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Women’s News: A reckoning in France

Plus: Women in the sake brewing industry, a rebrand for the Women's March, Justice Brown Jackson on Broadway, and more.

Author

Riley Williams
December 20, 2024

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An important note: This issue’s Spotlight section includes discussion of sexual violence. If you don’t wish to read this content, please click here to skip to the next section.

Here’s what’s on the rise today:

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, has become a symbol of resilience in France through her fight against horrific abuse. Yesterday, after a three-month trial, her husband and 50 other men were convicted of drugging and repeatedly raping her, with sentences ranging from three to 20 years.

  • Pelicot made the radical choice to keep the lawsuit open and public, aiming to expose systemic failures and empower other victims. Her decision has inspired women across France—strangers applaud her, schoolgirls chant her name, and survivors credit her with giving them the courage to speak out.

  • France has long struggled with sexual violence, with domestic abuse complaints doubling since 2016. Still, only 6% of rape complaints are investigated, and in 2024, 230,000 women reported sexual violence. Experts point to flaws and vagueness in the country’s rape law, especially regarding intoxication or "chemical submission.”

  • The Pelicot case coincides with another high-profile trial: filmmaker Christophe Ruggia, accused of assaulting actress Adèle Haenel when she was 12. Activists hope these cases spark a cultural shift in France, where many are pushing for greater accountability and reform.

👉️ In Japan, women are breaking into the male-dominated saké brewing industry. The shift is spurred by changing gender norms and increased mechanization of the brewing process, removing the need for heavy manual labor. Today, 33 women are toji, or master saké brewers.

👉️ Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from her post, saying she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau disagree about how to handle pressure from the incoming Trump administration.

👉️ Protesters filled the streets of Nairobi last week, demanding government action to stop the rising femicide crisis in Kenya. Nearly 100 women have been murdered in the past three months.

👉️ Tokyo will implement a four-day workweek for government employees in an effort to help working mothers and combat the city’s declining birth rates. The policy will take effect in April.

👉️ Iranian officials halted the implementation of a law that would impose stricter penalties on women who don’t wear the hijab, and on businesses that serve them.

👉️ The U.S. government will pay $116 million to settle lawsuits brought by inmates over sexual abuse at the California women’s prison known as the “rape club.” Each of the 103 plaintiffs is slated to receive roughly $1.1 million.

👉️ Two new reports reveal contrasting realities for single women in the U.S.:

  • Poverty rates for single-mother households have risen over the past year, returning to 2018 levels. This leaves more than 2.7 million women-led families—especially racial minorities—living below the poverty line.

  • At the same time, unmarried women without children at home now hold higher median wealth than unmarried men. Averaging 61 years of age, this group benefits from rising home values, longer life spans, and greater opportunities to save money.

👉️ Women philanthropists made headlines: Melinda French Gates announced a $150 million donation to support women in the workplace, a third of which will go toward increasing gender parity in tech and AI. Meanwhile, MacKenzie Scott revealed $2 billion worth of previously undisclosed donations in 2024, bringing her total lifetime giving to $19.2 billion.

👉️ A federal appeals court overturned Nasdaq’s board diversity rule, which required listed companies to have at least one woman, person of color, or LGBTQ+ individual on their board or explain the lack of representation.

👉️ Halle Tecco, a prominent investor and entrepreneur in fertility startups, announced she is stepping back from the industry she long championed and shifting her focus to broader healthcare initiatives. Her decision comes after eleven miscarriages.

👉️ Bonus: Meet Annette Kleiser, the founder of Dalan Animal Health, a startup working to save honeybees by immunizing them against colony-threatening diseases

👉️ The Women's March is getting a rebrand—the upcoming D.C. event has been renamed the People's March to include all voters who oppose a second Trump presidency.

  • The organization also discourages participants from wearing the emblematic Handmaid’s Tale costumes, saying it creates more “fragmentation, often around race and class.”

👉️ A new study found that women in Congress are 70x more likely than men to be targeted by sexually explicit deepfake images, underscoring the heightened risks generative AI poses for women.

👉️ Senator Elizabeth Warren called for conflict-of-interest rules governing Elon Musk’s advisory role in the Trump administration, posing questions about the influence of his many business interests on government decisions.

A quick break for a word from our friends at Morning Brew (if you’re enjoying The Rise, we think you’ll love their newsletter)!

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👉️ Texas is suing a New York doctor who prescribed abortion pills to a patient in the Lone Star State, marking the first test of the "shield laws" meant to protect providers involved in interstate care.

👉️ A new IVF product, Fertilo, reduces the procedure’s timeline and costs by extracting non-mature eggs and maturing them in a synthetic ovary. The technology’s success was proven with the birth of the first baby conceived using the method.

👉️ The video game NHL 25 will include women’s hockey players for the first time, part of a broader movement to feature women athletes in games like FIFA and NBA 2K.

👉️ WNBA star A'ja Wilson secured a six-year contract extension with Nike, one of the largest shoe endorsement deals in women's basketball history.

👉️ The National Women’s Soccer League is in exclusive talks to bring its 16th team to Denver, Colorado, beating bids from Cincinnati and Cleveland.

👉️ Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made her Broadway debut in a walk-on role in the musical & Juliet, fulfilling a “lifelong dream.”

👉️ Kylie Kelce (wife of former NFL player Jason Kelce) launched a new podcast, Not Gonna Lie, and its debut episode dethroned Joe Rogan from the top of the Apple and Spotify charts.

👉️ Beyoncé became the most certified female artist in RIAA history, meaning she has the most Gold and Platinum records of any woman.

👉️ Actress Sydney Sweeney shot back at body shamers by sharing a video compiling negative comments about her figure, garnering support from fans and fellow celebrities.

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