The best of the week-from the holidays to the halls of power.

*Weekly Digest | December 14, 2019*

*Letter from an Editor*

We took some time out from the headlines this week to reflect on the holidays, and how we can all reconcile our feminism with our gift lists. But in the midst of the madness, we also continued publishing critical reporting and analysis from around the world-exploring the growing movement for safe workplaces fueled by fast-food employees, providing feminist perspectives during a week of progress in the push for paid leave and giving voice to a student-led movement to end rape on campus.

For equality,


*Carmen Rios*
Managing Digital Editor _________________________________________





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*This Week's Must-Reads from "Ms".*

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*Feminists Sound Off on This Week's Progress for Paid Leave [ [link removed] ]*

The U.S. is one of only two nations in the world that does not offer some form of paid leave, leaving over 80 percent of workers with little financial recourse if they must take time off to care for a new child or a sick family member. Feminists this week pushed for progress on the issue on Capitol Hill-winning one major victory and then calling for even more.

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*#WhatAboutMe: Why We Must Stand Up for Retail Workers This Holiday Season [ [link removed] ]*


As families and friends gather to celebrate the winter holidays, retail and food service workers across the country are rolling up their sleeves and heading to work. With the holiday season in full swing, shoppers are flooding retail stores in search of gifts and, after hours of braving lines, they are seeking sustenance and relief at restaurants, food courts and bars. The retail and restaurant workers who provide services to those customers are overwhelmingly women who are paid low wages for very hard and stressful work. What makes matters worse is that they also face rampant sexual harassment-often with little hope of recourse or remedy.

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*The Ms. Q&A: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Wants the World to Let Girls Dream [ [link removed] ]*






"You know, people, people often ask me why I choose the subjects that I do-and it's really based on my barometer of anger. If something makes me very angry, that's what I really want to focus on."

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*Forming a Frontline Against Campus Sexual Violence [ [link removed] ]*


The University of Michigan Diag is more crowded than usual lately-because student activism against sexual violence is coming to a head. Recently, a group of protestors formed a human chain on campus to express their opposition of the university's interim policy regarding sexual assault, sexual misconduct and all Title IX cases on campus.

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*#FacebookBlackout: How Activists are Defending Democracy by Logging Off [ [link removed] ]*


"We believe in free speech, as well as the value of truth in safeguarding our democracy," the #FacebookBlackout creators explain to founder Mark Zuckerberg in the open letter on their campaign website. "We understand your reluctance to police political speech, and agree with you that our government is ultimately responsible for setting the standards for political advertising for the common good. However, we believe your position allowing amoral politicians-and the shadowy forces who support them-to lie without consequence is untenable, and frankly, un-American."