Perm do both: feminist journalism. It solves democracy AND all of their offense.

More than ever, expert feminist-focused reporting is the essential antidote.   

With the announcement last week about the closure of the website Jezebel, laments about the past, present and future of feminist-focused news reporting and perspective ricocheted across the Internet. The Guardian columnist Moira Donegan zeroed in on the power of community fostered by feminist media, deeming it “more essential than ever in our current moment of abortion bans and anti-feminist backlash.”

Quality and quantity of abortion coverage is reason enough to value its distinct role. The founders of Ms. certainly recognized this: The magazine’s inaugural issue in 1972 featured more than 50 influential women who signed a petition “We Have Had Abortions” (at great personal risk, too, given abortion was outlawed in most states at the time). The Washington Post went on to report last year that this petition “changed the course of the abortion rights movement” because it shined a light on that which had been invisible—the women who had abortions and the benefit to their lives.

Since the day the Dobbs decision leaked in May 2022, feminist journalists have presciently, relentlessly reported that abortion would remain a top priority for voters, even as much of the traditional media continued to equivocate. (Polling commissioned by Ms. in September 2022 also confirmed this.)

Only in the aftermath of 18 months of political victories—and the latest election results in Ohio, Kentucky and Virginia—have most mainstream outlets and pundits begun to acknowledge the sheer potency of the issue.

The same is true of other gender equity issues, starting with addressing the under-representation of women in elected office and other arenas where decisions are made that impact our lives—from the climate crisis to the care economy, and from gun safety and freedom from violence to the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment.

Which is why, looking ahead, it is imperative that feminist media be understood as more than merely a hub for like-minded women. Its role is far more existential: It is where you will find the voices best able to call out and counter the rise in anti-democratic impulses and action that is growing all around us.

The correlation between misogyny and authoritarianism is neither casual nor a coincidence. Gender is a go-to cudgel for regressive forces that seek to exert political and social control.

We’ve seen this dynamic play out in state legislatures across the country and can expect more of the same in 2024, especially as the presidential campaign commences in earnest. More than ever, expert feminist-focused reporting is the essential antidote.   

When Ms. launched its Women & Democracy platform two years ago, our goals were as follows: to examine the state of our nation’s systems of democracy and the centrality of women’s rights; to explore how feminist leadership makes a difference; and to advance reforms that would ensure more democratic outcomes.

With this latest installment, we acknowledge a fourth and critical prong: to ensure that the media ecosystem is doing its part, presenting perspectives that center gender and reflect the intersectional strategies and approaches that will serve to strengthen democracy, in the United States and globally.