Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy

09/03/2026

Check out the results of Tuesday's primary elections in Massachusetts, including "full context about women in the 2026 elections, including candidate lists, summaries, and historical comparisons" thanks to the Center for American Women and Politics

Primary elections were held on Tuesday in Massachusetts. Results below are for statewide and federal contests.

09/03/2026

“Gloria created a roadmap when it wasn’t popular for women to lead or to advocate. Today, her charge is just as urgent. She showed us how to be unapologetic about equality and equity, especially when it’s hard, and she inspired and empowered generations of women, me included...In the years to come, she will continue to be a guiding light for the movements she fought for her entire life,” - Tracy Sturdivant

Ms. Foundation for Women is devastated by the loss of our co-founding mother, Gloria Steinem, whose tremendous impact on the feminist movement will be felt

09/03/2026

May we all be inspired and energized by the words of Gloria Steinem:

"This is an outpouring of energy and true democracy like I have never seen in my very long life. It is wide in age, it is deep in diversity, and, remember, the Constitution does not begin with 'I the president,' it begins with 'We the people"...We are united here for bodily integrity. If you cannot control your body from the skin in, you cannot control it from the skin out. You cannot control your lives, our lives. And that means the right to decide whether and when to give birth without government interference.”

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem has died at the age of 92. According to her Instagram page, she died Wednesday “at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her.” Steinem was a tireless advocate for the social, economic and political advancement of women. Steinem co-founde...

08/28/2026

Registration is now open for non-degree (guest) student registration for online or remote GLPP classes!

Click here for the non-degree application and more information: https://www.umb.edu/registrar/registration/guest-students/

Non-degree (guest) students can take graduate level courses at UMass Boston with approval from the instructor as long as they already hold Bachelor’s degrees. The GLPP graduate certificate program is offering two online courses to guest students.

And, if you earn a grade of B or better in any course and are accepted to the GLPP certificate or Master of Public Administration degree-GLPP track program, this course credit will be applied to your certificate or MPA-GLPP degree.

The Gender, Leadership, and Public Policy (GLPP) graduate certificate program focuses on political structures and processes, the effects of public policies on women, women’s influence in politics, and the formulation and implementation of public policy. The role of gender, race/ethnicity, and class in politics and policymaking is central to the program’s design, goals, and curriculum.

08/28/2026

“Defending the vote means defending the foundation of our democracy,” said King III in a statement. “Sixty-three years after my father stood at the Lincoln Memorial, we are called to march again, not only in remembrance, but in action.”

More than six decades after Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the steps of the ‌Lincoln Memorial and declared his dream for a more just America, thousands gathered in Washington on Friday to warn that voting rights and other freedoms he fought and died for are once again under threat.

08/26/2026

"Care is not simply compassion—it is democratic infrastructure, giving people the time, stability and relationships they need to show up for one another and defend democracy...Minnesota is becoming a case study in what communities across the country are confronting as federal policies reshape daily life."

This midterm season, as courts and legislatures chip away at who gets to have a voice in our elections and governance, shoring up our democratic infrastructure is more important than ever. An unlikely tool in the arsenal of democracy? Care. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids intens...

08/25/2026

"These executive orders are the administration’s latest attempt to police American identity, punish migrant women for entering the U.S. and ultimately regulate their reproduction. Beyond the issue of birthright citizenship, immigrant women and children continue to be targets of a hostile immigration system that seeks to control them through detention, family separation and deportation."

https://msmagazine.com/2026/08/12/trump-immigration-family-detention-pregnant-women-children-birthright-citizenship/

08/25/2026

"Criminalized survivors are not adequately protected by the state when they are victims; but as soon as they do wrong in the eyes of police and prosecutors, that same state re-emerges as competent and resource-rich, and punishes them severely."

One woman violently forced into assisting a murder seeks clemency in Michigan.

08/24/2026

"...companies like Flock violate our privacy across the country by taking photos of every vehicle passing their cameras, logging detailed information about them into a massive nationwide database, and making it possible to track those vehicles and apply AI to uncover their occupants’ private patterns of life."

ACLU responds to surveillance company Flock's announcement of changes to license plate reader system.

08/24/2026

"Today, the Trump administration’s new policies and rules that attempt to reinstate the exemption for domestic labor are rooted in outdated stereotypes about caregiving work, which is still performed overwhelmingly by women, in particular, women of color and immigrants."

Care workers warn that a new Labor Department rule would cut vital wage and hour protections, threatening millions of caregivers who support seniors and people with disabilities.