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!

Hitting a paywall? Some sources allow a few free articles without a subscription, and your university or local library may offer free access. For example, AU students, faculty, and staff have access to popular newspapers through the library. Click here to learn more.

Senate Votes to Confirm Tulsi Gabbard as Top U.S. Intelligence Official

NBC News, Scott Wong and Frank Thorp V

Tulsi Gabbard (R) was confirmed on Wednesday as the U.S. Director of National Intelligence. The Senate voted almost entirely along party lines, with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) joining the Democrats for a 52-48 vote. She will oversee 18 agencies related to national intelligence, including the CIA and NSA. Gabbard was a long-time Democrat and served in the Hawaii state House of Representatives and Honolulu City Council before becoming a U.S. House member from 2013 to 2021. She left the Democratic party in 2022 after an unsuccessful presidential bid in 2020. Gabbard is also an Iraq war veteran and served in the Army Reserve for over two decades.

Deb Haaland, Ex-Interior Secretary, Is Running for Governor of New Mexico

The New York Times, Shane Goldmacher and Kellen Browning

Deb Haaland (D) announced her bid for governor of New Mexico on Tuesday. She was Interior Secretary for the Biden administration and the first Native American to hold the position. Haaland previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019-2021 one of the first two women to hold this role. If elected, she would succeed current governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) who is at the end of her term limit. Haaland’s campaign is to focus on lowering costs, homeownership affordability, and preventing crime. She is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe.

State Politics in the Headlines

Kansas governor Laura Kelly (D) has vetoed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors. This is the third time Gov. Kelly has vetoed the bill, which has been pushed by the state’s predominantly Republican legislature after they have failed to override her. The bill is called the Help Not Harm Act and bans physicians from providing gender-affirming care to transgender minors, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery. Gov. Kelly said in a statement accompanying the veto, “As I’ve said before, it is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind.” Several other states are embattled in abortion policy legislation. Louisiana has moved to classify Mifepristone and Misoprostol as controlled substances, with states like Idaho and Texas possibly following. New York is enacting new laws to ensure access to care and protect physicians, with Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signing a law that allows doctors to remove their name from abortion medication prescriptions. This comes after a New York doctor was sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and indicted in Louisiana on criminal charges for providing abortion medication to people in those states. It’s unclear how far the anti-abortion medication legislation will advance in other states.

Gender Ideology in the Second Trump Era

The Trump administration has joined a global “war on gender ideology,” using its fixed understanding of sex and gender to advance its political agenda. While many academics and others believe that gender is a malleable, social construct, Trump’s administration has taken the position that there is a gap between how things “really are” and how liberals perceive them to be. In doing so, Trump has garnered support from those on the right by signing executive orders to ban transgender athletes from women’s sports and proclaiming that the federal government will only recognize two sexes. Just this week, Trump ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to encourage the International Olympic Committee to ban transgender female athletes from competing, threatening to deny visas to athletes if his administration believes them to be “males seeking to participate in women’s sports.” Additionally, the U.S. military will no longer allow transgender individuals to join its ranks, keeping in line with Trump’s political agenda. Though these actions have instilled fear in the trans community, legal challenges to Trump’s orders are already mounting: at the state level, transgender athletes and their families have sued to block state bans, claiming that the laws violate both Title IX and their right to equal protection under the U.S. Constitution. Additional legal challenges are likely to follow, which could ultimately be appealed to the Supreme Court to decide the issue.

White House funding policy impacts women and girls

After President Trump’s freeze on international federal funding, many are fearing the worst for girls and women in developing countries. In Malawi, clinics that supply HIV medication are going to run out and not have the funds to restock. Last year, 142,000 girls and women relied on just one program with the USAID alone. USAID workers fear the halt in care is going to affect those who need lifesaving care, such as maternal and child health, malaria, and tuberculosis. These diseases impact girls and women at disproportionately higher rates than boys and men, with sub-Saharan African women aged 15-24 being three times more likely to contract HIV than men of the same age. The National Endowment for the Arts is also reacting to Trump’s new policy changes regarding the end of DEI, by telling arts groups to not use federal funds to promote DEI or gender ideology. The NEA’s new rules says applicants cannot run programs that “violate federal anti-discrimination laws” and to pledge to not use federal funding in “promoting gender ideology.” The organization is cancelling their “Challenge America” program that focused on projects in underserved communities and is instead using the grant for projects that “celebrate and honor the nation’s rich artistic heritage and creativity.”

Women Achieve Gender Parity with Men in U.S. Big Screen Lead Roles for First Time

The Guardian, Benjamin Lee

According to two new studies, women achieved gender parity on the big screen for the first time in the U.S. in 2024. Women led 42 percent of the top 100 top-grossing films of last year, the same percentage as their male counterparts. An ongoing study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative also found that women led or co-led 54 percent of films last year, up from 30 percent in 2023. Recent blockbuster hits led by women include Wicked, The Substance, Inside Out 2, and Moana 2. Unfortunately, another report from last month showed that female representation behind the scenes still remains low; in 2024, 70 percent of the top-grossing films had 10 or more men in crucial off-screen positions, compared to just 8 percent for women.

Beverly Byron, Md. Congresswoman and Armed Services Member, Dies at 92

Washington Post, Emily Langer

Beverly Byron (D-MD), a long time House member and devotee to the Armed Services Committee, died at 92 on February 9. Byron first joined Congress in 1978 when her husband, an active House member, suddenly passed and Democratic party leaders quickly recruited her to succeed him. She spoke of this experience before, saying “Within 24 hours I was a widow, a single parent, unemployed and a candidate for Congress.” Once elected, Byron was just one of 16 women serving in the House. She joined the Armed Services Committee and became the first woman to lead an Armed Services subcommittee when becoming chairwoman of the Military Personnel and Compensation panel. Byron was a strong supporter of the military, including efforts to allow women to serve as combat pilots. She is survived by her three children, seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Married Women Could Be Stopped From Voting Under SAVE Act

Newsweek, Sophie Clark

House Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) has introduced a new bill called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) that requires people to provide proof of citizenship documentation in-person when registering to vote. The types of documentation nearly all rely around having a birth certificate with a matching name, but for married women, their birth certificate does not match their current name. Passports are acceptable, but 146 million Americans do not own one, and proof of name change and marriage licenses are not included as valid forms of ID. An estimated 69 million married women changed their last name and could struggle to register.

Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig Eye Bids for U.S. Senate Seat

Axios, Andrew Solender and Torey Van Oot

Following Sen. Tina Smith’s (D-MN) announcement that she does not plan to seek reelection, Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Angie Craig (D-MN) are both being pushed to run for U.S. Senate in 2026. Though both Omar and Craig would likely enter the race with high name recognition, they could also face stiff competition – Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) isn’t “ruling out” a bid, according to a source. Omar, one of the most “high-profile progressives” in the nation, is receiving “messages of encouragement,” while Craig is also being urged to run, according to sources familiar with the matter.