Women's Health Archives

Biden-Harris Comms Team: To End COVID, Tell Americans the Truth

On day two of taking over the White House, the communications team for the Biden-Harris team sat down with Errin Haines, editor-at-large of The 19th. Haines spoke with the four key women leaders who are now shaping the Biden/Harris message for public consumption. And what is the overarching goal of this new group of self-described “qualified, capable, barrier-breaking” women? To tell Americans the truth, with the underlying belief that if more American know the truth, “they can handle anything.”

Jen Psaki, Press Secretary for the Biden Harris Administration, discussing the work of shaping the administration’s message, what their early priorities are, and how having an all-woman comms team might change how the White House works. (Image Credit: The 19th)

Haines held an hour long rap session with White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Chief Spokesperson for the Vice President, Symone Sanders.

Rena Greifinger On High Risk/High Return Grantmaking for Women

Editor’s Note: This interview in our Feminist Giving IRL series features Rena Greifinger, Managing Director of Maverick Collective, a network of strategic philanthropists cofounded by Melinda Gates that is dedicated to elevating the status of women and girls everywhere through access to healthcare.

Rena Greifinger is the Managing Director of Maverick Collective, a network of strategic philanthropists dedicated to elevating the status of women and girls. (**Image Credit:** Maverick Collective)

1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?

I’ve been working with and for nonprofits my entire career (15 years), yet only started working directly with philanthropists, and on the subject of philanthropy, in 2017. It has been one of the steepest and most joyful learning curves.

New 20.6 Billion Pledged for Women, Children, From Call To Action

20.6 billion has been pledged by countries and foundations globally to aid women, children, newborns, and adolescents affected by COVID-19.

*PMNCH’s Call to Action raised $20.6 billion for women, children, newborns, and adolescents around the world. (Image credit: PMNCH)*

(From PMNCH Press Release, December 2020) The COVID-19 pandemic is threatening three decades of improvement in health and social services for women, newborns, children and adolescents.

The well-being of this vulnerable group is being more affected than others due to disruptions to essential health, nutrition and social services since the pandemic, according to senior health experts at The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), a global alliance of more than 1,000 organizations, hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

As Countries Fund New Ways to End Period Poverty, the US Stands Still

Women-led governmental progress toward ending period poverty is happening, finally. Yet, the US federal legislation still lags so far behind these human rights efforts, regardless of the valiant progress by countless charities, non-profits, and individuals.

On November 24, 2020, Scotland became the first country in the world to make period products free by law. The Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill was brought forth by Monica Lennon, a fierce advocate for ending health disparities in her home country, and was unanimously approved. To summarize, the bill ensures anyone who needs menstruation products can get them for no cost, all educational institutions must have free period products in their restroom facilities, and, to top it off, the Scottish government now holds the power to enforce other public institutions to follow suit.

Four Ways Ellevate Squads Showed Me the Future is Female

Editor’s Note: The following personal essay is a reflection on one individual’s participation in the EllevateHER Forward Fellowship program. This is not a program endorsement or a sales post. Philanthropy Women was not compensated for this article.

Image Credit: Ellevate

This fall, I had the good fortune to be selected as an EllevateHER Forward Fellow, one of a group of women selected to participate in Ellevate‘s Fall 2020 cohort for women’s leadership and career growth programming. As part of the Fellowship, I participated in the Ellevate Squads program, which redefines traditional “networking” groups by pairing women all over the country with a consistent “Squad” for twelve weeks.

New Microgrants Will Support Trans and Non-Binary People

Human Rights Campaign also announces support of Destination Tomorrow’s work to provide support directly to transgender and non-binary people in urgent need

HRC announces new microgrants for trans and non-binary people. (Image credit: HRC)

Today, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF), the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, announced the launch of a new small grants program as a part of the organization’s Transgender Justice Initiative (TJI). The program will award $30,000 nationally in the form of 30 $1,000 grants to community members advancing transgender justice initiatives rooted in partnership with outside organizations. Four grants per city will be available in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, New Orleans and Philadelphia. An additional six grants will be available nationally. To learn more about applying for a grant, visit https://form.jotform.com/203525280512042.

MacKenzie Scott and the $14.2 Billion Dollar Question for Women & Girls

What a week for women’s philanthropy. MacKenzie Scott has shown herself to be a woman who is true to her word, as she continues to give away her fortune at a staggering rate compared to most philanthropists.

“Economic losses and health outcomes alike have been worse for women, for people of color and for people living in poverty,” said Scott, in the Medium post where she announced her new gifts totalling $4.2 billion.

Who were the grantees specifically for women and girls? Ms. Foundation for Women, National Women’s Law Center, Global Fund for Women, and a huge proportion of this funding went to 63 different community YWCA programs across the country. Hispanics in Philanthropy, which has a grantmaking strategy focused on gender and racial equity, also received $15 million in funding. The YMCA National office received $20 million and many local YMCA’s also got funding. There were big groups of grants for United Way organizations across the country as well as Feed America, Easterseals, Meals on Wheels, and Good Will. Many universities for people of color also received substantial gifts. Most gifts appeared to be in the $10 to $50 million range.

Briefing Biden for Bold Action on Reproductive Rights

Reproductive rights under Biden: what will it look like?

Since the Biden/Harris team clinched the US Presidency, feminist advocates and policy makers have begun to discuss the massive reclaiming of women’s rights that must occur to recover from the last four years of Trump-era regressions. To dig deeper into this mandate, leaders from several high profile organizations gathered recently online to make explicit what must happen to begin the recovery of rights for women and girls around the world.

Leaders gathered recently online to examine the necessary steps for the Biden administration to take to restore reproductive, sexual and health rights for women around the world. (Image credit: December 10, 2020 webinar)

Author and Attorney Jill Filipovic moderated the discussion, which featured Serra Sippel, President of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), Anu Kumar, President and CEO of Ipas, and Akila Radhakrishnan, President of the Global Justice Center.

WMC Doubles Down on Ecofeminism with New Climate Channel

December 14, 2020 WASHINGTON — To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the Women’s Media Center today launches a new digital channel — WMC Climate — that highlights how the climate crisis affects the lives of women, indigenous people, people of color, and others whose needs and welfare tend to come last around the world.

women's media center climate — *Catherine C. Flowers and Jane Fonda at a Fire Drill Friday demonstration in November 2019. (Image Credit: Fire Drill Fridays)*

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Arctic Report Card, released on Tuesday, found that the average air temperature from October 2019 through September 2020 was the second-highest recorded in at least 120 years: Temperatures were 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit above the baseline average for 1981-2010. And with the rise in temperatures comes a widening gap in who lives and who dies, and who lives well vs. who is left behind.

Surging Philanthropy for Women and Girls? Not So Much

The Women’s Philanthropy Institute has put out its second iteration of the Women & Girls Index, and the news is not bad, but it’s not super good either. Charitable giving to women’s and girls’ organizations in the U.S. increased from $6.3 billion in 2016 to $7.1 billion in 2017, but the overall percentage of giving remained the same — 1.6%.

women's giving — This graphic from WPI’s new report shows the level of giving for women and girls relative to other sectors of philanthropy. (Image Credit: WPI)

Sometimes I feel like that number — 1.6% — is going to haunt us all to our graves. It is such a glaring indicator of what is wrong with the world we live in. Ultimately, giving for women and girls remains token. Its actual number, $7.1 billion, is only a little more than half compared to the next smallest area of giving — environment and animals at $12 billion.

Category: Women’s Health