Happy Friday! Welcome to our Media Round Up. Each week, we’re collecting and sharing gender + politics stories. Here’s what caught our eye this week:

Nikki Haley is betting on an electability message to win in 2024

Dylan Wells, Marianne LeVine, and Maeve Reston, Associated Press

A CNN poll recently released shows that Nikki Haley is the only Republican presidential candidate with a clear lead over President Biden. This finding underscores the electability argument that has been central to Haley’s campaign and has cleared a path for her to win over independent and unaffiliated voters who are not convinced that former President Donald Trump can’t win in November 2024. Although voters have thrown their support behind Haley, their main concern is whether her campaign has the strength to make it through the primary.

Read the full story here.

One of America’s First Women’s Colleges Is Accused of Paying Men More

Sharon Otterman and Erin Nolan, New York Times

Vassar College, one of the first institutions of higher learning for women in the country, has been paying their female full-time professors less than their male counterparts for the past twenty years, according to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in August by five former or current tenured faculty members, has accused the college of, “… unequal pay, delayed promotions for female professors and a discriminatory performance-evaluation system.” Last week, hundreds of students gathered to protest outside a faculty meeting to demand that female professors have pay equity with men. Many students interviewed expressed that they felt betrayed due to the college’s culture promoting diversity and equity.

Read the full story here.

Americans don’t trust politicians on abortion and gender-affirming care, poll finds

Amanda Becker and Mel Leonor Barclay, The 19^th*

New polling by The 19^th* and SurveyMonkey found that about 70% of Americans think that politicians are not well informed about abortion and gender-affirming care to create fair policies. Abortion and gender-affirming care are already hot topics leading into races in 2024. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, Republicans at all levels of government have pushed to restrict access to abortion and gender-affirming care. When the voters surveyed were asked whether “politicians are informed enough about abortion to create fair policies,” 76% of Democrats disagreed, with that group making up of men, women and nonbinary Americans, as well as across races and ethnicities.

Read the full story here.

Black women identify top issues ahead of 2024, issue call to action in new poll

Cheyanne M. Daniels, The Hill

A recent survey conducted by The Highland Project shows that 61 percent of Black women are dissatisfied with the direction of the country. The economy, racism, and gun violences are some of the top issues identified by Black women ahead of the 2024 election cycle. Cornell Belcher, a highly regarded pollster who partnered with Highland for this survey says that the dissatisfaction stems multiple cross-pressure issues including rising sexism and racism. Since The Highland Project’s poll released in 2021, Black woman have reported an 8 percent increase in experiencing racism daily and a 12 percent increase in experiencing sexism. Today, nearly half of Black women surveyed say they experience racism daily.

Read the full story here.

Interest in doula care grows amid maternal health crisis

Tina Reed, Maya Goldman, Axios

Interest in doula care as a part of the health system for birthing patients is increasing as the country’s maternal health crisis worsens. Community-based programming, investments from national companies and new legislation signal that the support services provided by doulas plays a greater role in making pregnancy less dangerous, especially for women of color. Some current roadblocks for doula care however are that many insurers do not cover them, leading to patients having to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket in addition to lack of awareness and questions about how to certify and train them.

Read the full story here.