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

 

Black female lawmakers warn against pitting Supreme Court candidates against each other

Marianna Sotomayor, Washington Post

While conversations and speculations continue regarding President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nomination, Black female lawmakers are warning against pitting the potential nominees against each other. The issue has risen in part due to House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking Black member of Congress, championing his preferred pick for the Supreme Court.

“I just don’t think it’s our place to pit Black women against each other in trying to get this spot. No,” Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) told reporters Tuesday when asked if the Congressional Black Caucus is uniting around any potential nominees. “Let’s push all of them up there. And whoever has all the things that’s needed to get this job done, the qualifications, the experience, the will — they got to have the will to do this because it’s going to be tough — let’s let that person rise.”

Read the full story here.

 

Why Congress is moving against sexual harassment, 4 years after #MeToo

Marianne Levine, Politico

After almost five years, this week the Senate is expected to pass a bill, “reforming the way private companies handle sexual assault and harassment cases by ending the use of forced arbitration to resolve workplace disputes.” If passed, it will be due to bipartisanship from Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, what some deem a rarity in recent times. There are many theories as to why this legislation, first introduced in 2017, is finally poised to pass under the Biden administration.

Read the full story here.

 

Figure skating will stop calling women skaters ‘ladies,’ a step toward dismantling a century-long culture

Chabeli Carrazana, The 19^th*

Almost a century ago, figure skating became the first sport in the Winter Olympics to allow women. While men competed in figure skating under the name “men,” women have competed in the sport as “ladies.” This year, figure skating became the last sport in the Winter Olympics to change the women’s category from “ladies” to “women,” signifying a greater change in culture for women competing in the sport.

Read the full story here.

 

Running for office is still for men—some data on the “Ambition Gap”

Jennifer L. Lawless and Richard L. Fox, Brookings

Although women are making historical gains in politics, a new study shows that women today are just as unlikely to run for office as they were 20 years ago. Men are twice as likely to both: announce that they have seriously thought about running for elected office, and that they’d be open to running for office in the future. The researchers point out that the gender or “ambition” gap is not rooted in dissatisfaction with the country’s political climate, but rather deeply embedded views of men and women in office.

Read the full story here.