Women's News: The grandmother of Juneteenth

Good morning, friends. I’m sorry for the absence the last few weeks—an unexpected personal situation kept me from sending out the newsletter, but we’ll be back to the regular cadence going forward. 

To make it up to you, I’m giving away one of the viral Everyone Watches Women’s Sports t-shirts!

To be eligible, all you have to do is get one person to sign up for The Rise using your unique referral link at the bottom of this email. I’ll announce the winner in the next newsletter.

In the meantime, there’s plenty of women’s news to catch up on:

Spotlight

• Today is Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. It was designated a federal holiday in 2021 after activists like Opal Lee, the “grandmother of Juneteenth,” pushed for its recognition.

  • In 2016, Lee started the “Opal’s Walk to D.C.” campaign to advocate for the holiday. 89 years old at the time, she marched over 1400 miles from Texas to the nation’s capital, going 2.5 miles per day to symbolize the 2.5 years it took for the Emancipation Proclamation to reach Galveston, Texas.

  • This week, at the age of 97, Lee received the keys to a new home built by Habitat for Humanity on the same lot where her family lived until 1939, when a racist mob forced them to flee. 

    • Lee plans to hold an open house for her neighbors so “everybody will know that this is going to be a happy place.”

World

• In Brazil, protesters flooded the streets to oppose a bill that would equate late-stage abortions with homicide, meaning women who undergo the procedure after 22 weeks could face 6-20 years of prison time. 

  • If passed, critics fear the law would primarily impact child rape victims, who typically detect their pregnancies much later.

• An organized crime group in Italy’s Puglia region is facing unexpected adversaries: local women. A group of female judges, law enforcement officers, journalists, and activists are challenging the mafia despite great personal risk.

U.S.

• The Shinnecock Indian Nation elected its first female leader in over two hundred years. Lisa Goree hopes to return the New York tribe to “matriarchal leadership roots” that predate the last few centuries of male governance.

Business and Tech

• New research suggests that fake social media accounts and internet scams are perceived as more credible if they pose as women. Experts believe this is because of gender stereotypes that associate women with warmth and agreeability, making people more likely to engage with or trust a female-presenting profile than a male one.

• Latinas make up only 1% of C-suite executives in the U.S., according to a new report. They’re also underrepresented even in entry-level roles, struggle the most to become managers, and face the greatest drop in representation from entry-level to executive positions. 

• Two female Apple employees are suing the company for pay discrimination, claiming the tech giant perpetuates the gender pay gap by using previous compensation as a benchmark for employees’ salaries.

Politics

• The White House nominated lawyer Christy Goldsmith Romero to replace the current chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), who was accused of sexual harassment and misconduct. She’ll have to be confirmed by the Senate before assuming the position. 

• This week, Delaware state Senator Sarah McBride got one step closer to becoming the first transgender member of Congress when her primary party opponent dropped out of the race.

• As the national youth engagement director for the Biden campaign, 24-year-old Eve Levenson “may have one of the hardest jobs in American politics.” Learn more about the woman trying to persuade skeptical young Americans to vote for Biden’s re-election. 

Healthcare

• The Supreme Court struck down an attempt to place new restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone, meaning access to the medication will not change. Many experts predict the battle to continue in future lawsuits or rulings by the next presidential administration. 

• Older women have been largely overlooked in medical research, leaving providers in the dark about how best to treat conditions like Alzheimer’s, high cholesterol, and heart disease in women.

• Access to in vitro fertilization treatments was threatened by two major decisions: 

  • Senate Republicans blocked legislation that would have protected women’s access to IVF.

  • The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, voted at its annual meeting to take a stance opposing IVF.

Culture

• Disney theme parks are introducing the first attraction ever to star a Black princess. “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure,” inspired by The Princess and the Frog, will replace Splash Mountain, a ride that has long been criticized for racist stereotypes.

• Sabrina Carpenter became the first solo artist in history to hold two of the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100 list with her songs “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.”

• It was a big night for women in theater at the 2024 Tony Awards, where ladies took home the top prizes for musical directing, best score, production, and more.

Further Reading