Feminists around the world spoke up this week on msmagazine.com.
Weekly Digest | July 27, 2019
Letter From an Editor
If you emailed me, you might have heard: I was OOO at the beginning of this week. And while I was flying back and forth from the east coast, our writers and contributors were reporting back from feminist frontlines across the country and even around the world.
The border crisis, of course, demanded our attention—as did the expansion of the Trump administration's xenophobic and racist immigration policies across state lines. We also slammed the President, rightfully, for his disrespectful treatment of Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad, and his all-male meetings about global conflicts.
Women are demanding a voice in Afghanistan's unfolding peace talks, too, as Dr. Nadia Hashimi reports in our latest issue that we've been excerpting online. And this week, we also published a conversation between Ambassador Melanne Verveer and Monica McWilliams, who worked with a coalition of women in Ireland to foster peace during "The Troubles."
After convening global women's rights leaders in Bellagio, Italy, Pat Mitchell issued a call for more eco-feminist leadership, while Arisha Hatch called on District Attorneys in every state to take action to protect abortion access. Rev. Angela Yarber dug into the role art can play in restoring women's legacies in religious text while New York-based Curator Grace Aneiza Ali talked to Ms. about her new exhibition (finally) redefining "women's work."
And while Isabel Thompson, one of our intrepid youth reporters writing for our Future is Ms. vertical, talked to the Girls of Steel in Pittsburgh taking up space in the field of robotics, another, Katherine Oung, reported back from D.C., where she met with Women's March Youth Empower leader Anusha Chinthalapale.
In Texas, abortion rights activist and former Ms. cover star Wendy Davis announced her Congressional campaign. In Northern California, student activists demanded on-campus abortion access, while feminists in Southern California explored of displacement and belonging. (Meanwhile, the Los Angeles-based "mother of all member spaces," the Jane Club, set out to cultivate community by way of a pop-up in New Orleans.)
Debra Dion Krischke connected with leaders fighting human trafficking across the U.S., while Julia Travers reflected on a convening in Seattle of philanthropists investing in the future of feminism. Rose Norman headed to Birmingham to meet with the young women intent on leading the next generation of feminist bookstores. Rickey Gard Diamond looked back on the missing voices at FDR's historic convening of experts at Bretton Woods—and the feminists working to fix the damage 75 years later.
Feminism knows no borders—and this movement spans the globe. Our coverage this week, and over the last 47 years, provides ample evidence of that fact.
Onward,
Carmen Rios
Managing Digital Editor, Ms.
More Must-Reads from Ms.
Elizabeth Warren Joins Growing #MeToo Boycott of Terranea Resort
Senator Elizabeth Warren announced Thursday that she would be adding her name to the growing list of elected officials, celebrities and activists leading the #CancelTerranea movement, a national boycott of the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. “Having Elizabeth Warren stand with women and show her support for the silence breakers shows she’s putting words into action,” Maria Hernandez, a communications specialist at UNITE HERE, told Ms. “It goes to show that real working women have a voice. Their stories should be taken seriously and heard. The impact is going to be huge.”
Title IX Made the USWNT Win Possible—and Launched a Movement that Plays Sports
Much like winning World Cup titles, advancing justice takes hard work and persistence. Title IX was a big step towards advancing gender equality in our country. The thunderous chants of “Equal Pay!” after the U.S. World Cup victory signal that our next one is overdue.
Not a Straight, White Man? U.S. Religious Conservatives are Coming for You.
Any schoolchild in the United States knows that the U.S. Declaration of Independence guarantees individuals’ rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Now, imagine what these principles mean for right-wingers and religious fundamentalists: where “life” refers to fetuses; “liberty” includes the prerogative to discriminate against LGBTIQ people; and “the pursuit of happiness” is reserved for straight, white patriarchs.
Busting Four Myths About Incarcerated Women
Now one of the most popular shows on Netflix, "Orange is the New Black" has made magic with its ability to humanize dastardly acts by providing backstory to crime—making it seem less like behavioral deviance and more like the understandable result of poverty, poor education, mental illness and misogyny. In many ways, Orange is the New Black turned the “bad girl” into folklore. But the trope of the deviant and inhumane female prisoner is just one of the myths OITNB was able to bust.
Writing Women Back Into Existence
“Where are all the men?” It’s the most common question I hear from readers of my new novel, A People’s History of Heaven, and it’s not an unreasonable one. Of the few male characters that inhabit Heaven, the fictional Bangalore slum where my book takes place, only three are named. Yet, every time I hear it, I am taken by surprise. The truth is, when I wrote the book while I was consumed by the exact opposite question. Where, I wondered, are all the women?
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