The Persistent (Page 2)

Cartoon panel text: The holidays are often especially tough for women who take on extra responsibilities.

'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.' Wait, Is It?

Women take on almost all of the additional responsibilities during the holidays. Our cartoonist looks at the data.

Pink, yellow, blue and green illustration shows a woman huddled in a fetal position behind transparent online messages.

Do Australia's Efforts to Protect Kids Online Go Far Enough?

Is passing an imperfect law really worse than not doing anything at all?

Illustration: rear view of a woman, in an olive-colored dress, staring into a mirror surrounded by feminist posters.

A Rash On My Face Made Me Reassess My Relationship With Makeup. Here’s What I Learned.

Can you wear makeup and still call yourself a feminist?

A silhouetted woman at the centre of the image, surrounded by concentric collaged cutouts in cobalt, teal, lime and pink.

Permission to Fail

Failing is as much a part of freelancing as bragging about working from home in pajamas. But we don't all fail equally.

An illustration of a woman wearing a boob robe and surrounded by boob homewares.

What Is It About Boobs?

Some people like flowers on their homewares. Some like cute animals. I like boobs.

A photograph depicts a soccer player shown from the knees down, wearing cleats.

Could Advertising Be An Activist Tool?

How do you sponsor something that apparently nobody wants to see? You trick them into it.

Watercolor of Alison Place, a woman with long dark hair and bangs and blue eyes, folds her arms. She wears a yellow blouse.

Designers Are Taught to Think of Their Work as Neutral. It’s Not.

Feminist design can show up in anything from the apps we use to the healthcare we receive. The issue is prioritizing it.

Black and white photo of Maxine Peake and Hayley Standing walking down a lane in Yorkshire. Behind them is a dry-stone wall.

'Now It's Over, I Don't Feel Any Better At All’

The short film, “Incompatible,” tells the story of a pregnant-working class woman making an all-but-impossible choice.

An illustration of a woman performing standup comedy. She is flanked by two giant men, making the woman look smaller.

Not Ladylike to Laugh? Oh, Please.

For men to be funny, women don’t have to be unfunny. Both may chuckle.

On Tuesday, Signs of Progress, Too

While all eyes were on Donald Trump's win, sure signs of progress emerged on Tuesday, too.

Illustration of female artists creating a mural of Kamala Harris, who wears a bright blue jacket

What Went Wrong for Kamala Harris?

In the end, it wasn't even a close-won race. Did the Harris campaign get it wrong—or did the Trump side spot something the Democrats didn't?

The Day After the Big Day

This isn’t the note I was hoping to write. Harris lost. Trump won.

As America Votes Harris vs. Trump, One Woman’s Legacy Looms Especially Large

How Shirley Chisholm, who ran for president against all odds, forever altered the landscape for women in U.S. politics.

‘Blame Women’—How the Trump Campaign Is Courting Voters...and Donors

With hours to go before voting begins, the Trump campaign is trying new tactics to establish a MAGA future—and many of those attack women.

A watercolor painting of the author Jessica Valenti. She has short hair in a bob and is wearing bright lipstick.

How Angry Should Women Voters Be?

The journalist Jessica Valenti chronicles the pro-life movement in forensic detail in her new book. Ahead of the election, she says, voters need to get angry.

An illustration shows a woman running a race. She looks back at other versions of herself as she runs.

The Pain and Joy of Not Running the Marathon

Sure, I can run a marathon. But I can also not. And maybe, just maybe, in a few years I’ll be able to.

People sit on bleachers. Above them, giant letters spell out the words VOTE EARLY.

U.S. Election 2024

What’s Really Fueling U.S. Voters?

In the end, the election may boil down to different ideas about female and male roles; to gender equality and gender traditionalism.

A drawing shows a group of women protesting with signs and candles. One woman holds a microphone.

Afghanistan

‘If We Don’t, Who Will?’—How Women in Afghanistan Are Speaking Out

It is dangerous to protest in Afghanistan. But it is also dangerous to be a woman. That’s what keeps Afghan women speaking out in whatever ways they can.

A photo collage depicts Rwandan school girls overlaid by arrows and an airplane.

Education

All’s Well In School. But Come University, Rwandans Wonder: Where Are the Women?

Rwanda’s young women aren’t making it to university. Cultural and societal factors are to blame.

A black and white photo of Hilary and Bill Clinton relaxing in the Roosevelt Room in the White House.

Work

How I Met Your Other

Why, by dint of a husband being important, does his wife somehow become a less-than, no matter her qualifications?

Watercolor of Lilly Ledbetter, with a blonde bob, white shirt and black jacket.

Fair Pay

Remembering Lilly Ledbetter: A Life of Grit and Persistence

Lilly Ledbetter, for whom America’s Fair Pay Act of 2009 was named, has died. She was 86.

A photo of a woman, seen from behind, wearing a denim jacket with Trump 2024 on it.

Politics

What They See In Him: The Women Who Know They’re Voting for Trump

Some women are still backing Trump, even though they don't love his behavior—and they're even more enthusiastic about JD Vance.

An illustration of a woman, shown twice, in the first version she says, I'm Great! In the second version, I'm Great?

Worklife

The Compelling Case for Careful Self-Promotion

Women are told to lean in and dare to lead, to be a girlboss and to speak up. But nothing is easy about this. And none of it is risk-free.

Claudia Sheinbaum waves from the window of a car. She is smiling broadly.

Politics

How Do Feminists Feel About Mexico's New President? It's Complicated.

Is Mexico's new president good for women? It depends who you ask.

Deborah Copaken stands outside a store in Cairo in jeans and a utility jacket, with a camera around her neck.

Culture

Lee and Me

I wanted to be the objectifier of men and their wars, quirks, and shortcomings, not the objectified. Why was this so hard?

Culture

The Janice Problem

A rewatch of Friends reveals it isn't the post-feminist masterpiece we thought it was.

An abstract depiction of a woman with her hands in front of her face. A yellow arrow points up to the right.

Sexual violence

An Epidemic of Violence

A single week of headlines shows sexual violence and domestic abuse deeply rooted in every corner of the globe. It’s appalling.

An illustration depicts a pregnant mother with two kids standing in a cactus flower looking into the distance.

Persisting Through Politics

U.S. Politics: Who’s the Pro-Family Party Now?

For decades, the Republican Party has laid claim to “family” and “freedom.” That’s changing.

Illustration of fish on a purple background. One fish, a puffer, swims in the opposite direction to its peers.