WOMENS ISSUES

Working During Menopause
LIFESTYLE, WOMENS ISSUES

Working During Menopause

Millions of women are working during menopause, but US law isn’t clear on employees’ rights or employers’ obligations. While she was interviewing Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler in March 2023, Drew Barrymore suddenly exclaimed: “I’m so hot … I think I’m having my first hot flash!” She took off her blazer and fanned herself dramatically. While most hot flashes aren’t televised, the entertainer’s experience was far from unique. Barrymore, age 48, is one of approximately 15 million U.S. women from 45 to 60 who work full time and may experience menopausal symptoms. Unlike Barrymore, most women are silent about their menopausal symptoms. Yet their symptoms, even when concealed from employers and co-workers, are a burden on them, their workplaces and on the overall U.S. economy. Lost work p...
The Hen Night
WOMENS ISSUES

The Hen Night

The Hen Night is now recognized to be a pre-wedding celebration and is a night out for the bride, the bride's maids and her female friends. This can take place as a private function or part of a general night out for the Girls. A parallel with the Men's Stag Night, it has taken over many of the Men's features, the fancy dress (bridal veils, garter belts and frilly garters), the excessive drinking, the performing stripper and the general heartiness. Noisy and boisterous, it represents the last opportunity for the Bride to let her hair down and celebrate the final time that she can be uninhibited, vulgar and sexually brazen before she conforms to Society's rules and strictures for a wife's behavior. Hen nights are as meticulously planned as the wedding itself. They are no longer the surpris...
There’s A New Wave Of Post-Dobbs Lawsuits On Abortion Pills – Medication Abortion Could Get Harder To Obtain – Or Easier
HEALTH & WELLNESS, WOMENS ISSUES

There’s A New Wave Of Post-Dobbs Lawsuits On Abortion Pills – Medication Abortion Could Get Harder To Obtain – Or Easier

Medication abortion now accounts for more than half of all abortions in the United States. Typically, patients take a two different pills: first mifepristone, then misoprostol. Even though this option has been legally available for more than two decades, two recent events have raised legal questions about it. First, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling overturned the constitutional right to abortion recognized in 1973 in Roe v. Wade. Second, in January 2023, the Food and Drug Administration decided that certified U.S. pharmacies could sell mifepristone by prescription. The result is a raft of new legal battles over access to medication abortion.Some congressional lawmakers seek to protect the right to access the pills through pharmacies and telehealth in states wher...
Those With Metastatic Breast Cancer Are Too Often Overlooked – Here’s How Breast Cancer Awareness Campaigns Can Do Better
HEALTH & WELLNESS, WOMENS ISSUES

Those With Metastatic Breast Cancer Are Too Often Overlooked – Here’s How Breast Cancer Awareness Campaigns Can Do Better

Is there anyone who isn’t aware of breast cancer? Since 1985, cancer-related nonprofits, along with pharmaceutical firms and other businesses, have sponsored an international campaign to observe October as “Breast Cancer Awareness Month.” During these weeks, the public is bombarded with awareness and education messaging featuring the campaign’s symbol, a pink ribbon. A wave of pink products typically appears, too, including clothing – think about the “Save the Ta-Tas” shirts – as well as events like marches and walkathons. This onslaught has led some to term the campaign “Pinktober.” These efforts often focus on encouraging women to get screened with mammograms to increase the possibility that the cancer will be detected early. Breast cancer patients are celebrated for “beating” cancer,...
Leaving Them To Carry The Burden At Home – 1 In 4 Women Have A Family Member In Prison
WOMENS ISSUES

Leaving Them To Carry The Burden At Home – 1 In 4 Women Have A Family Member In Prison

Mary Estrada, 56, met her husband, Robert, when she was 10 years old and he was 9. They have been together most of their lives, but they have also spent many years physically apart. Robert Estrada’s contact with the criminal legal system began early, with time in the city’s juvenile detention facility that ignited a cycle of incarceration. Currently he is serving a 52-year sentence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, more than two hours from Estrada’s home in Pomona, California. Over the decades, Estrada said she has remained her husband’s steadfast support system. Every weekend she drives 135 miles each way to visit Robert. She talks to him on the phone at least once a day, sometimes twice, at a rate of about $2 for 15 minutes. She makes sure to keep money on h...
Among College Students Alcohol Is Becoming More Common In Sexual Assault
SOCIETY, WOMENS ISSUES

Among College Students Alcohol Is Becoming More Common In Sexual Assault

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. The big idea One out of every three. That is the number of women in college who say they have been a victim of sexual assault either when they were in high school or college. That’s according to my new peer-reviewed research in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, which is based on survey data from 2015. That figure is significantly higher than it was in the mid-1980s when I conducted the first such national survey of college students at 32 institutions. Back then, the number was one out of every four. Of these incidents, 75% involved victims who admitted they were incapacitated by alcohol at the time of the assault. In the mid-1980s, that number stood at 50%. For the study, sexual assault was defined consistently wit...
Tampon Shortage: Senator Seeks Answers From Manufactures
WOMENS ISSUES

Tampon Shortage: Senator Seeks Answers From Manufactures

A tampon shortage that has left shelves bare across the country in recent weeks, fueling reports of price increases online for menstrual products, is drawing the attention of Congress. Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat, is requesting that manufacturers Procter & Gamble, Edgewell Personal Care, Johnson and Johnson and Kimberly-Clark share by the end of the week how they plan to increase their supplies of tampons, according to a copy of a letter sent Monday and shared exclusively with The 19th. Hassan is also calling for answers on anecdotal reports of price gouging for tampons that have surfaced on Amazon, after Time reported last week that a box of 18 tampons was priced as high as $114 in January. Those reports don’t appear to be widespread yet, but shortages in major reta...
In A ‘World Of Predators’ Military Sexual Assault Survivors And Advocates Demand Accountability
WOMENS ISSUES

In A ‘World Of Predators’ Military Sexual Assault Survivors And Advocates Demand Accountability

If you’re thinking about suicide or are worried about a friend or loved one, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 online or at 1-800-273-8255. And anyone affected by sexual assault, whether it happened to you or someone you care about, can find support on the National Sexual Assault Hotline online or at 1-800-565-4673.  Everything had been done right. With the help of her lawyer, Jane, a 22-year-old member of the Nevada National Guard, secured a civilian protection order in January 2020 to protect her from her attacker. The judge checked the “sexual assault” box, explicitly acknowledging the crime. But the legal victory didn’t fix everything. Jane, who remains on active duty, is being identified with a pseudonym because she still fears professional and personal ret...
Melinda French Gates And MacKenzie Scott To Fund Women’s And Girls’ Causes – 3 Takeaways
MONEY, WOMENS ISSUES

Melinda French Gates And MacKenzie Scott To Fund Women’s And Girls’ Causes – 3 Takeaways

Tessa Skidmore, IUPUI and Jacqueline Ackerman, IUPUI Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott, two of the biggest U.S. donors, have joined forces by funding the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge. The contest, intended to expand the power and influence of women in the United States by 2030, garnered more than 550 proposals. On July 29, 2021, French Gates and Scott announced the winners: Four initiatives will each receive US$10 million, and two more will get $4 million apiece. In addition to the women formerly married to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies is providing some of these funds. It marks the first official donor collaboration between French Gates and Scott. The money will help boost support for caregivers...