Women at the Center

The election held on November 3, 2020, was an auspicious one for women. The United States elected our first woman, and first woman of color, to executive office with Senator Kamala Harris set to become Vice President, and a record-breaking number of women were elected to Congress. In January, 140 women will be seated in…

As we enter into the third season of this global pandemic, many of us have transitioned the bulk of our social lives online. And while some may still imagine a solitary hacker in their mind’s eye when they think of the internet, others envision a room crowded with people and ideas. The online space where…

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the ways we live and work. Since March, many Americans were told to work from home, many were left unemployed, and many frontline workers continued to go to work to provide essential service—including nurses, a profession historically dominated by women. Today, 90 percent of nursing jobs in the United States…

In any year but 2020, Halloween is an exciting opportunity to don a mask. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has made masking a serious public health responsibility and a partisan flashpoint, rather than a fun costume prop. This year, as images of masked marchers for racial justice are juxtaposed with violent protests against pandemic-related mask mandates, the question…

In 1970, the New York Times published a feature story on the revolutionary Puerto Rican organization the Young Lords. The article noted the unusual gender dynamics at play and claimed that the women among the group’s membership may be “the most liberated women in town.” One of the leaders, Iris Morales, was quoted as saying,…