. [[link removed]] )


Read More

California Law Bans “Condom Stealthing”: Removing a Condom Without Consent Is “A Grave Violation of Dignity and Autonomy” [[link removed]]

California Law Eliminates Spousal Rape Exemption—But “Patriarchy Still Dies Hard” [[link removed]]

Rising Gun Ownership, Incidents of Domestic Violence, and How Women Pay the Price [[link removed]]

We Need More Women in Leadership at the Fed: Personnel Is Policy [[link removed]]

Paid Leave to Save Your Life [[link removed]]

The Department of Education is Failing Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault [[link removed]]

What we're reading
We know it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. That's why going forward, we'll provide a weekly roundup of the stories we think are important that Ms. may not have covered. Here's what we're reading this week:

"These clinics in Mexico are trying to stop abortions by duping women" — Los Angeles Times [[link removed]]

"Justices’ views on abortion in their own words and votes" — Associated Press [[link removed]]

"When two is a lonely number: Group aims to connect spousal caregivers, ease isolation" — WXXI News [[link removed]]

"Supreme Court will consider fast track appeal of Texas abortion law" — CNBC [[link removed]]

"Biden team asks Supreme Court to pause Texas abortion law" — Associated Press [[link removed]]

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Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
Dr. Goodwin is joined by former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards to discuss the dark money underwriting anti-abortion laws like Texas’s near-total abortion ban S.B. 8 and her Abortion Ban Accountability project, which is calling out corporations who fund legislators who stand against abortion rights and LGBTQ rights.
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!



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