COVID-19 has had an undeniable negative impact on the economy—an impact felt most deeply by women, especially women of color. Women are being pushed out of their jobs and there are significant barriers to pursuing new ones—from an imbalance in the division of household responsibilities, to stagnancy and job loss in women-dominated industries like retail, dining and the government sector.  What should be at the top of the economic agenda for the Biden-Harris administration? How should women fend for themselves in a COVID economy?  What are the keys to negotiating for what women deserve?  Helping us to sort out these questions and more are very special guests: Sandra Finley, president and CEO of the League of Black Women, a national organization that provides strategic leadership research to communicate the collective voices of Black Women with attention toward sustaining joyful living in families, communities and workplaces. Finley is also president of Praxis Leadership Institute and has lectured nationwide for Fortune 100 companies.  Dr. Patricia Jones-Blessman, a licensed clinical psychologist with over three decades of experience as a clinician and administrator of mental health programs. Dr. Jones was the founder and president for the Institute for Psychodiagnostic Interventions and Services—one of only a few minority-owned, private sector psychological service corporations nationwide. Jennifer “JJ” Justice, an entertainment and live-experience executive known for her expertise in building artists’ careers and business portfolios by marrying art with commerce. The former attorney for Jay-Z, in 2019, JJ founded The Justice Dept, a management, strategy and legal firm that works with female entrepreneurs, executives, talent, brands and creatives to build and maximize their value focusing in the areas of tech, consumer product, finance, media, entertainment and fashion. Rachel Payne, managing director and head of innovation and technology at FullCycle and a technology executive, entrepreneur, investor, inventor and philanthropist. She is the CEO of FEM Inc. and a former executive at Google, as well as a startup mentor for Techstars and the University of California Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator. Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action.Support the show

On Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. was elected the 46th president of the United States. Vice President-Elect Kamala Devi Harris made history becoming the first woman, the first Black person, and the first South Asian person to ever hold the office. This news resulted in widespread celebrations throughout the country and all across the world. Additionally, a significant number of down-ballot victories also mark historic milestones in U.S. politics—including countless firsts for people of color, LGBTQ+ candidates and women. But while there is cause for celebration, there is more work to be done and more questions to be asked. Was the election free and fair across the nation? What did we learn from this election? Where and how did democracy flourish? What does the 2020 election mean for our democracy, our courts, and our state and federal agencies?  Helping us to sort out these questions and more is a very special guest: Vanita Gupta. Gupta is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. She is an experienced leader and litigator who has devoted her career to civil rights work. From 2014 to 2017, she served as acting assistant attorney general and head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Under her leadership, the division engaged in critical work in a number of areas, including advancing constitutional policing and criminal justice reform; prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking; promoting disability rights; protecting the rights of LGBTQ individuals; ensuring voting rights for all; and combating discrimination in education, housing, employment, lending and religious exercise. Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action.Support the show

Dr. Goodwin and her guests answer some of your pressing election questions—and have a bit of fun. Let them keep you company (and keep you calm!) while you wait for results.Joining host Michele Goodwin to keep you company, and to reflect on what this election means for our nation, are very special guests: Sandra Bernhard is a performer, actor, singer and author. She is currently starring as Nurse Judy in the Emmy nominated and Peabody Award winning show POSE on FX Networks. She is also the host of “Sandyland," a daily radio show on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy channel 102, for which she won a Gracie Award. Russ Feingold is the president of the American Constitution Society. He served as a U.S. senator from Wisconsin, as well as a state senator. He is the author of While America Sleeps: A Wake-Up Call for the Post-9/11 Era, contributes regularly to various publications, and appears frequently on MSNBC and CNN. Lizz Winstead is the co-creator and former head writer of "The Daily Show" and Air America Radio co-founder. She now dedicates her life not only to important comedic commentary, but also forging new ground as the founder of the Abortion Access Front, a NYC-based reproductive rights organization that she launched in 2015, which uses humor and outrage to expose anti-choice hypocrisy and to mobilize people across all 50 states. Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action.Support the show

At the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, voting activist and civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer described the violent injustice she and others had endured while living under the South's Jim Crow rules and fighting for the right to vote: "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired!”Over 50 years later, ahead of the 2020 election, we see record early voting across the country. Even so, serious efforts aimed at voter suppression persist, including curbing access to mail-in voting and shutting down polling locations.  So, what are the biggest threats to voting rights today? How is voter suppression showing up in the 2020 election? What can we do to ensure that our elections remain free and fair? Helping us to sort out these questions and more are very special guests:Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Clarke leads one of the nation’s most important national civil rights organizations in the pursuit of equal justice for all. She is the author of Barack Obama and African American Empowerment: The Rise of Black America’s New Leadership.Judge Glenda Hatchett, who served as senior attorney at Delta Airlines before becoming the chief presiding judge of Fulton County Georgia Juvenile Court in Atlanta.  Her law firm, the Hatchett Firm, represented Philando Castille’s estate in the wake of his tragic death. She presides over the two-time Emmy-nominated courtroom series, Judge Hatchett, now in its 16th season. Most recently, she has returned to TV in her new television court series, The Verdict with Judge Hatchett.   Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, executive director of the Highlander Research and Education Center—and the first Black woman to hold that title.  She is an active participant on the governance council of the Southern Movement Assembly, and an organizer with Concerned Citizens for Justice. She has served on the National Council of the Student Environmental Action Coalition. Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action. Support the show

Recently, Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, lashed out at the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which guaranteed marriage equality, calling it ruinous for religious liberty.  In response, the New Yorker posed a sobering question: “Does Clarence Thomas now speak for the majority of the Supreme Court on LGBTQ Rights?"The use of religious liberty to discriminate against LGBTQ people is nothing new. And marriage is not the only issue on the line. Among other things, the Trump administration has worked to discriminate against gay parents in foster care and adoption, take away vital healthcare under the ACA, and prevent transgender people from serving in the military. The attacks are not limited to the federal government either: This year alone, there have been clear, coordinated efforts at the state level to legalize discrimination against people based on their LGBTQ identity. What is the current legal landscape for LGBTQ rights and justice? What is the significance of the impending election for the rights of the LGBTQ community? What's at stake?  Helping us to sort out these questions and more are very special guests: Jessica Clarke, professor of law, FedEx research professor and co-director of the George Barrett Social Justice Program at Vanderbilt University Law School. She studies constitutional and statutory guarantees of non-discrimination based on traits such as race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and disability.   T. Mychael Rambo, a regional Emmy Award winning actor, vocalist, arts educator and community organizer.  He also an accomplished residency artist and professor in the College of Liberal Arts, Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota.   Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project and a nationally recognized expert on transgender rights. Strangio's work includes impact litigation, as well as legislative and administrative advocacy, on behalf of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV across the United States. Chase was counsel in the case of Aimee Stephens, a transgender woman whose historic lawsuit resulted in the landmark Supreme Court decision that federal civil rights law protects LGBTQ workers.Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action. Support the show

On January 15, 2020, Virginia became the critical 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, or ERA—a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that reads: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”  Virginia’s ratification raised important questions about the viability of an amendment that had been stymied for decades. What does the promise of the ERA hold in the continued battle for equality and freedom? What roles have women of color played to secure the ERA? In the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, what is the modern platform for women’s equality?  Helping us to sort out these questions (and more) are very special guests: Jennifer Carroll Foy, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates who is running for governor in the state of Virginia. She joined the Virginia House of Delegates in 2017 where she led Virginia’s effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, passed legislation to combat Virginia’s teacher shortage, and voted to expand Medicaid to 400,000 Virginians. She established the Virginia for Everyone PAC to help elect women, people of color and millennials to the Virginia General Assembly and was one of the first African American women to graduate from Virginia Military Institute. Ellie Smeal, the co-founder and president of the Feminist Majority and the Feminist Majority Foundation and former president of the National Organization for Women. She has led efforts for the economic, political and social equality and empowerment of women worldwide for over three decades.   Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, the 48th Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. She leads the Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative, and chairs the Illinois Council on Women and Girls, the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council, the Military Economic Development Council and the Illinois River Coordinating Council.  Previously, she represented the 5th District in the Illinois House of Representatives.   Julie Suk, a Florence Rogatz visiting professor of law at Yale Law School and professor of sociology, political science and liberal studies at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). She most recently published, "We the Women: The Unstoppable Mothers of the Equal Rights Amendment" and is a frequent commentator in the media on legal issues affecting women. Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action. Support the show

President Trump has appointed and confirmed a near record number of judges to the federal bench in four years. In fact, nearly one-third of all active federal judges on the U.S. appeals courts have been appointed by Trump.  On the federal courts of appeal, the president has not appointed one African American and only one Latino judge.  These issues are magnified by Trump’s recent nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg—a nomination made 38 days before the Election Day, during a time in which some voters across the country are already in the process of voting. The passing of Justice Ginsburg and the promise of confirmation hearing, even during COVID and while the president is under medical surveillance, has now caused an uproar. How did we get here? And what can we do to bring balance back to the U.S. judicial system?Helping us to sort out these questions are very special guests:Nan Aron, the founder and president of Alliance for Justice, the foremost progressive organization providing research and resources on federal judicial nominees. She is the author of Liberty and Justice for All: Public Interest Law in the 1980s and Beyond.Joan Biskupic, a full-time CNN legal analyst who has covered the Supreme Court for 25 years and is the author of several books on the judiciary. Before joining CNN in 2017, she was an editor-in-charge for legal affairs at Reuters, and the Supreme Court correspondent for the Washington Post and USA Today. She most recently published a biography of Chief Justice John Roberts (The Chief: The Life and Turbulent Times of Chief Justice John Roberts, spring 2019). Rick Perlstein, the author of the recent release Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980.   He is a contributing writer at The Nation, former chief national correspondent for the Village Voice, and a former online columnist for the New Republic and Rolling Stone. His journalism and essays have appeared in Newsweek, The New York Times, and many other publications.   Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action. Support the show

On today’s show, we focus on the question: Can the president suspend the elections? The short answer: No. But while the law is clear, President Trump’s efforts to delay the elections, sow distrust in our democratic processes, and wreak havoc on the U.S. electoral process are already well underway.  On July 30, President Trump tweeted mail-in voting will make this year’s elections “the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history.” (In reality, mail-in voter fraud averages 0.0025 percent.) This, just months after he and others dismissed as ridiculous Democratic presidential nominee Joseph Biden’s warnings in April that Trump might “try to kick back the election somehow” or “come up with some rationale why it can’t be held.” The president’s tweets and public comments raise serious questions about the integrity of the upcoming elections. For example, what are the ramifications of Trump suggestions that we suspend the election? Will access to mail-in ballots (or lack thereof) impact voter turnout? Can Trump invoke martial law if he loses the election? What are the possible threats to our democracy come November?  Helping us to sort out these questions are special guests:Karen J. Greenberg, the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law and a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations, specializing in the intersection between national security policy, the rule of law and human rights. She is the host of "Vital Interests Podcast," the editor-in-chief of three online publications and has written and edited numerous books including: "Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State.” Prof. Rick Hasen, chancellor’s professor of law and political science at the University of California, Irvine and a nationally recognized expert in election law and campaign finance regulation. He is a CNN election 2020 analyst and co-author of leading casebooks in election law.  He has authored over 100 articles on election law issues, published in numerous journals including the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review and Supreme Court Review. Rep. Mikie Sherrill represents New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District. Congresswoman Sherrill serves as freshman whip for the New Democrat Coalition and sits on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. She is the chairwoman of the Environment Subcommittee for the Science, Space and Technology Committee.   Prof. Stephen Vladeck, the A. Dalton Cross professor in law at the University of Texas School of Law and a nationally recognized expert on the federal courts, constitutional law, national security law and military justice. He is also the co-host of the popular and award-winning “National Security Law Podcast.” He is a CNN Supreme Court analyst and a co-author of Aspen Publishers’ leading national security law and counterterrorism law casebooks. Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action. Support the show

On today’s show, we focus on going back to school during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The beginning of the 2020 school year is nothing like before. The word “difficult” is an understatement—and it’s difficult for all: for teachers, for students, for parents, (especially mothers) and for our colleges and universities too. Meanwhile, economic strains on families are sky-high as many families face eviction, and affordable child care is out of reach. Helping us to sort out questions related to schooling during pandemic and how we should think about these issues and more:Randi Weingarten is the president of the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO; and creator of AFT Innovation Fund, a groundbreaking initiative to support sustainable, innovative and collaborative education reform projects developed by members and their local unions. Rep. Katherine Clark represents the Fifth District of Massachusetts; her career in public service is driven by her commitment to helping children and families succeed; in Congress, she brings her experience as a former state senator, state representative and general counsel for the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services, and policy chief for the state attorney general. Fatima Goss Graves is the CEO of the National Women’s Law Center; co-founder of the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund; author of many articles and reports, including We Must Deal with K-12 Sexual Assault, and Unlocking Opportunity for African American Girls: A Call to Action for Educational Equity. Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media. Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action.Support the show

From a frozen asylum system, huge camps on the Mexico border and family separation policies, to the worsening lack of healthcare and the aftereffects of COVID-19, Latinx communities are at a disadvantage both inside and outside U.S. borders. In this episode, we focus on events over the last few years greatly impacting Latinx communities: socially, economically and politically—as Trump administration immigration policies have resulted in child separation,huge camps on the Southern border, stalled immigration and much more.  Meanwhile, those held in detention centers face an added layer of challenges—ranging from lost children, to an increased risk of COVID infections. Are detainees seeking self-deportation to avoid contracting COVID? And what about sexual abuse? Despite numerous lawsuits and thousands of complaints filed against detention facilities staff, this staggering pattern of sexual abuse seems to continue in immigration detention centers.      Guests: Kevin Johnson, dean and Mabie-Apallas professor of public interest law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law. He is also the author of "How Did You Get to Be Mexican" and "Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink its Borders and Immigration Laws.” Domingo Garcia, attorney and national president of The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Mary Giovagnoli, senior counsel for legal strategy for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and the former executive director of Refugee Council USA. She served as deputy assistant secretary for immigration policy in the Department of Homeland Security from January 2016 to January 2018.  Rate and review “On the Issues with Michele Goodwin" to let us know what you think of the show! Let’s show the power of independent feminist media.Check out this episode’s landing page at MsMagazine.com for a full transcript, links to articles referenced in this episode, further reading and ways to take action to protect immigrant families.Support the show