By Jennifer Weiss-Wolf for Ms. Magazine.
Broadcast version by Eric Galatas for Colorado News Connection reporting for the Ms. Magazine-Public News Service Collaboration

The United States was designated a backsliding democracy in late 2021, when it appeared on a prominent European think tank’s annual global ranking. Today, half of the world’s democratic governments are on the decline, according to The Global State of Democracy, a report released by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) this past November.

Six months before the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, with Texas SB 8 already in effect—the U.S. made its disconcerting debut on the list. Advocates raised real-time questions about the correlation between regression on abortion rights and degraded democracies. A New York Times article asserted that such a descent is precisely when “curbs on women’s rights tend to accelerate.”

We think that’s a proposition worth flipping on its head. What if, instead, we looked at the United States’ persistent abysmal track record on gender equity as the potential smoking gun for its downward spiral? While the timing of the United States’ inaugural inclusion on the IDEA list made it easy to point to the grift of Trump and the rise of Trump-ism as the culprit, the hard truth is that our democracy has been flailing—by failing women, particularly women of color—as it has designed to, since the nation’s founding.

Equal Rights Amendment

Let’s start with the century-long fight to enshrine equality in the U.S. Constitution.

Eighty-five percent of United Nations member states currently have explicit constitutional provisions that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and/or gender. The United States is an outlier. Even as the federal Equal Rights Amendment navigates the path to ratification—and some 30 states have ERAs or comparable language in their own constitutions and/or active mobilization efforts—women in this country have no guarantee of equality.

Women’s Political Representation

The United States also lags in meaningful political representation.

We’re currently experiencing an uptick in women’s leadership on Capitol Hill, with an all-time high in the 118th Congress, where just over 28 percent (149 members) are women. In the House, women broke records in the 2022 midterms, with 124 now serving, 27 of whom are Black and 18 are Latina. On the Supreme Court, women account for four out of nine justices, two of whom are women of color. Vice President Kamala Harris is the first woman (and person of color) to serve in the role. 

At the state level, more than 30 percent of elected executives are women, including 12 serving as governor—a new record. Nevada is the first state to have a majority women legislature, followed by Colorado just this year; Michigan has a trifecta of women at the helm in the roles of governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Last year also marked the first time in U.S. history where at least one LGBTQ+ candidate ran for office in every state. In California, 10 percent of the state legislature is LGBTQ; across the country nine trans lawmakers now serve in state legislatures.

But these raw numbers are a far cry from robust or even remotely relative representation. There remain zero Black women in the U.S. Senate beyond Kamala Harris, who leads the body in her role as vice president; a Black woman has never served as a state governor. And the U.S. totals pale in comparison to women’s leadership and authority in much of the world, especially among our peer democracies.

Reproductive Freedom

The United States performs dreadfully on myriad ingredients needed to ensure equitable participation in the body politic.

While maternal mortality rates have decreased globally, they remain on the rise in the United States, which by the most recent count is ranked 46th in the world—a crisis that is exponentially acute for Black women, who are three times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth in the United States than white women.

Globally, paid maternity leave averages 29 weeks; the United States is one of only six countries, and the only wealthy nation, without national paid leave.

Across federal and state agencies, abusive institutional practices are all too common, from compulsory sterilization and forced induction of labor, to the denial or withholding of menstrual products and even the practice of shackling women during childbirth.

U.S. Abortion Rights Backslide

And then, of course, there is our current standing on abortion. For the past two decades, as much of the world has expanded access, the United States is one of just four countries—joining El Salvador, Nicaragua and Poland—actively rolling back rights. Though most Americans support legal abortion, and even well before the Supreme Court wielded its sledgehammer in its majority ruling in Dobbs, we’d witnessed then-unconstitutional laws glide through state legislatures only to be met with staggering indifference in the courts.

Now that the protections afforded by Roe have been eviscerated, we exist in an ever more dangerous and cruel orbit—one where the threat of criminalization for pregnancy outcomes, including stillbirths and miscarriages, looms large; where a 10-year-old is transported across state lines to obtain an abortion amid a media maelstrom (while her status as a rape victim is called into question—as if a pregnant child could be anything but); where people experiencing ectopic and unviable pregnancies are left to bleed, suffer and deteriorate before doctors can provide life-saving care.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Roe decision and continue to grapple with the new status quo, this much is clear: The tenets of reproductive health, rights and justice—and those of a healthy democracy—are not only inextricably interconnected, but essential to our nation’s promise. The country’s status as a backsliding democracy says as much about the symptom as it does the disease. And our simultaneous failure to curb democratic dysfunctions, like partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression, inevitably go hand in hand with our failure to ensure women and girls have an equal chance to engage in and contribute to civic life—or to live freely at all.

Bringing us back to the original proposition: Are we merely witnessing the byproducts of a democracy on the decline, or are each of the examples above the drivers of our current status? The 2020 United Nations report suggests that the trajectory of “de-democratization” is rarely analyzed initially through the distinctive lens of gender equity and there are insufficient efforts to systematically examine the current implications.

Which is precisely why we plan to pursue this conversation, starting with a symposium at NYU School of Law this spring. We will bring together academics, advocates, policymakers and pundits to explore what it means to measure the ebb and flow of inclusive democracy, in the United States and globally, with principles of gender equity at the center. Ms. magazine and Rewire News Group will co-host, and we look forward to sharing a steady stream of content as we tackle these questions in the weeks and months to come.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf wrote this article for Ms. Magazine.



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Voters in Arizona overwhelmingly supported and approved Proposition 139 last week, which enshrines abortion rights into the state's constitution.

The measure will allow abortions up to fetal viability, which is about 24 weeks.

But Fatima Goss Graves - president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center - said while ballot measures expanding access to abortion won in seven of the ten states this election, she contended there are still countless ways to restrict and upend abortion access even further, including nationwide.

"There is a long list of ways to target birth control, to target fertility treatments, to target our ability to control our own bodies, and to be fully equal in this society," said Graves. "We know that road will be long and hard."

Over the weekend Arizona was officially called for former President Donald Trump, awarding him the state's 11 electoral college votes.

Graves said Trump has promised to veto a national abortion ban, and to distance himself from the conservative playbook Project 2025.

She said reproductive rights advocates, like herself, expect the next administration to deliver on those campaign promises.

The state has a number of abortion restrictions and laws that directly conflict with Prop 139.

Until the election results are officially certified by Gov. Katie Hobbs later this month, pro-choice advocates say they'll likely file legal challenges to deem those current restrictions unconstitutional.

In a statement, the It Goes Too Far Campaign - a group opposing the measure - says "the fight against extreme abortion laws will continue."

Monica Simpson is the executive director of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective.

She said while all eyes need to stay on the Trump administration, advocates must also continue to lift up "powerful programs."

"I want us to be able to find a balance in doing that," said Simpson, "and work together as the organizations and entities that we are, to be able to make sure that we give ourselves the power and the fuel that we need over these next four years."

Simpson said while it is crucial to keep an eye out at the policy level, advocacy will also be a key part of the fight moving forward.

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

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Oregon has the third highest percent of women in city government, according to a new report from Rutgers University.

It may be proof of the success of organizations working to support and encourage women to run.

Groups like Emerge Oregon and Vote Run Lead Action train women and nonbinary people to run for office - and win.

Emerge Oregon alums currently hold more than 100 elected positions on city councils, school boards and in the legislature.

Beyond campaigning and fundraising, women receive support to overcome gender-based barriers.

The group's outgoing director, Annie Ellison, noted that the political system wasn't designed with women - particularly women of color - in mind.

"This is a system that was built - like, pretty immaculately - to keep women and women of color out, even if it's not the intention now," said Ellison. "When do we have city council meetings? You know, most of these city council meetings are unpaid, and they're at 7:00 at night. If you're a caregiver, that's bedtime."

But research shows that female elected officials bring more money back to their districts, pass more bipartisan legislation, and get more done overall.

State Director of Vote Run Lead Action, Becca Phelps, said the challenge isn't just getting more women into office - it's keeping them there.

She said in the past few years, several women in the Oregon Legislature have had to leave prematurely or not run again, citing the low pay and added responsibilities of daily life.

This is where organizations can step in to fill these gaps - advocating for higher pay, helping with childcare and transportation costs, even providing emotional support.

"Sometimes," said Phelps, "it's that personal care of having a friend check in on you to see how you're doing when you're an elected leader."

After Tuesday's election, 15 graduates of Emerge Oregon programs may be in the Oregon House and four may hold seats in the Senate.

Ellison added that the biggest barrier women face in running for office is confidence.

"If he can do it, you can do it," said Ellison. "And here's how you're going to do it, and we're going to help you."




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A federal nutrition program for low-income moms and babies now includes canned fish and beans, whole grains such as quinoa and cornmeal, and more money for fruits and vegetables.

Theda Simpson, a former participant in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants and Children from Metcalfe County, said she relied on the funds for extra help paying for supplemental formula for her daughter and sons, who had milk allergies as infants. She found out about the program through her local health department and stressed it was a lifesaver for preventing her children from going hungry.

"I hope that every mother finds out about it, knows about the program, is able to access and get the help that they need to be able to feed their children," Simpson emphasized.

Under the new changes, children ages 1-4 will now receive $24 per month, pregnant and postpartum women will now receive $43 per month and breastfeeding women will now receive $47 per month, under recent USDA updates.

Research has shown the WIC program helps improve pregnancy outcomes, including lower incidences of premature births, infant mortality and low-birthweight babies.

Karena Cash, data and research director for Kentucky Youth Advocates, said WIC is not reaching every available mom or mom-to-be in the state, although advocates have been doing work to reach more households, especially in Latino communities and among kinship caregivers. The data show two of every eligible five families are not participating in the program.

"About 96% of infants in Kentucky are enrolled, whereas only about 60% of women and 51% of eligible children one to five," Cash reported. "We see some pretty big discrepancies."

Tanya Torp, executive director of the nonprofit Step By Step in Lexington serving young, single mothers and their babies, said a major barrier is a lack of understanding among grocery stores about how WIC works and what products are covered under the program.

"For us, being able to work with some of the stores is going to be really important," Torp explained. "To train the employees at the stores so that they will be able to help when someone comes in and asks questions about WIC."

Advocacy groups have developed an online toolkit for local communities and leaders, and professionals who serve young children to help get the word out about the WIC program. Nationwide, more than 6 million women and children rely on WIC each month.


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