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International | Society

Are women better ultra-endurance athletes than men?

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Through thunderstorms, scorching heat and icy rain, Fiona Kolbinger cycled 2,485 miles (3,999km) in a little more than 10 days over some of Europe's most demanding terrain. In doing so, the German cyclist became the first woman to win the Transcontinental Race this week. That in itself was remarkable: it was the first time she had formally competed in an ultra-cycling event. But what was all the more remarkable was the fact she finished the brutal journey from Bulgaria to France a full 10 hours ahead of her closest opponent. "I am so, so surprised to win," she said. "When I was coming i
Europe | U.K. | Society

One in five women are childless at 45 and they are having fewer offspring than ever, new data reveals

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Women are having fewer children than ever before and more are staying childless, new data reveals today. Women who turned 45 in 2016 had an average of 1.80 children, down from 2.21 for their mothers' generation, who turned 45 in 1944. The same generation also had fewer children by their 30th birthday, suggesting women are having children later in life. Women who turned 45 last year had 1.06 children by 30 compared to 1.8 in their mother's generation. In total, 18 per cent of women who turned 45 last year had no children at all, compared with 11 per cent of women in their mother's ge
North America | United States | Health

47-year-old woman finds out she’s pregnant an hour before giving birth

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As she rushed to the hospital on Wednesday, Judy Brown was convinced that something terrible was happening. The 47-year-old was experiencing abdominal pain so severe she thought she must have a gallstone or some sort of massive blockage in her body, according to ABC News. The medical staff at Beverly Hospital in Beverly, Mass., discovered that Brown didn’t have a blockage inside her — she had a baby. But the shock didn’t end there, ABC reported. Not only was Brown pregnant, she also was about to become a first-time mother. As if on cue, Brown gave birth to a healthy 8-pound,
Europe | U.K. | Health

Advent of the virgin births: Women who have never been in a relationship paying £5,000 to get pregnant

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Dozens of young heterosexual women have had virgin births after undergoing IVF in Britain, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Some are using the £5,000 fertility treatment to bypass the need to involve a man, and others so that they can save themselves for a ‘special relationship’. Doctors said last night at least 25 straight women had given birth in the past five years despite being virgins. But campaigners for the traditional family said the ‘distorted’ move turned babies into little more than ‘teddy bears’ to be ‘picked off the shelf’. Religious groups said it undermined the
Europe | Greece | Society

Why young Greek women leave and why they come back

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ICAP, a leading business consultancy group in Southeast Europe conducted a survey in order to determine why young Greek women decide to leave the country and what it would take for them to return. The phenomenon has been quite pronounced in the last five years, depriving the country of talented and well-trained female personnel, resulting in the so called “brain drain.” The main factors that would contribute to their return, according to the findings of the survey, are the climate and the Greek lifestyle (46 percent), the likelihood of a rewarding remuneration at work (41 percent), t
Middle East | Israel | Politics

Can 30 Women in Israel’s Parliament Make a Difference?

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Miri Regev, Tamar Zandberg, Ayelet Shaked, Stav Shaffir. There are a number of women who serve in the Knesset today, and a few are even cabinet ministers. In addition to achieving political prominence, they have also had a taste of the pleasures of sexism: Regev is a “vulgar Mizrahi,” Zandberg is a “leftist in a tank top,” Shaked is a “icy beauty,” Shaffir is a “mischievous redheaded girl,” and there are many, many more examples of such comments. There is also a record number of women in the present Knesset: 30, a quarter of all MKs. This is of course not a lot: There is no
North America | United States | Health

American women are waiting longer than ever to become mothers

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More and more women in the United States are waiting until they're older to start having children. The average age of women having their first child was a record high of 26 years old in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics Report. That's an increase of 3.3 years since 1980, when the average age was 22.7. The average age of first-time mothers is increasing because more women are waiting until their 30s and 40s to start having kids and fewer women are having their first kids in their teens and 20s, the CDC report says. Since 19
Middle East | Saudi Arabia | Culture

Saudi Women Can Vote For the First Time Ever — But Only 16 Have Registered to Do So

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Despite initial excitement for what appeared to be a step forward for women's rights in Saudi Arabia, the registration of women to vote in upcoming elections for the first time ever has so far been slow in the conservative kingdom. Local reporting indicates that just 16 women have registered to vote in three governorates since they were able to do so starting on August 22. The chairperson for the women's election circuit in the district of Al-Darb, Shaha Muhammad Asiri, said over the weekend that only five women registered in that district due to logistical difficulties and lack of awarenes
International | Law

Amnesty International row: Should prostitution be decriminalised?

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It's not often that a liberal newspaper like The Guardian rails against an organisation like Amnesty International. But last week the paper ran a stinging editorial questioning the wisdom of the human rights group. It said Amnesty would make a "serious mistake" if it advocated the decriminalisation of prostitution - a decision the group's international council will vote on later on Tuesday. It's not just The Guardian that is upset. Several women's groups have got together with a host of big-name actresses - including Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet - to criticise Amnesty af
International | Culture

Why Women Still Are Forced To Pay the ‘Makeup Tax’

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The makeup tax is real: The Atlantic's Olga Khazan found stats that suggest that the average woman will spend $15,000 in her lifetime on beauty products and could devote as many as two weeks per year of her life applying all that product. Khazan than takes aim at the most common response to this issue: "Just don’t wear makeup!" She lists all the depressing ways sciences has proven that society pushes wearing makeup as a cultural norm: - In one study, women who were made up were likely to be awarded "prestigious jobs" by study participants than they were when the same women were bare-face
International | Career

Working mums raise successful daughters, caring sons: New study

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A new study has revealed that leaving children to go to work may have significant benefits on them later in life. It was found that daughters are more likely to have better careers, higher pay and more equal relationships if their mothers worked than those of stay-at-home mothers, the BBC reported. However, it had little impact on a son's employment prospects; but working mothers do tend to have kinder and caring sons. Researchers from Harvard Business School analysed data from the Family and Changing Gender Roles section of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP). The survey co
North America | United States | Economy

Birthrate among U.S. women rises for first time in seven years

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Here's another sign that the economy is rebounding: More people are having babies. The rate of births among women ages 15 to 44 ticked up 1% from 2013 to 2014. That's the first increase since 2007, the beginning of the recession, according to a study released Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. The 3.98 million total births in 2014 were the most since 2010. Carl Haub, a senior demographer for the Population Reference Bureau, said he wasn't surprised by the federal findings. Though the increase in fertility rate is small, he said, it could be indicative of a shiftin
South Asia | Australia | Business

Women should not leave the workforce after having children, Tasmanian governor says

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The Tasmanian governor has warned women not to drop out of the workforce entirely after having children. Governor Kate Warner was speaking at a luncheon in Hobart on women's economic empowerment. Ms Warner's address examined the economic impact of gender inequality, the link between gender inequality and violence against women, and the importance of tackling rigid gender stereotypes. She was also asked what advice she would give the other women in the room. "Get a decent education is first, but don't stop at that," she said.
North America | United States | Culture

Flashback: A Harvard Professor Explains How Women Can Negotiate Better

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Hannah Riley Bowles, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, has studied gender in the workplace extensively. In a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, she laid out the current state of research into differences between how men and women negotiate over salary, and how they are treated when they do. And these differences are sizable, she writes, since “in most published studies, the social cost of negotiating for pay is not significant for men, while it is significant for women.” In other words, women sometimes lose, even when they win — they may get the pa

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