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POR ALISON BOWEN alison-bowen@womensenews.com HELEN MALHOTRA Helen Malhotra, a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., is an aspiring videographer. She is editor in chief of the Beacon, Wilson's newspaper. D.C. Teens Welcome Self-Defense Classes in School What if “self-defense” made its way into school curriculum? Students at Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., would be thrilled. By HELEN MALHOTRA & POR ALISON BOWEN Arts & Culture November 30, 2015 WASHINGTON (WOMENSENEWS) – In a Women’s eNews commentary published earlier this year, Professor Suzanne Dovi at the University of Arizona called for mandatory self-defense classes for high school students. In this video, teen producer Helen Malhotra poses the question to her classmates. Author Related Articles Subscribe to our newsletter Email* Sign Up You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. Have a question? Contact us or review our privacy policy for more information. Series Loreen Arbus Accessibility is Fundamental Program Support Independent and Factual Journalism Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. Donate Now

SONAM DAVE Why More Women Are Questioning Traditional Leadership Approaches The focus is shifting away from whether women should lead towards whether prevailing leadership approaches reflect how women choose to lead. By SONAM DAVE Commentary February 9, 2026 For years, efforts to increase the number of women in leadership have focused on access – removing barriers, expanding training and improving representation. While these measures remain important, they do not tell the whole story. A growing number of women are questioning whether leadership, as it is currently practiced, reflects how they choose to lead. As World Economic Forum Global Gendar Gap Report, 2025 , cites, globally, women occupy about 28.1% of top leadership roles, with significantly lower representation across South Asia (18-20% 1 ) and the Middle East (~10-13% 2 ). While these figures are often cited as evidence of exclusion, Women Emerging argues they also reflect choice. Women Emerging , a global non-profit, founded by Julia Middleton, former CEO of Common Purpose and a best-selling author, focuses on why prevailing leadership approaches fail to resonate with many women. According to our Theory of Change, while there is work being done across the globe to produce systems change so that the odds of women emerging, leading and succeeding are not so heavily stacked against them. This work needs to be complemented with a steady supply of women choosing to lead. Leadership, as it is commonly practiced, is largely hierarchical, historically male-dominated and often shaped by western thinking. While some women adapt to this approach to leadership, others choose to walk away from leading altogether. This challenges a long-standing assumption that under-representation stems mainly from confidence or capability gaps. Instead, we suggest that women are making assessments about whether current leadership approaches resonate with who they are and how they lead. Traditional leadership approaches have focused on helping women succeed within existing systems, emphasising skills such as assertiveness, visibility and negotiation. While effective for some, these largely assume that the current leadership approaches resonate with all women. We take a different approach. Rather than proposing a single approach to leadership, we invite women across geographies, generations, abilities, aspirations, backgrounds, beliefs, sectors and specialisms to join a virtual “expedition” to discover an approach to leading that resonates with them. The outcome? Each woman discovers her own personal approach to leading. Julia Middleton, best-selling author of If That’s Leading, I’m In , says “ There is a huge jigsaw that is women empowerment, with some huge pieces in it about women’s employment, health, rights, etc. In one corner of the jigsaw there is one small piece that needs filling in. It provides women with an approach to leading that works for them. It’s a piece that helps them decide to lead their way. Women Emerging is devoted to filling in this piece in the jigsaw.” Data from our expeditions suggest that the approach resonates. 91% per cent of participants said they could confidently say, “If that’s leading, I’m in.” 88% per cent found the approach directly relevant to their current and future roles, while 85% rated it culturally relevant – an important distinction in a field often criticised for adapting western leadership approaches. The limitations of dominant leadership approaches are increasingly visible as trust in institutions declines; inequality deepens, and global challenges from climate change to artificial intelligence accelerate. As debates about leadership continue, the focus is shifting away from whether women should lead and towards whether prevailing leadership approaches reflect how women choose to lead. About the Author: Sonam Dave is a marketing leader, passionate about helping women thrive and lead in the workforce with confidence. As the Marketing Director at Women Emerging, she leads marketing and partnerships, that reimagine what leadership looks like for women. With close to two decades of experience in leading brand and growth strategies across industries, she is known to build and grow high-performing, multi-cultural marketing teams. LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonamdave/ Author Related Articles Subscribe to our newsletter Email* Sign Up You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. Have a question? Contact us or review our privacy policy for more information. Series Loreen Arbus Accessibility is Fundamental Program Support Independent and Factual Journalism Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. Donate Now

POR ALISON BOWEN alison-bowen@womensenews.com JOYCE WANJIRU Joyce Wanjiru is a student at Daraja Academy in Kenya. Kenyan Teen Copes through Desertion and Death Despite her father’s abandonment, teen writer Joyce Wanjiru learned about strength and empowerment through the women who stepped up to give her a better life. By JOYCE WANJIRU & POR ALISON BOWEN Arts & Culture December 2, 2015 (WOMENSENEWS)– My mother doesn’t talk much about my father. He divorced her and left when I was very young. When I was young other kids teased me because I didn’t have a father. Every time I looked in the mirror I’d ask God, “Why me?” I wanted to grow up and experience the love of a father like everyone else but that seemed a dream that was out of my reach. When I was in sixth grade, I felt mature enough to understand my parents’ relationship and that’s when I asked my mother about my father. She was surprised by my questions because I hadn’t showed interest about his whereabouts in the past. It was hard for her to answer. She looked deep in my eyes and tears fell down her cheeks. I felt guilty that I had brought up sad memories in her life. When I tried to comfort her, she smiled at me and told me that she has been waiting for the day I would ask her about my dad. She said that meant I had now grown into a brave young lady and she was proud of me. We talked for a long time and she told me that my dad left as soon as he heard she was expecting his child. My dad said he needed the leave the village and look for work in the city to support us. My mother asked him to stay because she needed them to support each other and raise the child together. She also wanted them to go and tell their parents about their relationship but her cries fell on deaf ears. After my dad left, my grandparents beat, insulted and threw my mother out of the house. This is standard when an unmarried girl is pregnant and is given no dowry. She was regarded as a disgrace to the family. This is when my mother decided to start her new life. She used what little savings she had and eventually she got a job in a floriculture farm. She never heard from my father again. She worked on the farm for many years and gave me a good enough life. Shortly after our heart-to-heart about my father my mother fell ill due to being exposed to harmful chemicals in the farm. She was admitted the hospital for several weeks but it was quite clear that the bills were too big for the family, so she came home so we could take care of her. Eventually she got worse and waved the world goodbye. Though it was so tough for me to cope with the situation, I learnt how to depend on myself in every situation, accept things I can’t change, always be a goal-getter and mostly live a positive life full of smiles. I now live with my aunt and every day I think about how important women are in the lives of girls and I always feel privileged being a woman. This is why my love for women who have been involved in my life, and all those who support the lives of all girls all over the globe to make a difference, will never depreciate from my heart. In fact, if all communities all around would educate a girl, be there for her by words of positivity and empowerment then the world would be a better place to live in. Author Related Articles Subscribe to our newsletter Email* Sign Up You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. Have a question? Contact us or review our privacy policy for more information. Series Loreen Arbus Accessibility is Fundamental Program Support Independent and Factual Journalism Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. Donate Now

ADRIENNE SPIRES No Fault of Their Own: Why the Government Needs to Support Domestic Violence Survivors The narrative must be rewritten to create a future that assists their economic security. By ADRIENNE SPIRES Uncategorized January 29, 2025 My father honored me with my first allowance of $5.00 in 1976 when I was seven years old . I felt like it was burning a hole in my hand. However, it came with conditions, including chores and lectures of “Don’t spend it all in one place.” As I grew older, my allowance increased along with conversations with my dad about the dynamics of economics, such as investments and wages, and who decides how our tax dollars are allocated and to whom. “Remember, America selectively chooses who gets taxpayer subsidies and contracts,” he often said. His lessons still hold true today. America selectively chooses who receives financial relief. Often the recipients are not survivors of domestic violence, but they need to be included in rescue plans. Throughout history, infrastructure has been built for economic security, yet it is essential that systems and infrastructures support domestic violence (DV) survivors as well. These survivors need subsidies and financial assistance, having found themselves under economic threats, through no fault of their own. In 99% of intimate partner violence/domestic violence cases in the state of California, for example, survivors are subject to economic abuse by their abuser by having taken control of their finances, including depleting the survivor’s bank accounts, controlling their wages, and incurring debts in their name without the survivor’s knowledge or consent (known as “coerced and fraudulent debt.”). As a result of such fiscal abuse, the survivor’s financial independence and stability are threatened. Approximately 98% of survivors remain in abusive relationships or return to them for these reasons. Housing insecurity is also four times more common among women who have experienced domestic violence in California; 1,960 victims of intimate partner violence went to emergency shelters, 819 lived in transitional housing, and 7,996 were unsheltered. The ability to access safe, permanent housing is the key to building pathways for economic opportunities, such as education, career preparation, and business ventures. As a domestic violence survivor, I can attest to how this new footing resulted in my resuming my collegiate studies and earning my master’s degree. As a result of these accomplishments, I earned higher salaries, grew professionally, and saved and invested for retirement. As a Black woman, I finally felt the embodiment of economic independence. Regardless of social class, domestic violence affects 85% of women . This reality contributes to multiple crises outside of economic security , including public health, education, and mental health. According to a report by the Blue Shield of California Foundation, 42.5% of Black women in the state have experienced intimate partner violence, compared to 34.9% of all women. In 2024, California was expected to receive between $105 and $132 million in federal domestic violence funding. That amount was reduced by 43% from the $153.8 million allocated in 2023. Fines and penalties from federal convictions fund this program, not taxes. Intimate partner violence (IPV) costs the state of California approximately $73.7 billion annually The cost of DV and IPV exceeds the allocation. A clear indication is that more subsidies are required. DV survivors must be able to participate vigorously in the economy through sustainable infrastructure development. Yes, it is helpful that the US government is able to select companies, industries and corporations to rescue when crises occur. But it is time for policymakers to also assist DV survivors by rewriting the narrative to create an economic future that assists their economic security as well. About the Author: Adrienne N. Spires is CEO of Lapis Analytic Consulting, a Public Voices Fellow on Domestic Violence and Economic Security with The OpEd Project and author of Roaring Resilience: Finding Grit in the Lion’s Den . Author Related Articles Subscribe to our newsletter Email* Sign Up You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. Have a question? Contact us or review our privacy policy for more information. Series Loreen Arbus Accessibility is Fundamental Program Support Independent and Factual Journalism Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. Donate Now

Sy Syms Journalistic Excellence Program First PREV 1 Page 1 NEXT Last Latest in Sy Syms Journalistic Excellence Program Subscribe to our newsletter Email* Sign Up You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. Have a question? Contact us or review our privacy policy for more information. Series Loreen Arbus Accessibility is Fundamental Program Support Independent and Factual Journalism Help us build a world that honors, respects and supports the lives of women and girls Donate Now

LINDSAY HAWTHRONE A Call to Family Courts: Stop Mandating ‘Reunification Therapy’ We wouldn’t send a soldier with severe PTSD back to war, so why are family courts sending children back to parents who have sexually abused them? By LINDSAY HAWTHRONE Commentary October 6, 2025 Children who have been sexually abused by a parent or other family member face a deep form of shame and betrayal. This is compounded when they disclose their abuse and are met with disbelief or blame instead of protection, validation and support. But even in cases when abuse is reported and legal action is pursued against the offending parent, these protective steps are often not able to keep children from having to interact with their abusers. That’s because family courts often mandate so-called reunification therapy, a dubious practice that pushes kids to reconnect with the abusive parent despite the potential harm and re-traumatization this can cause. Family court judges need to keep survivors safe by granting custody to the non-offending parents and stop requiring any sort of contact with parents who have sexually abused their children. The challenges for non-offending parents who aim to prevent further abuse are many. The legal process of reporting child sexual abuse often leads to fraught and financially costly custody battles and is re-traumatizing to the children and to the non-offending parent, who is often a survivor of domestic violence perpetrated by the abusive parent as well. Child protective services workers act from a “reunification is best” standpoint and aim to “heal” families by requiring counseling where children and the offending parent attend together. In some cases, this reunification therapy is mandated even when a restraining order has been granted against the abusive parent. My experience working with these families as an advocate is that children in these cases often tell the non-offending parent they don’t want to see the abuser. It’s difficult for the non-offending parents to explain that they can be held in contempt by the court if they fail to deliver their children to these mandated sessions.One mother told a guardian ad-litem — a court-appointed legal advocate who is supposed to represent the interests of the children — that her daughter was crying and begging not to go to the reunification therapy sessions with her father, who had sexually abused her. The mother said she could not keep taking her to these sessions. The guardian ad-litem told her that if she could not take the child to the session herself, she should call an Uber for her 5-year-old daughter. Ridiculous and unsafe. To be sure, reunification therapy can sometimes be appropriate to heal families when a parent who has hurt or neglected their child has made real changes. For example, a parent who previously struggled with substance use, but has gotten clean, goes to therapy, and shows remorse may be ready for this therapy, and the children may be ready to see them again. Sexual abusers who receive sex offender treatment are less likely to reoffend . If the abuser seeks help, and the child wants to see them again, courts should then consider the child’s wishes and safety, perhaps allowing for reunification therapy or supervised visitation. However, parents accused of sexual abuse often deny the abuse and claim the non-offending parent has coached the children to lie, even though children rarely lie about sexual abuse . Intrafamilial sexual abuse rarely results in convictions, since many children, especially young children, are not prepared to testify, and if the child has not had a rape kit done within 3-5 days of the last penetrative sexual abuse, there will often be little to no physical evidence. Sexual abusers in these cases will not face any consequences, including court mandated treatment. When family courts force children who have been sexually abused by a parent to attend reunification therapy and visits with the abusive parent, despite the child’s clearly stated desire to not interact with that parent again, they are asking these children to condone and forgive their sexual abuse. In part due to advocacy from teenagers who have spoken about being forced to attend harmful reunification therapy and visitation with abusive parents, new laws have been passed federally and in several U.S. states to prohibit family courts from forcing children to interact with abusive parents and attend harmful “reunification camps” — highly profitable and morally unethical groups, which attempt to brainwash children into recanting allegations of abuse. These laws require those who make custody decisions to receive training about the signs of abuse. In 2022, the federal Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized to include Kayden’s Law . This law, named after a 7-year-old girl who was murdered by her father during his court-mandated unsupervised visitation, encourages states to adopt laws requiring that family courts consider past evidence of domestic abuse in custody decisions. It also includes “limiting the use of reunification camps and therapies which cannot be proven to be safe and effective.” Other states have passed similar laws. California passed “Piqui’s Law ” in 2023. The law is named after a 5-year-old boy who was murdered by his father during a family court case. A similar bill is now pending in Massachusetts: H.2037, “An Act Relative to Domestic Abuse Protection, Katherine’s Law” . We wouldn’t send a soldier with severe PTSD back to war. Why are family courts sending children back to parents who have sexually abused them? In some cases, the state pays for victims’ compensation for children who have been abused, and then at the same time forces the children to attend reunification therapy with, visit or even live with a parent they have accused of sexually abusing them. Family court judges need to believe children who say they have been sexually abused by a parent and stop mandating these harmful interactions in cases where children express that they do not want to see their abuser. About the Author: Lindsay Hawthorne is a child sexual abuse prevention advocate and a 2025 Public Voices Fellow of on the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse at The OpEd Project. Author Related Articles Subscribe to our newsletter Email* Sign Up You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. Have a question? Contact us or review our privacy policy for more information. Series Loreen Arbus Accessibility is Fundamental Program Support Independent and Factual Journalism Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles. Donate Now

KIMBERLY ALLERS kimberly@mochamanual.com Covid-19 Restrictions on Birth & Breastfeeding: Disproportionately Harming Black and Native Women Let’s be clear, the failure of a timely and effective response from the federal government has dangerous and deadly trickle down effects. By KIMBERLY ALLERS Breastfeeding January 27, 2020 Shaine Garcia was planning for a vaginal delivery of her second child, a son, she wanted to name Grayson. She attended childbirth classes with her partner, Colton. They toured the hospital, planned the one-hour long drive from the Native reservation in Pueblo de Acoma, New Mexico where they live to the hospital in Albuquerque where she planned to deliver. Despite her first C-section with her daughter three years ago, she was confident this time could be the birth experience she wanted. But as the Corona virus pandemic widened and hospitals began to increase restrictions on visitors, Garcia and her partner grew anxious about having no support at the hospital, so under severe pressure she decided to have an elective C-section just days before her due date. “The knowledge that my support team would be so severely impacted completely coerced me into a decision I did not want to make,” Garcia said. “It would have been a drastically different decision and experience without these limitations on labor and delivery,” she added. Like Garcia, so many women and birthing persons are seeing their birth and breastfeeding plans upended by the current spate of drastic policy changes at birthing hospitals across the U.S. Doulas, who are recognized as essential health care personnel for birthing persons by several prominent medical organizations, are suddenly being deemed “visitors” by hospital administration and banned from attending births or entering hospitals. Immediately after birth, breastfeeding mothers are being separated from their babies, often without a medical reason. And in the most drastic move, two hospital systems in New York City, New York Presbyterian and Mount Sinai Health System, announced this week that no one could be in the hospital with a laboring person—not even a spouse or partner. That decision affects 21 hospitals in the greater New York City area; no mention of what that means for surrogate or adopting parents. Women across the country are panic shopping doulas and midwives for home births and desperately calling birthing centers, overwhelming people and systems that are built on relationship-building during the pregnancy period, not last minute additions. Others are planning to travel across state lines where there may be more birthing center options or available home birth midwives. Mothers, many who didn’t have support to breastfeed or were told it didn’t matter, are now desperately searching for resources on how to re-lactate. All of it is frightening. Covid-19 is indeed a global public health crises, but it is rapidly turning into a maternal and infant health catastrophe. Let’s be clear, the failure of a timely and effective response from the federal government has dangerous and deadly trickle down effects. And while it is certainly understandable that we are in unprecedented and uncertain times and the need for an abundance of caution is clear when dealing with a novel virus, the reality and repercussions of hundreds of thousands of women going into birth alone within an already overstretched medical system, that has often failed to honor the bodily autonomy of women, is beyond troubling. Obstetric violence is on the rise. A recent study by the Birthplace Lab found that one in six women, regardless of race or experience, have experienced mistreatment by healthcare providers during birth. To make matters worse, Black and Native women stand to lose the most by this unprecedented and perhaps unnecessary suppression of birthing rights. “Among mothers with low socioeconomic status, 18.7 per cent of white women reported mistreatment compared to 27.2 per cent of women of color. Indigenous women were the most likely to report experiencing at least one form of mistreatment by health-care providers during birth, followed by Black and Hispanic women,” says the Giving Voice to Mothers study. The presence of doulas has been proven to improve birth outcomes for black women—who have the greatest risk for perinatal complications and, according to the CDC, are two to three times more likely to die during or after childbirth. In New York City, where doulas are being summarily dismissed, the Black maternal mortality rate is twelve times that of white women. Twelve! Black breastfeeding rates are also threatened. Peer-based programs that have helped increase breastfeeding rates among black women—from WIC peer counselors to local breastfeeding “clubs” like those created by the Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association in Detroit—must be shut down due to necessary physical distancing. Birth and breastfeeding research illustrates that Black and Latina women do better with social support, including actively engaging male partners and extended family members, including grandparents. History tells us that when breastfeeding in the black community is disrupted systemically, there are lasting impacts. “We know that the peer model, especially those rooted in community and culture, work best for black women,” says Kiddada Green, the founding executive director of BMBFA, whose club model can be licensed for use and is currently being replicated in three states. “Like others, we have quickly transitioned to a virtual model, but the impact of an abrupt suspension of in-person support to sustained breastfeeding rates among black women remains to be seen,” adds Green, a co-founder of Black Breastfeeding Week , who says the club has run without interruption in Detroit for 12 years. Physicians who are not properly trained in lactation management are now making broad stroke decisions, unnecessarily separating mothers and infants with no symptoms, while ignoring the World Health Organization’s recent guidelines for breastfeeding with Covid-19 (keep breastfeeding with protection) and disrupting the mother-baby dyad at its most vulnerable and critical time. Earlier this week the WHO announced any interruption of breastfeeding may actually increase the infant’s risk of becoming ill. It needs to be clearly and repeatedly said that healthcare systems and professionals impeding breastfeeding while people are panic buying infant formula which is increasingly in scarce supply, is dangerous and short-sighted. “Breastfeeding is the safest most reliable way of feeding infants in an emergency,” says Dr. Melissa Bartick, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, who has conducted groundbreaking research on breastfeeding’s impact on infant health . “We need to do everything possible to promote and prolong breastfeeding because it will protect infants and because there are shortages of formula in many places. We are nearly at the point of looking to help moms re-lactate who have stopped breastfeeding, especially where formula supplies are very scarce. So anything we can do to keep breastfeeding going is important,” Bartick notes. Additionally, no one is talking about the mental well-being and birth trauma of mothers and infants and what we will need to have in place to recover from this. The sudden jolt and surge of anxiety will certainly impact pre-term birth rates, C-section rates will soar and postpartum depression is likely to rise. Black mothers and other women of color, who are in the paid workforce at higher rates than white women, often rely on parents and grandparents as caregivers—creating a perfect disastrous storm now as older people are more vulnerable to the virus and need to be isolated, just as financial pressure intensifies as the economy tanks and job losses increase. There is an emotional and physical toll here. In my work building IRTH, the first digital platform to identify and address experiences of bias and racism in maternal and infant healthcare, I see and hear from Black women and birthing people of color who write heart-wrenching experiences of being dismissed, that their pain levels are ignored and are receiving general substandard care in hospital systems with normal capacity. I can only imagine how the stresses of the pandemic are exacerbating issues of unconscious bias, stereotypes, control and perceived compliance. Incidences of racism and bias in care will only get worse. While this pandemic will end, the trauma will linger—it embeds in our DNA and impacts future generations, including that generations’ birth outcomes. Meanwhile, as this pandemic lays bare the many gaping flaws in our healthcare system, we are forced to reckon with the root cause of this present crisis: the medicalization of birth along with the subsequent criminalization of midwives. The fact that women were forced into hospitals to deliver, when birth is not a medical event, is now reaping grave consequences for us all. To be clear, most births do not need to occur in a hospital setting. In fact, in almost every other industrialized nation in the world, women do not give birth with doctors and are not in an official hospital setting at all, unless there are complications or a medical necessity. The question we should be asking now is, why are we? At a time when the healthcare system is overly stretched, and the world is already at heightened anxiety, mothers need the people they were relying on to support them through their births. Remember, it was the hospitals who told us and sold us on the idea that home births weren’t “safe” and now that we have become dependent on them—they still make the rules—no matter the impact. “What we have right now are a set of bad options, including no legal basis for having someone with you at childbirth and a hospital system that has historically prioritized protecting itself (and avoiding liability) over the needs of women and birthing people,” explains Indra Lusero, a reproductive justice attorney at National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW ). “During this time, we recommend individuals look for local childbirth educators, doulas, lactation support providers, midwives and doctors offering digital support, information and resources that can reassure, connect, inform and support people,” adds Lusero, who is also founder of the Birth Rights Bar Association. We must do better. We need immediate accommodations such as video conferencing with doulas and other “virtual” support and tele-health options (Many doulas and lactation consultants are now offering virtual services). We must decriminalize midwives immediately, especially home birth midwives, in all states and increase access to community childbirth centers. That should also include using all certifications of midwives to create temporary “birthing centers” in locations outside of the hospital for those who don’t have complications ( Dutch midwives have set up birthing rooms in hotels to free up hospitals for only those who need obstetric care). There is so much that can be done. Make no mistake, there will be a price to pay. At some point, our lives will return to some variant of normal, albeit different. But the trajectory of birth and breastfeeding outcomes could be dramatically altered and possibly irreparably damaged if we don’t act now. For those of us who care about maternal and infant health, intentional restorative work lies ahead—which includes more perinatal mental health awareness and earnest attention to those working outside the systems and structures that have consistently failed all women, and black women in particular. Organizations like the Black Mamas Matter Alliance , the National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color ( NAPPLSC ), and the National Association to Advance Black Birth (NAABB) , along with events such as Black Breastfeeding Week will need our support like never before, including Latina and Native coalitions , groups and events. The work of legalizing midwives in all states and making birthing centers an option for every woman requires our intense policy and advocacy efforts. Any national, state or local emergency preparedness planning, anywhere, must always include pregnant and birthing people. This should be basic. It must be. It will be up to us to ensure that Covid-19 is not calamitous to mothers and babies and that the damage already done is never repeated. To listen to the Women’s eNews Live podcast, where Lori Sokol, Executive Director, interviews the author, Kimberly Seals Allers, please click here . Kimberly Seals Allers in an award-winning journalist, nationally recognized maternal and infant health advocate and an international public speaker. The former editorial director of the Black Maternal Health Project at Women’s eNews, Kimberly is also founder of The Irth App, a digital rating and review platform that addresses bias in healthcare interaction, and the author of five books, including The Big Letdown—How Medicine Big Business and Feminism Undermine Breastfeeding. Follow her at @iamKSealsAllers on Instagram and Twitter. Learn more at KimberlySealsAllers.com Author Related Articles Subscribe to our newsletter Email* Sign Up You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time. Have a question? 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