Diversity Equity and Inclusion

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a conceptual framework held by many organizations. It promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all individuals. DEI is increasingly under attack.

Trump’s Anti-Diversity Crusade Claims Two Campus Magazines

PUBLISHED 12/11/2025 by

I recently discovered two glossy magazines published by and for young people: Alice, which focuses on fashion, beauty, personal health, wellness and lifestyle; and Nineteen Fifty-Six, which brings a Black cultural lens to coverage of news, style and the arts.

Both are student-run publications housed at the University of Alabama. And on any other day, they would make one think the future of journalism look very bright indeed. Except that the sole reason I found these magazines at all is because they are now officially suspended. Last week, campus officials announced their permanent shuttering. Yet another casualty of the Trump administration’s attacks on free speech and public higher education—all in the name of stamping out supposed diversity, equity and inclusion.

War on Women Report: Antiabortion Extremist Charged in S.C. Shooting; Army OB-GYN Accused of Abusing Over 85 Women Patients

PUBLISHED 12/1/2025 by and | UPDATED 12/4/2025 at 9:06 A.M. PT

MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report:
—North Dakota’s Supreme Court reinstated a total abortion ban, making it the 13th state with a near-total ban on abortion.
—Trump ordered Catherine Lucey, a woman reporter for Bloomberg, to be “quiet, piggy.”
—The U.S. moved to categorize countries with state-sponsored abortion and DEI policies as violators of human rights.
—Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has sued Planned Parenthood over allegedly “misrepresenting the safety” of abortion pills.
—On Thursday, Dec. 4, an unprecedented law banning doctors from shipping abortion pills takes effect in Texas.
—”The country’s most respected newspaper hosted a conversation about whether women’s equality and freedom was a mistake.”
—Doctor Maj. Blaine McGraw, an OB-GYN at Fort Hood military base in Texas, the third-largest base in the country, is under investigation for sexual abuse against patients. As of Monday, 85 victims have come forward.
—With Jeffrey Epstein survivors watching from the gallery above, the House agreed in a near-unanimous vote to force the release of all files related to the investigation of the convicted sex offender.

… and more.

The Politics of ‘Audit’: How Texas Is Using Bureaucracy to Erase Gender Studies

PUBLISHED 11/11/2025 by , , and | UPDATED 11/14/2025 at 10:27 A.M. PT

Professor Melissa McCoul was dismissed in September after teaching LGBTQ+ themes in her children’s literature course at Texas A&M. Just this week, a faculty council determined McCoul’s firing violated her academic freedom.

But politicians and activists who oppose what they call “woke gender ideology,” are galvanized and doubling down, using this Texas A&M case to push for curricular reviews aimed at eliminating women’s, gender and sexuality studies from public colleges and universities across Texas.

Framed as bureaucratic oversight, conservatives seek to eliminate gender studies and related fields through procedural mechanisms that evade public scrutiny. The assaults on gender studies in Texas are not just a local issue; they are a national bellwether. They signal a coordinated effect to dismantle feminist and queer inquiry and remind us that silence, in the face of repression, is complicity.

Pete Hegseth Doubles Down on His Culture War Against Feminism

PUBLISHED 10/10/2025 by

Many of the military officers who sat through Pete Hegseth’s and Donald Trump’s speeches about not tolerating “fat generals” and the need for “male standards” of physical fitness, are men who have not only served with highly capable, talented and accomplished women; many of them have mentored and promoted them as well. They know how vital and indispensable women are to functioning militaries in the modern era.

Secretary Hegseth’s speech was more than an announcement of new Pentagon priorities. It was, in many ways, a performative declaration of what is a much wider right-wing culture war against feminism.

Texas A&M Professor Dismissed, President Steps Down: The Price of Teaching Gender

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by and | UPDATED 9/23/2025 at 10:31 A.M. PT

Texas A&M University president Mark A. Welsh III has resigned after a viral video of a student confronting a professor over gender content in a children’s literature course sparked a firestorm of political interference. The professor, Melissa McCoul, along with two administrators, were removed from their positions after Republican lawmakers demanded action, framing the discussion of gender identity as a threat to state values. Faculty and student leaders had rallied in support of Welsh prior to his resignation, emphasizing the importance of defending academic freedom and thoughtful leadership in higher education.

The incident at Texas A&M is emblematic of a broader assault on educators’ ability to address gender, sexuality and identity in the classroom. Laws like Senate Bill 37 and executive orders restricting discussion of “gender ideology” weaponize state power against both students and professors, undermining constitutional protections and silencing marginalized voices.

As Zeph Capo of the Texas American Federation of Teachers notes, these public calls for removal based on viral clips constitute an abuse of power—and yet, they are becoming normalized. This moment underscores the urgent need to protect feminist and LGBTQ+ perspectives in education, to ensure that classrooms remain spaces for inquiry, critical thinking and the affirmation of all students’ lived experiences.

Complying With Trump Administration’s Attack on DEI Could Get Employers Into Legal Trouble

PUBLISHED 9/12/2025 by , , and

Since the Trump administration made diversity, equality and inclusion “immoral” and “illegal,” a large part of workplace discrimination in the country still remains to be experienced by women and members of racial minority groups. Now, these groups have less of a platform to make complaints about such discrimination.

University Leaders Must Act: An Open Letter on the Threats Facing Critical Interdisciplinary Programs Like Women’s and Gender Studies

PUBLISHED 9/10/2025 by , , and | UPDATED 9/18/2025 at 8:44 A.M. PT

Academic leaders today face a defining test. As the Trump administration seeks to strip research funding, eliminate diversity and inclusion, and give political appointees sweeping control, presidents and provosts must decide what legacy they will leave. The attacks on women’s, gender and sexuality studies—as well as Africana, Indigenous, disability and other interdisciplinary programs—are part of a broader campaign to delegitimize fields that challenge systems of privilege. We are again in turbulent times, not unlike past eras when leaders had to defend the teaching of evolution, admit women and Black students, or resist political interference. The choices made now will echo for decades.

Despite claims that these programs are too small or unsustainable, the evidence tells a different story. These courses draw students across disciplines, fulfill general education requirements, and prepare graduates for a diverse global workforce. Market data show they are often cost-effective, with faculty teaching across departments and reaching wide audiences. Employers stress the importance of the very skills our graduates carry: critical thinking, collaboration and cultural humility. The question for higher education leaders is clear: Will you stand with these programs that represent the best of our democratic values—or allow them to be dismantled by political opportunism and short-sighted cuts?

Women as Teachers, Governors and Civil Service: The Fight for Women’s Leadership Everywhere

PUBLISHED 9/5/2025 by

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, sports and entertainment, judicial offices and the private sector—with a little gardening mixed in!

This week:
—Teachers have always been the cornerstone of thriving communities and a healthy democracy. It’s no accident that so many powerful women leaders began their journeys in classrooms. And yet, while women dominate the teaching profession, they remain underrepresented in our political institutions.
—President Trump’s recent federal workforce reductions have disproportionately harmed Black women, who are long overrepresented in civil service relative to the private sector.
—A growing number of women are entering the race for governor in 2025 and 2026.
—Debra Shigley, an attorney, small business owner and mom of five, has secured a top spot in a Georgia runoff election for a state Senate seat. Her election on Tuesday, Sept. 23, will be one to watch as women’s leadership in Georgia, and across the country, continues to grow. Georgia already uses ranked-choice voting, sometimes called “instant runoffs,” for military and overseas voters. Expanding this system statewide would guarantee majority winners in a single election.
—U.K. women are calling out dangerous narratives that weaponize sexual violence against women to scapegoat asylum seekers.
—Italian women fight digital violence and demand consent online.

… and more.

‘If You’re Not Centering the People Who Are Most Impacted, Your Policy Solution Will Fall Apart’: Gaylynn Burroughs Is Fighting for Economic Justice at the Intersections

PUBLISHED 8/8/2025 by

Burroughs, the vice president of education and workplace justice at the National Women’s Law Center, connected the dots between poverty, policy and culture change in the latest episode of the Ms. Studios podcast Looking Back, Moving Forward. “Once you start seeing these problems as being problems that policy can solve,” she told me, “a whole world opens up.”

Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, “Women Can’t Afford to Wait for a Feminist Economic Future (with Premilla Nadasen, Rakeen Mabud and Lenore Palladino, Aisha Nyandoro, Gaylynn Burroughs, and Dolores Huerta)” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.