The Election Issue
Letter from the Editor
At the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C., last April, I met and talked with Sandra Bernhard oh so briefly. She was friendly. We talked enthusiastically about the mission of the new Ms., our strong ties to our past and our plans for the future.
“So. What you’re saying … Ms. magazine is not going to be namby-pamby?” Bernhard said in that way of hers.
Read Letter >> Discuss>>
The Unreal World
by Jennifer L. Pozner Viewers continue to tune in because these shows frame their narratives in ways that
both reflect and reinforce deeply ingrained societal biases about women, men,
love, beauty, class and race.
A Conversation With Liv Ullmann
by Robert Emmet Long A Doll's House , starring Kate Winslet.
Like Daughter, Like Mother
by Sarah Gonzales Lin Lac watched her mother develop chronic back and wrist pain during 16 years as a garment worker. That’s why she eagerly agreed to help carry out a study of work-related injuries in the garment industry, launched four years ago by Asian Immigrant Women Advocates.
A Feast of Feminist Art
by Carey Lovelace Elizabeth Sackler offered to donate more than “The Dinner Party” — she’s funded a whole new wing of the museum, which will open in 2006 as the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
Where's That Smoking Gun?
by Pamela Haag Title VII of the Civil Rights Act turns 40 this year, and it’s a bittersweet birthday. It’s getting harder to actually enforce the law, because the standards for what constitutes sufficient evidence are becoming increasingly stringent.
AIDS Has a Woman's Face
by Stephen Lewis If there’s one constant throughout the years I’ve been U.N. Special Envoy — years spent traversing the African continent — it’s the thus-far irreversible vulnerability of women. It goes without saying that the virus has targeted women with a raging, Darwinian ferocity. It goes equally without saying that gender inequality is what sustains and nurtures the virus, causing women to be infected in ever greater, disproportionate numbers. Discuss >>
Fighting Words For A Secular America
by Robin Morgan When John Ashcroft repeatedly invokes religion, the Founders must be picketing in their graves. Next time someone insists that U.S. law has religious roots, here's evidence to the contrary, courtesy of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson ... Disscuss >>
A Family Affair
by Gillian Kane The Illinois-based World Congress of Families is taking its right-wing agenda to a global stage with the hope of reversing social initiatives on reproductive rights, gay rights and population issues, particularly those negotiated at the United Nations. Discuss >>
Liberating Mary
by Bob Lamm London's National Portrait Gallery kept its Mary Wollstonecraft portrait in storage -- until an intrepid male feminist got on the case. Disscuss >>
Save the Courts
by Donna Brazile If you ask any Democratic senator, perhaps even Republican senators too, what is at stake in the 2004 election, they would respond with two words: Supreme Court.
Scandal Patrol
by Lara Friedrich and Anne Decleene Forced by public outcry to take action on sexual assault, the military has regularly done studies, held hearings and released reports — 18 reports in 15 years. But the question lingers: When will the military stop talking and start taking the steps necessary to reduce this epidemic of violence? Discuss >>
The Breast Cancer Divide
by Michelle L. Smith, M.D. Since the early 1980s, increased mammography screening has led to earlier breast-cancer detection, and mortality rates for American women have declined. Yet African American women have benefited far less from these advances than have white women. Why are so many African American women dying? Discuss >>
The Afghan Women's Vote
by Sima Wali Afghanistan is far from normal, and very far from functioning as a democracy that represents all its citizens, female and male. Most U.S. media coverage barely notices this, offering upbeat reports on a few areas of progress, neglecting the reality endured by the majority of Afghans: women. What will happen during the first presidential election October 9?
The Artists of Matènwa
by Edwidge Danticat In a tiny rural community buried in Haiti's mountains, the women of Matènwa have started an artistic project designed to bring women money, pride and hope. Plus : Jacqueline Charles reports on the status of women in Haiti.
Why the Gender Gap Matters
by Eleanor Smeal In U.S. elections, women count — or, to be more precise, women count more. On November 2, 2004, some 8 million more women than men will vote. Magnifying women’s voting clout is the gender gap — the measurable difference in the way women and men vote for candidates and in the way they view political issues.
Daughterhood is Powerful
An Interview with Vanessa Kerry Vanessa Kerry and her sister, Alexandra, hit the stump to tell the public why they are supporting their father’s candidacy. Ms. magazine caught up with Vanessa by telephone in Las Vegas, Nev., during the campaign’s transcontinental bus/train tour.
