Corn (over)fed
I am pointedly ignoring the brouhaha that is the Iowa caucus. There are more than enough takes and not nearly enough results. Instead, some news you can really use: it’s National Homemade Soup Day. God knows we could all use some creature comforts, one way or another.
Also, happy birthday, Rosa Parks, with the sincerest apologies for… [gestures broadly at American politics].
Reproductive Health & Justice
A new study and latest addition to the “why doesn’t she just leave” file.
A Top Killer of Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Louisiana? Other People.
Gaby Galvin, U.S. News & World Report
In Louisiana, 13.4% of deaths among pregnant women and new mothers were homicides in recent years. Women and girls who were pregnant or postpartum in the state faced double the risk of dying by homicide than those who were not.
Homicide a leading cause of death among Louisiana's pregnant women, study finds
Emily Woodruff, Times-Picayune/New Orleans Advocate
With a death rate for pregnant women that's twice the U.S. average, Louisiana is one of the country's most dangerous places to have a baby. Now, a new study on maternal mortality in the state includes another startling statistic: Homicide is among the leading causes of death.
LGBTQ
Florida limiting medical treatments for transgender youth loses support
Samantha Gross, Tampa Bay Times
After lively and emotional debate on both sides of the issue, a bill that would make it a felony for doctors to provide minors with hormone therapy or to perform sex reassignment surgery will likely not see its first hearing. The bill would have carried a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine or 15 years in prison.
Virginia House passes bill banning conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors
John Riley, Metro Weekly
On Monday, the Virginia House of Delegates voted 66-27 to ban the use of conversion therapy on minors, with 11 Republicans voting to end the practice.
Abortion
Study Finds Texas Women Are 'Self-Managing' Abortions At A Higher Rate
Kristen Cabrera, KUT-FM
A new study from UT-Austin finds that a higher number of Texas women are choosing self-managed abortions compared to the national average. The study included interviews with 18 women for an in-depth look at their self-abortion practices. The main finding was that these women chose self-managed abortion because there wasn't a clinic nearby, and they couldn't afford to travel to the next-nearest one.
Abortion bans are an act of violence
Ellie Rushforth, Santa Fe New Mexican
Across the country, extremist lawmakers are passing unconstitutional abortion bans and restrictions that strip tens of millions of women of control over their own lives. As an avalanche of bans rips through the nation, New Mexico can’t afford to look the other way and pretend we aren’t on shaky ground. The ability of women to live freely and autonomously is at stake.
Parenting & Caregiving
The Iowa caucus is not set up to include mothers-and that’s a problem
Heather Marcoux, Motherly
Citizens in Iowa will make history tonight by bunching together in gyms and auditoriums, but some worry that there is a vital group underrepresented in the process: mothers.
From J-Lo to Nancy Pelosi, 2020 is the year of the power mom. Get out of our way.
Petula Dvorak, Washington Post
This isn’t the election year of the soccer mom (1992), security mom (2004) or hockey mom (2012). The is the year of the power mom. And power moms refuse to be invisible anymore. [Good on them, but when were they invisible? –R]
Workplace Equality
It's Time To Face The Facts: We Have A Gender And Diversity Problem In The Nonprofit World
Anu Kumar, Forbes
Let us review: There are fewer women in top positions of larger nonprofit organizations, and when there are women in those positions at any size organization, they are likely to be paid less than male leaders. On top of that, the organizations they lead are often less likely to get funders’ attention and dollars, thereby limiting the growth of their organizations and the impact they can make in the world.
Amy Klobuchar's hot dish recipe shows how female candidates have to go to great lengths to prove they're likable
Ashley Collman, Business Insider
Last week, The New York Times published a story on Amy Klobuchar's hot dish recipe, a casserole that she and campaign surrogates have been bringing to events in Iowa. While it may seem like an innocuous story, political and gender bias experts told Business Insider the focus on Klobuchar's domesticity reveal some of the challenges women face in politics.
Has Victoria’s Secret’s offensive attitude towards women finally caught up with it?
Hadley Freeman, The Guardian
A New York Times investigation alleges that the company’s senior executives talked about women in a degrading way – but it has always treated women as commodities. [Exactly. What might be different this time?]