Essays from The Persistent | Covering women for a change

An illustration of a woman wearing a jumpsuit, with her hands in her pockets, looking at art in a gallery.

Culture

How Everyday Sexism Is Sewn Into Our Clothes

An illustration of a woman laying on a blanket in the grass with her baby boy.

Motherhood

When Did Boy Mom Culture Become So Problematic?

There’s science to back up the idea that parenting boys is different—but social media has made it weird.

Gretchen Whitmer, surrounded by surrogacy advocates and their children, signs the new act into law

Infertility

‘I Never Set Out to Be An Advocate'

Surrogacy is once again legal in Michigan. With good old grassroots activism, here's how I helped make it happen.

A photograph of demonstrators holding up signs at a rally. One cardboard sign reads: Victimes on vous croit — Victims, we believe you

It's 2025. Has France’s #MeToo Moment Finally Arrived?

France has a long tradition of protecting powerful men accused of sex crimes. Feminists are mixed on whether that’s about to change.

An artists's rendering of a woman floating on her back in a lovely swimming pool. Next to the pool is a powerchair.

Bodies

Disabled in a Swimsuit

I can’t explain how being noticed beside a pool is materially different to being noticed in the snacks aisle at the supermarket. But it is.

A painting of a stylish woman walking in a city street with the moon rising. She is looking around her.

Design

Yes, Cities Can Be Sexist. Here’s How to Fix Them.

The idea that urban design can be discriminatory has become more established in recent years. Some city planners are making changes accordingly.

Collage illustration: a black-and-white photo of a woman is reflected in a mirror, with blue, orange and green adornments.

Technology

AI Skews Beautiful. What Is That Doing to Us?

Images of people generated by AI tend to be gorgeous, even when creators ask them to be ugly. That could have a profound effect on our emotional wellbeing.

We see the back of Dağdeviren at a piano on a pile of rubble, the shell of a building in front of her.

Turkey

‘A Scar That Stays With Us’—Two Years After a Devastating Earthquake, a Refusal to Be Forgotten

Two years after a 2023 earthquake devastated swaths of Syria and Turkey, lives are still being rebuilt. Women bear the brunt of it.

An illustration of a woman in a power pose looking into a safe full of gold coins!

Money

Trillions of Dollars Are About to Flow Into the Hands of (Mostly) Women. It’s As Big a Deal As It Sounds.

Women are set to be the primary inheritors of around $80 trillion—an enormous wealth transfer which has the potential to change our economic and social landscape.

A stylized illustration of three test tubes. There is also a tampon drawn to look like a test tube.

Science

Menstrual Blood Is Having a Moment

When it comes to medical diagnoses and health markers, period blood is something of a superpower. We should leverage it.

An illustration of a conference badge with a photo of a stressed speaker. Underneath it says "volunteer.".

Unpaid labor

I Thought My Year of Yes Would Lead to More Paid Work. How Wrong I Was.

Organizations only truly value what they pay for. The rest they dispose of easily and forget. Don’t let that be you.

An artist's rendering of Angela Merkel. She is shown against a blue patterned background and wears a blue blazer.

History Lessons

My Reluctant Feminist Hero

In a world in which wealth and opulence seem to beget political power, I long for a leader with un-showy discipline. I can’t help thinking of Angela Merkel.