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Going Hollywood: Meghan and Harry Are Reportedly Pitching a 'Top-Secret' TV or Film Project
You can take the woman out of Hollywood, but you can’t take the Hollywood out of the woman—or, at least that seems to be the case with Los Angeles-born actress-turned-duchess-turned-prodigal daughter Meghan Markle, who returned to her home state with her royal husband and son earlier this year. Newly settled into what Variety reports is…
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Essence Answers Sexual Harassment Claims Against Owner Richelieu Dennis With Results of 1st Internal Review
As the 26th annual—and first virtual—Essence Festival dawned this year, #BlackFemaleAnonymous, a group of “former and current employees” of the 50-year-old magazine published an indicting missive titled “The Truth About Essence.” The open letter (subsequently legally referred to as “the Article”) alleged a toxic workplace culture, pay inequities, nepotism, and “an unhinged abuse of power.”…
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Fresh Off That 'WAP,' Cardi and Megan Dive Into Political Discourse
Fun fact: “WAP” may also be an acronym for “Women Active in Politics.” Both Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are proving as passionate about our current political cycle as they are for the joys of enthusiastically consensual sex—which is as it should be since the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Of course, with Cardi, this…
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On the 19th Amendment's Centennial, Michelle Obama Urges Us to Honor Women's Work in Securing the Vote
Just like our forever First Lady Michelle Obama, we are not going to stop talking about the importance of voting this election cycle—no matter how unenthused you might be. While there were many factors that led to the outcome of what we’d feared would be a disastrous 2016 election (Electoral College, we’re looking at you),…
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A Forgotten First: Before There Was Kamala, There Was Charlotta Bass
We, as a people, love “firsts”—even when we recognize that they are long overdue. This week, many have been celebrating the announcement of Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) as Joe Biden’s running mate as a historic first: the first Black—and Asian—woman to be nominated for vice president of the United States. But as the Washington Post…
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From 'WAP' to 'DAP' and Beyond: Michelle Obama's Latest Podcast Talks Women's Health, Aging and Menopause
It’s not an understatement to say we’re currently living in the age of “WAP,” an unadulterated (and very adult) celebration of the sexual agency and well-lubricated pleasure of women. To be clear, though these are issues pertinent to all women, the discussion—and attendant debate—have primarily defaulted to young, cis women, as the creators of this…
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In the Aftermath of Black Women's Equal Pay Day, Let's Consider How Our Votes Impact Our Paychecks
Black women are well known as the backbone of our democracy—and, as of this week, a Black (and Asian) woman could well be on her way to making history as our country’s next vice president. As one of the most active voting blocs in America (h/t Center for American Progress), Black women are already well…
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The State of Black Women in Corporate America: Why Achievement Can't Close the Gender Wage Gap
As long as pay disparities for Black women continue, inevitably so will the respectability politics that insist that we are somehow culpable for those inequities—you know, the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality that is the hallmark of so many of America’s suppressive policies and longheld beliefs about mobility. However, as all too many…
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!['There Is Literally No Way to Catch Up': Black Women Speak Candidly on the Cost of Racism, Sexism and Pay Inequity at Pinterest [Updated]](https://www.theroot.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/mqzyvtvrqcjtsegutfmp-1024x527.jpg)
'There Is Literally No Way to Catch Up': Black Women Speak Candidly on the Cost of Racism, Sexism and Pay Inequity at Pinterest [Updated]
I used to joke that “Pinterest saved my life.” Not literally, of course, but during an especially dark period in 2011, the platform best associated with “Mormon women and Midwestern moms” (as recently noted by the Washington Post) became an unexpected lifeline out of depression and back into my creative self. Ensconced in the emotional…
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This Black Women's Equal Pay Day, Addressing the Gender Gap Is Essential Work
It’s once again Black Women’s Equal Pay Day—the day that marks approximately how much longer a Black woman must work to earn as much as her white, non-Hispanic male counterparts earned the previous year. Reaching “parity” by August 13 means that as of 2020, Black women still earn 62 cents on the dollar (compared to…
