Women’s News: Work stress hits women harder

Work-life balance isn’t working for women. According to new Gallup research, competing professional and caregiving demands drive disproportionately high stress and burnout among women.

Surveys of roughly 20,000 working U.S. adults found:

• 51% of working women feel stressed “a lot of the day,” compared to 39% of men.

• 17% of women had to address personal or family issues while at work “daily or several times a day,” versus 11% of men.

Mismatched work styles add to the stress, with over a third of women preferring flexible schedules but stuck in rigid 9-to-5 roles. Mothers are nearly three times as likely as fathers to handle unexpected childcare needs and twice as likely to delay promotions or consider leaving their jobs because of family constraints.

And with 46% of stressed women seeking new job opportunities, it’s in employers’ best interest to drive change. Gallup urges companies to prioritize flexible policies, supportive managers, and well-being-focused cultures to help women thrive.

👉️ Public backlash erupted in South Korea when its president announced and then quickly retracted martial law, and one woman’s act of resistance became a rallying point for protesters. An Gwiryeong went viral for confronting a soldier who blocked lawmakers from entering the National Assembly, ultimately forcing the soldier to back down.

👉️ Namibia will have its first female president. Current VP Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah won the seat in a chaotic election that was extended by three days due to technical issues.

👉️ Women are set to control $34 trillion (38%) of U.S. investable assets by 2030, a huge leap from $7.3 trillion a decade ago. The shift is fueled by a massive wealth transfer from Baby Boomer men to the wives who outlive them, as well as rising female entrepreneurship and career success.

👉️ The Bureau of Prisons is permanently closing the California federal women’s prison known as the “rape club” due to its long history of sexual abuse and mistreatment of inmates.

👉️ Women made major strides as workplace leaders in 2024. New reports show the number of women running private companies valued at over $1 billion more than doubled, the number of female entrepreneurs grew by 41%, and workers increasingly prefer female bosses.

👉️ For mothers, however, entrepreneurial hurdles remain. Research also found that women are 42% less likely to start a business in the year they give birth, and those already running startups tend to see lower sales, decreased profits, and even business failures after welcoming children.

👉️ Kim Kardashian is taking on skiwear. The Skims founder is debuting a collaboration with The North Face that brings her shapewear brand’s minimalist, body-inclusive aesthetic to the slopes.

👉️ Alex Cooper, host of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, announced the upcoming launch of her first consumer product: Unwell Hydration, an electrolyte drink that will be marketed specifically to women.

👉️ Time Magazine named Lisa Su CEO of the Year. As the head of semiconductor giant and Nvidia rival AMD, she’s driven a 50x increase in the company’s stock since taking the helm.

👉️ Women lawmakers and veterans have warned that appointing Pete Hegseth as defense secretary could undo efforts to combat sexual assault in the military, fearing that Hegseth’s denial of assault allegations would prevent victims from coming forward.

👉️ Michigan Democrats hope to pass a law that would protect reproductive health data, like information from menstrual tracking apps, before Republicans take over the state House of Representatives in 2025.

👉️ Donald Trump nominated Gail Slater to lead the Justice Department’s antitrust division, a role that will involve overseeing several significant lawsuits against major tech firms.

👉️ For the first time, a key government health panel included self-collected HPV tests in its recommendations for cervical cancer screenings, endorsing new developments that allow women to collect their own samples in medical settings.

👉️ Plus, a study found that cervical cancer deaths among women under 25 have dropped 62% over the past decade, with the HPV vaccine likely driving the reduction.

👉️ The world’s 15 highest-paid female athletes will make a combined $221 million this year, 27% more than in 2023, with tennis player Coco Gauff topping the list at $30.4 million. 

👉️ 25-year-old Amber Glenn became the first American in 14 years to win the women’s Grand Prix Final figure skating competition.

👉️ The dates are set for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, which will take place in Brazil—soccer fans can plan to watch matches on their phones at work continue to be dedicated employees from June 24 to July 25, 2027.

👉️ Taylor Swift gave her final performance of the Eras Tour, which grossed a record-smashing $2.2 billion over two years and 149 shows. Experts predict it will forever change the concert industry, from increasing the demand for extra-long performances to emphasizing social media virality.

• The tour was also notable for its women-dominated audiences and themes, leading experts to call it a “celebration of femininity and a reclamation of girlhood.”

👉️ Women artists swept this year’s Spotify Wrapped. Eight of the world’s ten most-streamed albums were made by women—three from Taylor Swift alone.

👉️ Moana 2 and Wicked continue to rake in strong box office numbers, and both productions have championed women behind the scenes:

• In a rare reversal of Hollywood’s gender pay gap, Universal Pictures revealed that Wicked’s female crew members earned an average of 6.6% more than their male counterparts.

• Meanwhile, Moana 2 made history with Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear as the first all-female songwriting team for a Disney animated film.

👉️ Poet Nikki Giovanni passed away at age 81. Over her decades-long career, she wrote more than 25 books and addressed themes of love, racism, and the strength of Black women.