Weekly News Wrap

Oh hello there! It’s been a while (it’s not you, it’s me). A week-long break turned into a summer hiatus turned into, well, life… and here we are. You’ll find a few updates about this newsletter at the bottom of this email, but first and most importantly, here’s what’s on the rise this week:

World

• Pregnant women in Gaza face devastating challenges amid the conflict with Israel. Lack of medical facilities, prenatal care, and essential supplies has resulted in high-risk pregnancies, childbirths in non-medical settings, and increased maternal and infant mortality.

• Meanwhile, the presence of female combat soldiers on the frontlines in Israel has challenged long-held skepticism in the country about women’s place in the military, as mixed-gender and female-led units have played key roles in the conflict with Hamas.

Business and Technology

• Brands are increasingly working with a new type of social media influencer: women over 50. In a shift away from legacy beauty standards, these influencers’ self-confidence and representation attracts consumers young and old. 

• Women assumed top leadership positions at two major airlines. JetBlue announced this week that Joanna Geraghty will take over as CEO in February, and Mitsuko Tottori became Japan Airlines’ first female President 40 years after starting her job as a flight attendant.

• Former Cloudflare employee Brittany Pietsch caused a stir when she posted a video of her firing on TikTok. After defending her work performance and asking why her manager wasn’t on the layoff call, Pietsch says she doesn’t regret standing up for herself. Cloudflare’s CEO called the video “painful to watch.”

Politics

• Donald Trump was in court this week for the second defamation case brought by E. Jean Carroll. The writer, who successfully sued Trump last year for defamation and sexual abuse, now seeks damages after Trump’s public comments “shattered” her reputation. (at the same time, some question whether the #MeToo movement’s power to impact politics has diminished).

• Nikki Haley’s gender is both an asset and a liability in her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, a balancing act that she manages by emphasizing femininity and downplaying feminism.

• Democrats proposed legislation to protect access to assisted reproductive technologies such as IVF. The bill, introduced by Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Susan Wild, would make it a statutory right for every American to receive treatments.

Culture

• More women are participating in adventure trips, with a particularly notable rise in older women (over 65) engaging in solo travel, increasing from 4% in 2019 to 18% in 2022.

• The release of Gypsy Rose Blanchard from prison, who served eight years for the second-degree murder of her mother, and whose new life of freedom is well-documented on TikTok and major media outlets, has sparked a dialogue on the “girl boss-ification” of trauma. 

• Second Lieutenant Madison Marsh became the first active-duty Air Force officer to be crowned Miss America.

Money

• A growing number of older women are choosing not to marry for fear of losing their financial independence. Many widows, divorcées, and professionals with substantial wealth are wary of combining assets and opt to remain single or make non-legal commitments to dating partners.

• Women’s economic power will increase over the next decade, as they stand poised to control the majority of the $30 trillion in wealth that will be transferred from baby boomers.

• The U.S. Department of Labor reported on the cost of unpaid caregiving, finding that “women who work the same number of years as men and in the same role” end up with, on average, $295,000 less than their male counterparts.

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