Women’s News: A history-making Democratic National Convention

Happy mid-week, Risers! Here’s the latest women’s news:

Spotlight

At the Democratic National Convention last week, Kamala Harris officially accepted the nomination for president, making her the first Black and Asian woman in U.S. history to lead a major party ticket.

• Women were front and center throughout the four-night event, with much-praised appearances from Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Oprah Winfrey (one analysis called Michelle Obama’s speech a “proclamation of Black womanhood”).

• Women in the audience wore white, the color of the suffragette movement, to show their support of Harris and reproductive rights, a major topic at the convention.

• After the convention, Harris’s lead in national polls grew by two percentage points, with gains in key Midwestern states like Wisconsin and Michigan, where she now leads, and in Sunbelt states, where Trump remains ahead but Harris is closing the gap. 

• Harris’s campaign also raised an additional $40 million after the event, bringing her total to $540 million. A third of the donations were from first-time supporters, the majority of whom were women.

World

• The Taliban imposed stricter laws on Afghan women, now banning them from showing their faces or speaking in public. The U.N. denounced these “vice and virtue” laws as deepening the “already intolerable” restrictions on women and girls in the country.

Business and Tech

• A popular new Chinese video game, Black Myth: Wukong, is facing backlash after telling live-streamers to avoid mentioning topics like “feminist propaganda” that introduce “negative discourse” during gameplay. The developer, Game Science, has been criticized for a culture of sexism.

• A new report found that Latinas contributed $1.3 trillion to the U.S. GDP in 2021, with a growth rate almost three times that of non-Latinos over the same period, making them “drivers of economic vitality.”

• Two women are among the four passengers preparing for the first commercial spacewalk in history. The SpaceX mission, expected to launch after August 30, will take the private astronauts farther into space than any flight since 1972.

Politics

• Women’s clothing brand Eileen Fisher is taking a stance on social and political issues ahead of the presidential election, saying the “stakes are too high to sit this one out.” Its new communications strategy will promote reproductive freedom, equal representation, climate change policy, and more. 

  • With other companies like Lowe’s, Tractor Supply and Harley-Davidson pulling back on DEI initiatives after right-wing pressure, analysts say we could see a rise of “red companies and blue companies.” 

• On Thursday, Kamala Harris will participate in her first sit-down interview since launching her campaign, where she is expected to clarify her position on top policy issues. The interview will air on CNN at 9pm ET.

• Meanwhile, over 200 former Republican presidential staff members wrote an open letter endorsing Kamala Harris, calling the prospect of a second Trump presidency “simply untenable.”

Sports

• With the U.S. Open underway, Forbes released a list of the highest-paid tennis players. Four of the top ten earners are women, making tennis one of the most gender-pay-equal professional sports.

• The 2024 Paralympic Games kick off in Paris today with a record number of female athletes. Names to watch include:

  • Jodie Grinham, the British archer who will compete seven months pregnant. 

  • Double amputee swimmer Jessica Long, the second most decorated U.S. Paralympian. 

  • Sarah Adam, the first woman to represent the U.S. in wheelchair rugby.

Culture

• A British woman became the country’s oldest skydiver when she celebrated her 102nd birthday by jumping from a plane.

• Food bank operators across the country revealed Taylor Swift quietly donated hundreds of thousands of meals to cities she visited during her Eras Tour.  

Further Reading

Stay up to date on more current events with our partners at 1440 Media: