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The past years have seen a tremendous mobilization of women, from #MeToo and Time’s Up to climate strikes and marches for political freedom. The potential to shift women’s political, economic, and social power is profound, so how will this activism be harnessed to fundamentally change our nation’s course? What is the agenda for women going into the 2020 elections? Hear fro...
2017 brought a sea change in gender equity and power. With the rise of the #MeToo movement, new opportunities and challenges have emerged to ensure all sectors — from corporations to government and beyond — are equipped to support women and girls at all levels. How can the momentum for women’s empowerment be harnessed for lasting, systemic change? The leaders of the Aspen...
Anne-Marie Slaughter's Atlantic cover story about women's work-life balance dilemma has rekindled the longstanding debate that is resonating with women and men alike. Slaughter answers questions about the praise and criticism her article received in this interview with Katie Couric.
American women have lived their daily lives — before and after the epic election of 2016 and its accompanying drama — up against a set of structures, barriers, and mindsets that rarely make the headlines. What it is like to be a woman in America today? Which circumstances and experiences bind us together — and which ones tear us apart? Leaders share the experiences they l...
Today, there are 104 women serving in the United States Congress, 29 female heads of government or state around the world, and 23 female CEOs in the S&P 500. But there are many more women leading important global and US institutions and initiatives, changing business models and transforming lives. From journalists to social advocates to business leaders, women are leadin...
In the US marketplace,11.6 million businesses are owned by women. Growth in this sector has increased by 114 percent since 1997 — 2.5 times the national average — but male-led firms are still more likely to get start-up funding. That’s not simply unfair, it’s stupid, because it turns out firms started by women regularly outperform those founded by men. In this session, suc...
Today, there are more than 32 million people living alone—according to the latest census estimates, 32.7 million—and that’s about 28 percent of all American households. This is an enormous change since the middle of the 20th century and earlier. In 2009, the proportion of American women who were married dropped below fifty percent; and the median age of first marriages, wh...
Today, there is global demand for prosperity that is inclusive, sustainable, and fair. Growth without equity is no longer an acceptable outcome. Who is going to lead us into a future where growth and social equity go hand in hand? From the private sector to government to philanthropy and everywhere in between, women are driving change on new terms, with powerful results. J...
For decades, new therapies were routinely tested only in men, and assumed to work the same way in women. The landmark NIH Revitalization Act, with its requirement that women be included in clinical trials, rang in a new era. But on the law’s 30th anniversary, progress remains incomplete. Research into many conditions that primarily affect women are underfunded, findings ar...
It’s no secret that money in the hands of women is money well taken care of — with copious evidence to prove it. The question is how to get more money into those hands, especially now. An estimated 1.2 million women left the workforce between 2020 and 2022 — thanks largely to the pandemic’s demand for caretakers at home — effecting an enormous economic setback for women an...
The health of women and girls is closely tied to their right to make informed decisions about sexuality, marriage, and child-bearing, but the US is stepping back from leadership in this area. For the first time, the State Department has eliminated detailed information about contraception and maternal health care in its annual country reports on human rights. And the curren...
Reproductive health, critical though it is, is not the sum of women’s health. The distinctive development of female bodies across the lifespan requires targeted study to uncover the pathways of acute and chronic conditions and the treatments that will control or cure them. Women generally live longer than men, but are at greater risk of osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, a...
More than one-third of the world’s girls and women have experienced some form of violence in their lives, leading the World Health Organization to highlight “a global health problem of epidemic proportions.” In this year of unprecedented attention to women’s safety, we are increasingly aware of their vulnerability to sexual violation, trafficking and other forms of abuse....
Untapped market opportunities, coupled with the recognition that many diseases exclusively affect women, or affect them differently than men, are drawing venture capitalists into women’s health. These private equity investors, often entrepreneurial women, are motivated by a commitment to gender equity, a supportive regulatory environment, and awareness that there are profi...
In an industry so central to American culture — and one so publicly rocked by #MeToo — how do women in media move forward? And how can media organizations rebuild their reputations among women? A group of leading female journalists reflects on conditions that might have led to the scandals we watched unfold, and discuss what, if anything, has changed at work. What concrete...
The way history books tell it, the story of science and technology is one where the heroes are almost exclusively men. But we as a country have recently come to think of female and trans leadership differently, allowing the stories of past scientific pioneers to surface. This new perspective has enabled talented technologists to take greater leadership in the innovation se...
Three of the nation’s most prestigious institutions of higher learning are now led by women with broad accomplishments in health-related fields. Elizabeth Bradley, Vassar College’s newly appointed president, has helped to strengthen health systems around the world; Paula Johnson, president of Wellesley College, has special expertise in women’s health and gender biology; Ka...
Over the past century, women have made significant strides in achieving leadership positions, but they still have a long way to go to achieve parity in jobs, pay, and representation in business, science, government, or academia. In this session, we’ll examine the embedded gender biases that bar women from leadership positions, and ask what strategies women (and men) can em...
From advocacy and social impact to growing a global footprint, these women have redefined what it means to create a mission-driven company. Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble, and Jessica Alba, founder and chief creative officer of The Honest Company, paved their own paths from start-up to success by staying true to their founding principles — and not listening...
Since 2016, we’ve watched women rack up unprecedented wins in statehouses, city halls, and even Congress — and thousands more are throwing their hats into the ring. How did factors like Donald Trump’s win and #MeToo influence this wave, and why does the movement seem to be taking hold now? We’ll take a look at the different governing styles and priorities women exhibit com...