Happy Friday! Welcome to the Media Round Up. Each week we’re collecting and sharing our favorite gender + politics stories. Women are on the move!

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“Rest is Resistance”: Black Women Ignore Trump to Find Peace

Axios, Lauren Floyd

After overwhelmingly supporting the Democratic party in the 2024 presidential election, many Black women are now “stepping away” from politics to prioritize self-care and focus on themselves and their communities. For many Black women, President Trump’s second administration is a wake-up call to “turn inward,” building movements rooted in their own needs and empowerment. LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Votes Matter, told Axios that the Black community’s well-being “cannot be based on the whimsical nature of white folks or a particular party,” adding that Black people will have to “build” and “take hold of their futures.” Since President Trump has rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that helped propel Black women and business owners into spaces predominantly occupied by white people, some in the Black community now believe that they have to prepare themselves “for the chaos that could be coming down the pipe.”

Senate Votes to Confirm Pam Bondi as Attorney General

CNN, Shania Shelton and Morgan Rimmer

Pam Bondi (R) was confirmed to be the U.S. Attorney General on Tuesday. This comes after Bondi’s 12-10 vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to move the appointment forward. She was previously Florida’s attorney general in 2011, the first woman to fill the position. Bondi kept that position until 2019, then joining a lobbying firm. She has previously worked with President Trump during his first term as part of his legal team during the impeachment trials. The final confirmation vote was 54-46, mainly along party lines.

Rolling Back Rights

The Trump administration has remained steadfast in its desire to eliminate the rights of the transgender community through policy and action. On Wednesday, President Trump signed an executive order banning transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports, fulfilling a 2024 campaign promise. The order, which will establish “sweeping mandates on sex and sports policy” will direct federal agencies to interpret Title IX rules to prohibit transgender girls and women from participating in female sports. In another effort to “protect women,” the Department of Education will begin enforcing 2020 Title IX regulations based on one’s sex assigned at birth – a tactic that could disproportionately leave transgender and gender-nonconforming students exposed to vulnerability and violence in schools. Trump’s executive orders have not been met without challenges, however – a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from enforcing its anti-trans prison policy against three transgender women in federal prison; the order requires officials to ensure that transgender women detained in federal facilities are housed in men’s facilities. Under the ruling, transgender women in federal prisons are also being told to hand over female-identifying clothing, such as women’s razors and hair care.

NSA Museum Covered Plaques Honoring Women and People of Color, Provoking an Uproar

NPR, Frank Langfitt

The National Cryptologic Museum covered up plaques that celebrated women and people of color who served in the National Security Agency last week. This follows President Trump’s executive order ending all federal DEI initiatives. The plaques honored “Trailblazers in U.S. Cryptologic History” in the museum’s Hall of Honor. Outrage sparked online among former NSA employees and viewers alike after an image was posted online by Larry Pfeiffer, who served in the NSA for over two decades, showing the brown paper sheets covering the plaques. The museum quickly took them down, saying it was a mistake and not the intention to cover up historical achievements.

New Data on Women’s State Legislative Representation Tells Multiple Stories 

Forbes, Kelly Dittmar
The Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University has released its latest rankings for women in state legislatures, capturing the status of women in all 50 states at the start of 2025. This data tells multiple stories. First, while women’s state legislative representation increased nationally and multiple states achieved representational milestones, progress was not ubiquitous across states. Second, variance in both women’s partisanship and party control of legislatures exposes the limitations of equating women’s legislative representation with political power. Finally, gains in women’s political representation and power—nationwide or within each state—are not inevitable. Influencing these numbers are real-world hurdles to women’s candidacy and success, as well as targeted efforts to recruit, train and support women running for state legislative office.

N.Y. Gov. Kathy Hochul Lets Doctors Keep Names Off Abortion Pills to Avoid Red-State Charges

The Washington Post, Victoria Bisset

New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) signed new legislation on Monday that allows doctors prescribing abortion pills to keep their names off the pill packaging. They can opt to have their medical practice’s name on the label, instead. This comes after a New York physician, Dr. Margaret Carpenter, was indicted in Louisiana for allegedly prescribing abortion pills to a girl under the age of 18, who has not been named publicly. Dr. Carpenter faces prosecution in Louisiana if extradited from New York, but Governor Hochul has said she would “never, ever” do that. She signed the bill into law on Monday, saying other states have laws that want to “target, harass, scare, and intimidate” people who seek or provide reproductive healthcare.

It’s 89 Seconds Until Doomsday and Her First Day on the Job

The New York Times, Katrina Miller

Alexandra Bell has been named the new chief executive and president of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. The organization is most known for its creation of the Doomsday Clock, which tracks how close humanity is to a human-made catastrophic disaster. Bell replaces Rachel Brosnan, who held the position for a decade. Bell is a nuclear affairs expert who previously worked in the State Department on arms control and nonproliferation issues. She helped ratify a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russia called New START. In 2021, under the Biden administration, Bell worked as a deputy assistant secretary in the State Department and led the U.S. delegation in the processes of Russia, China, and the U.S. discussing nuclear risk reduction called the P5 Process. She is optimistic about where the Bulletin can go.