Welcome to the Media Round Up! Each week we’re collecting and sharing our favorite gender + politics stories.

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Gender Gap Gains

New data from an NBC News poll shows that the split between men and women is “one of the starkest divisions” in American politics, with the divide even deeper among Gen Z. Large divides exist on policy issues such as abortion and the economy, and debates over billionaire Elon Musk, President Donald Trump, and the state of the country drive the “most” division between Gen Z men and women. “I think this is the gender gap that everyone expected in November of 2024 that we didn’t see,” said Amanda Hunter, contributing editor for GOTB. “It’s finally showing up several months later.” Hunter also contended that Trump’s first 100 days in office are driving the gap, speculating that “we will see even more dramatic polling” for the next several months, based on the impact of some of his executive orders and policy changes. To learn more about Gen Z politics and voting trends, read political scientist and author Dr. Melissa Deckman’s GOTB blog about her new book, The Politics of Gen Z.

The Manosphere

President Donald Trump won the majority of male voters in the 2024 presidential election, making huge inroads among men under thirty. Now, ambitious Democrats who are eyeing 2028 are increasingly “jumping into” right-leaning podcasts and internet shows they once shunned, courting the “manosphere” in an attempt to win back this crucial voting bloc. The manosphere – which includes popular shows and podcasts hosted by Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and Andrew Schulz – generally promotes ideas related to masculinity and rejects key tenets of feminism. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, President Trump’s second administration has played a role in “normalizing violence against women”: from judicial appointments and legal interventions to funding cuts. Trump has “systematically dismantled” protections for women, “emboldening” those who harm them. The administration may be normalizing violence against women so they can portray white men as the “real victims of gendered violence.”

Women Unfit for Any Military Role?

A series of new Department of Defense decisions enacted by defense secretary Pete Hegseth could make it more difficult for women to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Two months ago, Hegseth fired the former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti without citing a reason, leaving the military without a single female four-star officer. Last month, Hegseth ordered the military to reconsider the standards under which women have gained entry into combat roles. And just last week, the Army announced new fitness standards in line with his orders to make the guidelines for men and women in combat roles uniform. Based on the underlying assumption that women have gained access to these roles because of lower standards for entry, one may now question whether the new Army fitness tests are “designed to limit women’s participation.” Hegseth himself has boasted about limiting women’s participation in Department of Defense programs: on Tuesday, he posted on social media that he was proud to have dismantled a “woke” program supporting women on security teams. The program he shuttered, however, was not a Biden-era initiative, but rather, a “celebrated program” signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2017.

Healthcare Ups & Downs

Federal officials have promised to return funding to the Women’s Health Initiative after massive cuts last week. The WHI has provided decades of vital research into women’s health, beginning in the 1990s and currently boasts around 42,000 clinical patients. One of their studies about hormones saved an estimated $35 billion from 2003-2012 in the number of cancer and cardiovascular cases averted. One hundred and forty dollars was saved for every dollar the WHI spent. Emily G. Hilliard, spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the HHS is “now working to fully restore funding to these essential research efforts.” The WHI has not been informed of their contract renewal yet. The House Democratic Women’s Caucus is fighting against the Trump administration’s efforts to raise birth rates while cutting programs that focus on maternal and fertility health. The administration wants to increase birth rates by providing funding for parental and maternal programs, including a $5,000 “baby bonus.” The caucus sent a letter to the Trump administration, saying they should “invest in policies that actually meet the needs of women and working families.” Policies include paid parental leave, affordable childcare, and expanded child tax credit. During President Trump’s first 100 days, he has further restricted abortion access. He pardoned 23 anti-abortion protestors, many of whom violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act that aimed to stop crime against abortion providers. He reinstated the Mexico City Policy, a “global gag rule” that prohibits foreign NGOs from promoting or providing abortions as a condition of receiving U.S. aid, even if those funds were provided by another nation. The Trump administration also dropped a federal lawsuit against the state of Idaho that aimed to protect emergency abortion in the state. This was brought first by the Biden administration, claiming Idaho’s ban was preventing emergency room doctors from providing abortions in cases of emergency. Lastly, millions of dollars in Title X funding have been rescinded, specifically for Planned Parenthood clinics and those that encourage abortion for their patients.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett Recuses Herself in a Charter School Case
The New York Times, Abbie VanSickle and Sarah Mervosh

Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett has recused herself from a case being put before the court. She will not vote, hear oral arguments, or take part in deliberating with the other Justices. It is believed her recusal is because of her personal tie to the case, one that will determine if state governments can use funding for private religious schools. Justice Barrett is good friends with Nicole Stelle Garnett, a Notre Dame law school professor and early adviser for the online school at the center of the Court’s case, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School. The two have been linked for decades, and the Justice is even a godmother to one of Garnett’s children. Garnett is not listed as a lawyer on the case but is a longtime advocate for religious charter schools.

‘Rights Can Be Knocked Out In A Second’: Older Trans People Shocked by Supreme Court Ruling
The Guardian, Libby Brooks

The United Kingdom’s recent Supreme Court decision, which stipulates that the legal definition of a woman in the Equality Act 2010 does not include transgender women, has sent “shock waves” through the trans community. Compounding this decision, the chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission also indicated that the judgment means only biological women can use single-sex bathrooms and changing rooms. Many older trans women in the U.K. are reflecting on their decades-long campaign for gender recognition, concerned that their rights have been “knocked out in a second.” Trans adults in the country who have gradually witnessed an “incremental increase in rights and understanding” for trans people over the last few decades, now fear that their work is undone, apprehensive about what the future holds.

Ketanji Brown Jackson Sharply Condemns Trump’s Attacks on Judges
POLITICO, Josh Gerstein

Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has spoken out about the attacks on judges from the Trump administration, saying they are “attacks on our democracy.” She spoke at a judges’ conference in Puerto Rico this week and began her discussion by condemning the threats the legal system is facing. Jackson did not mention Trump by name, but said it was time to address the “elephant in the room.” It is rare for Supreme Court Justices to comment on political events, but Chief Justice Roberts did last month as well. Jackson recalled similar times in history of judges needing “raw courage” to follow the law, including the Civil Rights Movement and Watergate.

Remembering Alexis Herman, the First Black U.S. Secretary of Labor
LA Times

Alexis Herman, the first Black Secretary of Labor, has died at 77. She was a dedicated civil servant who advocated for workplace protections and equality her whole career. Herman grew up in segregated Mobile, Alabama, where she and her mother were forced off a bus after refusing to move to the back. She cites this as a driving force in her life, remembering what her mother told her, “Keep it moving.” In 1977, Herman went on to work under President Carter as leader of the Women’s Bureau at the Department of Labor—the youngest to ever hold it. She also worked on various political campaigns in the 1980s and became the first Black woman to be chief executive of the Democratic National Convention in 1992. Herman was appointed Secretary of Labor by President Clinton and helped end the largest strike in more than a decade between USPS and 185,000 postal workers. She helped unemployment reach a three-decade low and helped pass the Workforce Investment Act to help low-income people enroll in workforce training. Herman also created her own consulting firm to promote diversity in corporate America. Former President Clinton remembers her fondly, saying “she lifted people with her unfailing optimism and energy.”