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Michelle Chen

Michelle works and plays in New York City. Besides freelance reporting, her various occupations have included ethnographic research in Shanghai and coat-checking at a West Village jazz club. Her writing has also appeared in In These Times, South China Morning Post, Women’s International Perspective, and her old zine, cain.

Wielding ‘Gender Card,’ Women’s Groups Campaign Against ‘Political Sexism’

by Michelle Chen on September 2 2010, 4:08PM

Few would doubt that racism and sexism are handled differently in politics and the media, but how, exactly?

Topics: On Gender, Politics

Cancer Screening for Poor Women Threatened in Calif. Budget Battle

by Michelle Chen on September 2 2010, 9:30AM

Desperate to balance the budget, California is finding fat to trim in some interesting places… like the local mammogram center.

Topics: Health, On Gender

NY Domestic Workers Celebrate Historic Labor Win

by Michelle Chen on September 1 2010, 11:04AM

It’s official: Gov. Paterson signed into law yesterday new rights for New York State’s domestic workers yesterday. Their movement may be a national model for reform.

Topics: Economy, On Gender

Native Foster Care Placements up Sharply in North Dakota

by Michelle Chen on September 1 2010, 9:10AM

A recent surge in foster care placements of Native American children in South Dakota may reflect the economic hard times—or evoke a bleak legacy of segregation.

Topics: On Gender, Schools & Youth

Job Creation Under TANF Emergency Fund Threatened in Welfare Budget

by Michelle Chen on August 31 2010, 4:02PM

A unique welfare program is creating a surprising number of new paychecks, but it may soon fade away without renewed support from Congress.

Topics: Economy, On Gender

Military Women’s Reproductive Rights Under Seige

by Michelle Chen on August 30 2010, 4:00PM

The Pentagon has long kept service women under the grip of draconian restrictions on abortion services.

Topics: Gender & Sexuality, On Gender

Housing Crisis Lingers in Post-Katrina New Orleans

by Michelle Chen on August 30 2010, 9:10AM

While New Orleans hobbles toward recovery after Hurricane Katrina’s punishing blows, a deep affordable housing crisis continues to hold back impoverished mothers:

Topics: Katrina Recovery, On Gender

ACLU Confronts Denver Prison’s Abusive Strip Searches

by Michelle Chen on August 27 2010, 9:16AM

Allegations of abusive strip searches at a prison reflect the perverse power imbalance inherent in the system.

Topics: Criminal Justice, Gender & Sexuality, On Gender

Looking Back, and Forward, on Women’s Equality Day

by Michelle Chen on August 26 2010, 4:05PM

Women’s Equality Day is a commemoration of history—the 90th anniversary of the victory of women’s suffrage—as well as a marker of the incomplete struggle for equal rights.

Topics: On Gender