Women Face Uphill Survival Odds in Health, US Talks But Does Not Walk

The healthcare profession has been promising to increase the number of women included in clinical trials for decades. To be blunt, this has not happened. Women are still woefully underrepresented in virtually all clinical trials. Even the majority of lab mice are male.

The White House has announced a new initiative totalling $900 Million to Launch women in the economy. (Image Credit: Biden Harris Administration)

Not only do researchers fail to include enough women in clinical trials, they often don’t look for differences between how men and women respond to treatments.

The results of this neglect are tragic:

  • Women are twice as likely as men to die from heart attacks.
  • When a nonsmoker dies of lung cancer, it’s twice as likely to be a woman as a man.
  • Women suffer more than men from Alzheimer’s and autoimmune disease.

Despite this, the research into these conditions, and many more, generally fails to examine women as a separate population from men. It’s even less likely to look at disparities affecting women of color – why, for instance, Black women are nearly three times more likely to die in pregnancy than white women are.

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We Are Changed By the People We Love, and Other Feminist News

Greetings, my dear friends in the feminist giving community and beyond. I’m here to talk to you today about a very serious problem: editors and publishers who will not allow women to have their own voice.

The Everyday Feminist, by Latanya Mapp Frett, will be released for publication on March 8,2023. (Image credit: Wiley Books)

I think part of the issue comes down to the fact that we are changed by the people we love. Along with being changed by the people we love, I also believe we are changed by writing that impacts us emotionally. In the editorial world, that translates into being changed by a piece of writing because it is written in a new way and does not adhere to outdated concepts. Margaret Atwood is famous for saying something to the effect of, “if your writing is not making anyone angry, you’re not really writing,” and I tend to agree. Real writing makes both friends and enemies because real writing can change the game. It can cause people to think differently, to make new connections in how their thoughts align with their behaviors day-to-day.

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Filling the Feminist Giving Media Gap, and Print Book Update

Well hello my philanthro-friends! How have you been? I’ve missed you, but have been busy with edits for the print version of Feminist Giving, as well as the ongoing work that goes with being a full-time therapist, and, over the past year, the nursery childcare provider for St. Stephen’s in Providence (smoky Steve’s!). Never a dull moment around here!

Feminist Giving is now available on Amazon, and this past week we finally finished the print version, and I have ordered the proof copy of the hardcover edition. The book has over 240 citations, so it took a lot of formatting work to put together the full print bibliography. My special thanks go out to Maggie May who has been sticking with it to make this project a reality. Thank you so much, Maggie. I literally couldn’t do it without you, and I appreciate your work every day.

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Alarming, Affirming, Challenging: It’s HERE! Order Feminist Giving TODAY!

The wait is over for Philanthropy Women Editor-in-Chief Kiersten Marek’s new book, Feminist Giving: Creating New Frontiers in Social Change! Critics are describing the book as “alarming, affirming, and challenging,” and an “important new resource” for philanthropy and social justice movements.

It’s here!! Order Feminist Giving on Kobo and Lulu today!

Out TODAY as an eBook on Kobo and Lulu, Feminist Giving features some of the best research and insights from the feminist giving sphere in the last five years. Hard copy and Amazon editions are coming soon (cheer on those processors!), and we’ll be sure to let the whole world know as soon as they are available.

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Coming October 4th: Kiersten Marek’s New Book, Feminist Giving!

Pre-orders are now available for Philanthropy Women Editor-in-Chief Kiersten Marek’s next book, Feminist Giving: Creating New Frontiers in Social Change!

Kiersten Marek’s new book, Feminist Giving: Creating New Frontiers in Social Change, arrives in digital and hardcover copies on October 4th, 2022! Click here to pre-order your copy!

Out October 4th in hard copy and digital formats, Feminist Giving features some of the best research and insights from the feminist giving sphere in the last five years. Pre-order your copy today so you don’t miss a moment of the latest and greatest research in feminist giving!

This exquisitely researched resource is packed with real-world examples and interviews with the best and brightest of the philanthropy world. Pre-order your copy today, and celebrate with us on October 4th!

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Feminist Giving In the News: Top 10 Women’s Funding Countdown

This batch of feminist funding news spans from state-based government funding for childcare workers (brilliant stuff!) to ten new additions we have made to the funders listed in our Gender Equality Funder Database. Enjoy!

Lauren Y. Casteel, President and CEO of The Women’s Foundation of Colorado. (Image credit: WFC)

1: Women’s Foundation of Colorado Makes Goal of 100% Gender Lens Investable Assets

“As the only community foundation in the state focused on gender, racial, and economic equity, it was time to unapologetically integrate all assets of our operation and programs around our goals to ensure the success of our strategic framework,” said Lauren Y. Casteel, president and CEO of The Women’s Foundation. “We are proud to align our money with our mission, and to use all of our available resources to maximize donor impact.”

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Mujeres en Acción: A New Way to Support Latinx Abuse Survivors

In February 2021, 18-year-old Úrsula Bahillo was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, an officer in the Buenos Aires police force. The femicide led a group of Argentine women to create the organization Mujeres en Acción, an entirely volunteer brigade of women providing support to survivors of gender-based violence in the Latin American region.

Mujeres en Acción
Volunteers spanning from six countries in Latin America are coming together to support domestic abuse survivors, using a platform called GetBEE. (Image credit: Mujeres in Accion)

Úrsula’s untimely death was the 44th femicide registered in Argentina in the first two months of 2021, and its occurrence prompted immediate outrage in the country. After all, the 18-year-old victim had followed all the recommended steps: she reported her attacker to the police stations and the courthouse. She got a restraining order that made it illegal for him to come near her, but he broke the restraining order numerous times. One major way the system fell apart for her: Úrsula requested a “panic button” from the police, but she never got one. Her last message to her friends read: If I don’t come back, tear everything down.

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How Could Biden Enhance Effectiveness of New Gender Policy Council?

A call to action has been issued by the Center for American Progress to the White House Gender Policy Council.

The Center for American Progress put out a report that includes several strong and worthwhile suggestions for the Biden administration. The goal of the report is focused on how the current administration can advance gender equality on both U.S soil and abroad. 

Image Credit: Lindsay Lamont on Unsplash

The crux of the report is focused on the White House Gender Policy council and how it can expand the pre-existing Women, Peace and Security Act (WPS) of 2017. 

WPS has actually existed since 2000, starting after being recognized by the U.N Security Council. Since the implementation of WPS in the United States, a requirement is in place that every four years specific governmental departments and agencies must incorporate WPS  into their work. Further, they are required to host WPS-specific training for personnel, to track the progress of implementation, and to report to Congress on this progress. 

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HRC Fdn Survey Results: LGBTQ+ and POC Leading in Vaccinations

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation released data from a survey of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. to find high COVID-19 vaccination rates.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation most recent survey has uncovered the effect COVID-19 had on LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S., and how they responded. (Image credit: Human Rights Campaign)
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation most recent survey has uncovered the effect COVID-19 had on LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S., and how they responded. (Image credit: Human Rights Campaign)

On August 12th, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, released new data finding that the vast majority – 92% – of LGBTQ+ adults surveyed in the United States had received at least one vaccination for COVID-19. Supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, this first-of-its-kind LGBTQ+-focused vaccination data is provided through the Community Marketing & Insights’ (CMI) 15th annual LGBTQ Community Survey of over 15,000 LGBTQ+ adult respondents.

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Kamala Harris: “We’re Gonna Get It Done.”

Editor’s Note: This post originally appeared on August 18, 2020, before Kamala Harris became the first female Vice President of the United States.

“We’re gonna get it done.” These were some of the first words spoken by Vice Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris in her phenomenal half-hour interview with Errin Haines, Editor-at-Large for the 19th, during the 19th Represents Summit on Friday. Harris’s plans to “get it done” refer to the upcoming Presidential election, and her goal to join Joe Biden in leading the U.S. out of one of its worst crisis periods in history.

Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke with Errin Haines of The 19th on Friday, August 14th, giving details of her experience becoming the first woman of color nominated to the U.S. Presidential ticket. (Image Credit: The 19th video, Youtube)

Haines began the interview by asking what it was like for Kamala Harris to be in competition with women she respected and worked with, other candidates who were running for President and were in the lead to be asked to fill Biden’s ticket for the Vice President spot.

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