Across the country, women are playing a big role in this year's mid-term elections, from Tea Party-backed Christine O'Donnell in Delaware to Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina in California and First Lady Michelle Obama, campaigning for embattled Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, in Wisconsin.

The New York Times' chief political reporter, Michael Shear, and Sheryl Gay Stolberg, the paper's White House correspondent, discuss some of the major players, and trends for women in this year's political landscape.

For women in Afghanistan, day-to-day life continues to be a struggle. It has been nearly a decade since the fall of the Taliban, yet every step forward for Afghan women seems to come with new setbacks.

Though girls now have the right to an education, getting one can be perilous. Reports over the years of schools being burnt down, teachers being beaten and beheaded, and acid being thrown at girls' faces as they walk to school can obscure signs of progress being made for women, yet they are there.

Consider the history of the civil rights movement, but set aside for a moment the well-known stories from men: those of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Emmett Till, Medgar Evers and Andrew Goodman. If we examine the movement through the eyes of the women there at the time, what would the story sound like? 

In an article in this weekend's New York Times Magazine, contributor Emily Bazelon profiles a group she calls "The New Abortion Providers," young doctors who are attempting to move abortion out of clinics and back into hospitals.

Western countries celebrated the liberation of women in Afghanistan from the Taliban-controlled government when the U.S. invaded in 2001. However, as the war in the country continues in the post-Taliban era, women's rights are not secure. Badam Bagh, Kabul's only prison for women is filled with stories about the violation of women's rights.

In one instance, a 16-year-old girl was sentenced to 18 months in prison after a boy came to her home to propose without sending his parents first; another was arrested when her husband accused her of adultery. The women's prison is an improvement of sorts, before it existed, female prisoners were incarcerated alongside men, and there were reports of rape. But even at Badam Bagh, "The Almond Garden," it becomes clear that Afghan women are still struggling without rights.

Yesterday we spoke with Hanna Rosin, contributing editor the The Atlantic Monthly. Hanna wrote a recent article called "The End of Men" which predicted a major shift of gender roles in American life.  Takeaway listeners took to the phone lines and the web to discuss her points. Many argued, like listener Austin Murrey of Oklahoma City that Rosin's points come as no surprise as women have long held power in our society.  He writes:

"Clearly women still face challenges in the macro-social arena (business, politics, etc.) but in the micro-social world, particularly romantic relationships, I think women hold significantly more power than men."

For the first time in U.S. history, women are now the majority of the workforce. They also get more college degrees than men, and two prominent women just won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and governor in California, Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman, powerful businesswomen who turned to politics beat out male challengers. Women won elsewhere as well - in Iowa, Nevada, Arkansas and South Carolina. 

It may not seem like it to a typical office worker, but the American workforce is surprisingly still segregated by gender. Two-thirds of working women are concentrated in only 5 percent of occupational categories, many of which do not pay well. Why don’t more women consider higher paying “masculine” trade work as a career — and what can they do to make that move?

In May 1960 the Food and Drug Administration approved 'The Pill' as a legal contraceptive. It was soon marketed as a symbol of freedom and power for American women, who up until then had little power to completely control the way they planned for pregnancy.

It's been fifty years since the Pill touched off feminist debates over sexual freedom and family planning.  We talk with feminist writers (and mother and daughter) Erica Jong and Molly Jong-Fast about their personal histories and how the Pill shaped their perception of feminine power.

A new study in wealth accumulation reveals a direct link between race and level of wealth, with African American women ranking way below white women. The Insight Center for Community Economic Development shows that the average single white woman has about $4,100 in assets while the average African American woman has saved only $100.

March is Women's History Month and in celebration we've invited Eve Ensler to talk about her latest projects. The author, playwright and well-known feminist has worked to advance women's rights worldwide.

Today marks the 75^th anniversary of Amelia Earhart’s successful flight from Honolulu to Oakland, California.She was the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific.  To help update the history of women in aviation we talk to another pioneer who has also participated in many firsts for women pilots: Major Nicole Malachowski is a senior pilot in the Air Force and just five years ago became the first woman to join part of the elite Thunderbird squad, also known as the Air Force Aerial Demonstration Squadron.

More women than ever are returning home from military duty, but many Veteran Affairs centers don’t have adequate services for womens' health. We talk this morning with Ann Brown, director of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in  Martinsburg, West Virginia, and retired Marine Capt. Anu Bhagwati, executive director of the Service Women's Action Network, about what VA facilities need to do to better accommodate female needs.

Last month the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued a recommendation saying that women should hold off on breast cancer screenings until they turn 50, not the previously recommended 40. The task force comprises doctors from across the country, and their recommendation is based on firm science; despite this, the finding has sparked a firestorm of controversy, with many women saying they are not willing to give up the screenings.

We talk with author Barbara Ehrenreich, whose most recent book is "Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America." She wrote a controversial op-ed for the Los Angeles Times in which she argues that the feminist movement has been hijacked by what she calls "pink ribbon brigades." She says the debate over breast cancer screenings has stolen the limelight from much more important issues, like abortion rights.

This week a government physicians' group, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, issued a recommendation that women with no underlying risk factors for breast cancer wait until they are 50 before getting regular mammograms. Until that point, the recommended age for the screening was 40. And today the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology issued a recommendation of its own. That group says women shouldn't get the pap smear test that screens for cervical cancer until they are 21. They also said women should get the tests less frequently than many do now: once every two years for women under 30 and once every three years for women over 30. The new recommendations have many women up in arms. Dr. Andrea Price, an OBGYN, says some of her patients are confused and dismayed by these recommendations. We hear what she recommends.

The National Women's Law Center released a sobering analysis of private insurance companies this month called "Still Nowhere to Turn: Insurance Companies Treat Women Like a Pre-Existing Condition." The report includes data that show that even without childbirth coverage, women pay from 10 to 50 percent more than men for the same insurance. We're joined by Judy Waxman, vice president of the National Women's Law Center.

The Mexican city of Puebla is trying a bright pink experiment in a culture famous for its machismo and violence. In an effort to prevent violent crimes against women passengers, 35 new taxis are driving the streets. These pink cars are driven by women and will pick up only female passengers. Inside, each pink taxi comes with a beauty kit, a GPS system and an alarm button. We talk to Eduardo Del Castillo, CEO of Pink Taxi, along with Elena Alvarez, a recent passenger.

For a look inside the Pink Taxi, watch the video below:

Proportionately, more female soldiers work in counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan than in other parts of the military. So what's behind the numbers, and how can the military best use women for those operations? We look at the military jobs women may be better at than their male counterparts with Army Reserve Maj. Paula Broadwell, researcher at the Center for Public Leadership; and retired Army Sgt. Genevieve Chase, founder of American Women Veterans.