Laura Yeager will be the first woman in history to command a U.S. Army infantry division
Brig. Gen. Laura Yeager made history by becoming the first woman to command a U.S. Army infantry division. Beginning June 29, Yeager will lead the California Guard’s 40th Combat Aviation Brigade, which recently returned from Afghanistan. Hailing from a military family, Yeager is a former Black Hawk pilot. “Clearly, females are in the minority within the military, yet in every assignment I have held, my mostly male peers, subordinates and superiors, have supported me, treated me with respect, coached, mentored and advised me,” she told ABC Action News.
Late night comedy still looks bleak for women hosts and writers
In light of Mindy Kaling’s new film “Late Night,” the Los Angeles Times dove into the gender disparities in late night comedy. Samantha Bee is the only female hostess of late night comedy, and not a single late night show — including Bee’s — features a higher ratio of female writers. Women remain the minority on every team, and in some cases the disparity is egregious: “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” features four female writers out of the team of 22, and “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” features only three women out of 23 writers.
Twitter exploded over unequal pay for the U.S. women’s soccer team
About two dozen U.S. women’s soccer team players recently filed a lawsuit demanding equal pay as their male counterparts. The fight was reignited on Twitter after the women’s team easily won their game against Thailand in the 2019 FIFA Womens World Cup by 13-0 this week. It was the biggest win in World Cup history, men’s or women’s. Many, including Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), chimed in en masse to demand equal pay for the women who had just blown the world away.
Women reach their earnings peak 11 years before men and are paid $35,000 less
A new study showed bleak findings about equal pay and women’s longevity in the workplace. The salary site PayScale drew from a survey based on 1.4 million people, and found that the salary of U.S. college-educated women peaks at age 44 at an average of $66,700. Men, on the other hand, reach their peak at age 55 with a median salary of $101,200. Profound inequality was documented across all 22 occupational fields.
Broadway star Ali Stroker made history as the first person in a wheelchair to win a Tony
Ali Stroker won a Tony Award on Sunday for Best Featured Actress thanks to her winning performance in “Oklahoma!” on Broadway. She also happened to be the first person in a wheelchair ever to win a Tony, and her speech was a historic message of inclusivity: “This award is for every kid watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena.”
My father’s greatest legacy was love, by Mika Brzezinski
With Father’s Day around the corner, “Morning Joe” co-host and Know Your Value founder Mika Brzezinski paid a heartfelt tribute to her late father on Tuesday. Zbigniew Brzezinski’s family escaped Hitler and came to America with no money. He rose to become a Polish-American diplomat who served under U.S. Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter. Mika, however, knew him as a man who expected her to get top grades (which she didn’t) and who had an unbreakable, magical bond with her mother Emilie.
Remembering Gabrielle Grunewald, who almost won the Prefontaine Classic with incurable cancer
Gabrielle Grunewald was one of the nation’s top runners. She ran race after race all while fighting a rare and incurable metastatic cancer. One day after her diagnosis, she ran her personal best in 4 minutes 22 seconds in an Arizona race. With the Prefontaine Classic in full force now in Eugene, Oregon, writer Michael Powell wrote a tribute to Grunewald, whom he met two years ago, and who passed away in 2017.
Why women, not men, are judged for a messy house
Three new studies have confirmed that housework is still considered women’s work, and that women shoulder a majority of this burden. A new study from Sociological Methods & Research found yet another layer to the inequality: that women are judged more harshly for an unkempt home. In the study, 600 participants were shown images of a messy house. Men noticed the messes just as much as the women did, but when participants were told that a woman lived in the house, they judged the owner more harshly, and they didn’t think that a male owner would be judged by visitors or that he should feel uncomfortable about his messy home.
Halley Bondy