North America
Women’s stories, reporting, leadership and perspectives connected to North America.
Latest from North America
46 published stories
US Inflation Rose in August, Squeezing Budgets Built Around Care
US consumer prices rose 0.4% in August and 3.4% over 12 months, with energy contributing heavily. The headline is gender-neutral, but households led by women and workers carrying unpaid care often have the least room to absorb volatile essentials.
Arizona Says Hair-Relaxer Marketing Concealed a Risk Carried Largely by Black Women
Arizona has become the first US state to sue L’Oréal over alleged concealment of cancer risks associated with chemical hair relaxers. The case joins product safety to a history in which Black women were marketed conformity as beauty and professionalism.
Texas Ruling Finds TikTok’s Child-Safety Filter Did Not Match Its Promise
A judge found that TikTok misled users about how its Restricted Mode handled content. For girls and all young users, safety settings are meaningful only when parents and teenagers can understand what they actually block—and regulators can test those claims.
Anthropic’s Threat Report Shows AI Scaling Surveillance—and Manufactured Intimacy
Anthropic says users deployed Claude in surveillance operations targeting ethnic, religious and political communities and in dating apps populated by thousands of false personas. The cases show how AI can industrialise coercion and deception even when it does not invent the underlying abuse.
Being Heumann Brings a Disabled Woman’s Political Strategy to the Centre of the Frame
Siân Heder’s new drama about disability-rights organiser Judith Heumann premiered in Toronto with a large disabled cast. Its importance lies not only in representation but in showing accessibility as the outcome of organised political pressure, not benevolence.
Amazon Pregnancy Lawsuit Puts Everyday Workplace Adjustments on Trial
Four former US warehouse workers accuse Amazon of denying pregnancy accommodations and punishing medically necessary absences. Amazon disputes the claims; the proposed class action will test whether a federal right enacted in 2022 changes conditions for hourly workers in practice.
Four US Women-Owned Businesses Can Apply for $45,000 Each by 22 September
H&R Block’s Fund Her Future programme offers four cash grants plus a year of business services to established women-owned US companies. Applicants should note the $20,000 revenue floor, residency rule and exact 6 p.m. Eastern deadline.
Momo Boyd Refuses the Narrow Genres Assigned to Black Women
The Infinity Song member’s solo work places rural Michigan, soft rock and Black womanhood in the same frame. Her new profile is less a celebrity update than a case study in how genre labels decide who is permitted complexity.
Illume Fertility’s Sale Shows Consolidation Reaching the Clinic Door
Canada’s The Fertility Partners has sold five US Illume Fertility offices to the much larger IVI RMA network. Scale may support laboratories and technology, but patients need continuity, price transparency and control over reproductive data during ownership changes.
Heidi O’Neill Will Take Over Lululemon With Its Core Women’s Business Sliding
Incoming chief executive Heidi O’Neill starts on 8 September after Lululemon cut its forecast and reported a sharp decline in leggings sales. Her challenge is not symbolic representation but rebuilding product trust without making workers or suppliers absorb the cost.
Court Preserves Finding That Starbucks Threatened a Pregnant Worker’s Benefits
A US appeals court rejected most labour-board findings against Starbucks but left intact a finding that a manager unlawfully threatened maternity benefits during a union campaign. The narrow result shows why pregnancy support must never be presented as conditional on workplace silence.
Weight-Loss Prescribing for US Children Under 12 Has Surged—Evidence Must Catch Up
A large health-record study found a steep rise in GLP-1 prescriptions for children aged eight to 11 with obesity, nearly all of them with severe disease. The trend could help girls facing serious complications, but long-term safety, access and sex-specific outcomes remain uncertain.
Four US Women-Owned Businesses Can Apply for $45,000 Each
H&R Block’s Fund Her Future programme is offering four $45,000 grants plus a year of business services. The 22 September deadline is close, and the revenue, ownership, age and location rules should be checked before applicants invest time.
One in Five Connected Children Faced Tech-Facilitated Sexual Abuse
UNICEF estimates that 20 million internet-using children across 21 countries experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse in one year. Girls’ sexualisation and survivor stigma require specific action, but platforms must stop making children responsible for designing their own safety.
Mellody Hobson’s Museum Bet Puts Everyday Images Beside ‘High Art’
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art opens in Los Angeles on 22 September with Mellody Hobson as co-founder and a collection spanning fine art, comics, film and civic imagery. Its democratic promise is compelling; its curatorial power still deserves scrutiny.
America Added 162,000 Jobs, but the Headline Conceals Where Women Work
US hiring rebounded in August and adult women’s unemployment stood at 3.5%. The sector data show gains in restaurants and local education alongside information-industry losses—making job quality and who received the work as important as the total.
Liz Oyer’s Lawsuit Tests Whether Professional Judgment Can Survive Political Pressure
Former US pardon attorney Liz Oyer says she was fired after refusing to recommend restoring Mel Gibson’s gun rights. The Justice Department disputes that account; the lawsuit turns a personnel conflict into a test of evidence, public safety and civil-service independence.
Sarah Franklin’s Career ‘Jungle Gym’ Makes Room for Sideways Ambition
Lattice chief executive Sarah Franklin describes a career built through lateral moves, technical fluency and access she had to create for herself. Her experience offers a useful counterweight to the corporate ladder, while leaving room to ask how leaders widen access for others.
Aerobic Exercise Improved Some Thinking Skills After Menopause
A six-month randomised trial found gains in executive function among postmenopausal women assigned to aerobic exercise. The small study did not improve memory or prove that exercise prevents dementia.
Mifepristone Case Is Paused, but the National Threat to Access Remains
A federal judge has paused Florida and Texas’s challenge to the abortion drug until 1 December or completion of an FDA review. Access remains unchanged for now, but the court refused to dismiss a case seeking nationwide restrictions.
California Ruling Leaves Trans Girls’ School-Sports Policy in Place
A federal judge dismissed the US Justice Department’s challenge to California’s inclusive school-sports rules. The decision turns on notice and federal funding law, not a nationwide resolution of the fairness debate.
Gloria Steinem Made Women’s Experience a Source of Public Power
The US feminist writer and organiser died on 2 September at 92. Her lasting contribution was not simply becoming a recognisable face of feminism, but helping women turn experiences dismissed as private into journalism, institutions and collective demands.
Thirty-Six OCD Risk Genes Open Research Paths, Not Instant Treatments
An international sequencing study identified 36 genes associated with large increases in risk for obsessive-compulsive and chronic tic disorders. The discovery may guide drug research, but it is not a diagnostic genetic test and did not provide women-specific results.
Aerobic Exercise Improved Some Thinking Skills After Menopause
A six-month randomised trial found gains in executive function among postmenopausal women assigned to aerobic exercise. The small study did not improve memory or prove that exercise prevents dementia.
Mifepristone Case Is Paused, but the National Threat to Access Remains
A federal judge has paused Florida and Texas’s challenge to the abortion drug until 1 December or completion of an FDA review. Access remains unchanged for now, but the court refused to dismiss a case seeking nationwide restrictions.
Mifepristone Case Is Paused, but the National Threat to Access Remains
A federal judge has paused Florida and Texas’s challenge to the abortion drug until 1 December or completion of an FDA review. Access remains unchanged for now, but the court refused to dismiss a case seeking nationwide restrictions.
California Ruling Leaves Trans Girls’ School-Sports Policy in Place
A federal judge dismissed the US Justice Department’s challenge to California’s inclusive school-sports rules. The decision turns on notice and federal funding law, not a nationwide resolution of the fairness debate
Roxanne Brown Buys 30 More Days for a High-Stakes Steel Bargain
Contracts covering tens of thousands of North American steelworkers have been extended while negotiations continue. The talks are the first major industry-wide test for the United Steelworkers’ first woman and first Black international president.
Tschabalala Self’s ‘Lady in Blue’ Claims Trafalgar Square for an Everyday Black Woman
Tschabalala Self’s monumental figure will occupy London’s Fourth Plinth from 10 September. The work insists that a Black woman can represent ordinary humanity in a public space dominated by imperial and military history.
Women’s Football Moved 683 Players—But Recorded Fees Reveal a Thin Market
A database covering six leading leagues records hundreds of player moves but only £1.9 million in known fees. The difference between mobility and disclosed financial value shows how little of the women’s transfer economy remains publicly visible.
Ten-Year Evidence Supports One-Week Radiotherapy for Early Breast Cancer
Long-term FAST-Forward trial results support five radiotherapy sessions over one week for selected patients after breast-cancer surgery. The shorter schedule could reduce travel and treatment costs without compromising control, but it is not appropriate for every diagnosis.
Newborn Girls Are Missing Vitamin K Protection at Higher Rates
US hospital data show a steep rise in newborns not receiving the vitamin K injection, with girls affected disproportionately. The shot prevents rare but potentially fatal internal bleeding and is not a vaccine.
Guatemalan Women Say a Revived Gold Mine Could Drain the Water Beneath Their Homes
Construction has resumed at the Era Dorada gold project despite longstanding community opposition. Women living near the mine and downstream wetlands fear that water loss or contamination could threaten household survival, farming and fishing
Annie Andrews Is Testing Whether Clinical Authority Can Survive Campaign Politics
The South Carolina paediatrician is running for the US Senate after nearly two decades treating children. Her candidacy tests whether medical evidence can become political leadership without turning professional status into an unquestionable claim to authority.
London City’s Star Roster Tests Whether a Women-Only Club Can Build Its Own Power
London City Lionesses enter the new season with elite signings and investment from Michele Kang. Their project tests whether an independent women’s club can create audiences, revenue and identity without borrowing a men’s institution.
Washington’s FEMME Art Fair Treats Women Artists as an Economic Force
More than 100 women artists are participating in a four-day fair that sends artwork-sale proceeds directly to artists and curators. The model shifts attention from representation alone to who receives the money generated by culture.
Karoline Leavitt’s Departure Puts Care Demands Inside the Story of a Powerful Job
The youngest White House press secretary in US history left after returning from maternity leave, saying the role’s demands were incompatible with being present for her family. Her decision highlights a structural problem extending far beyond politics.
Nearly One in Three US Women in Their Twenties Had Never Received Cervical Screening
A national analysis found a substantial rise in younger women reporting no previous cervical-cancer screening. The trend requires better access and communication, not blame directed at patients.
New US Citizenship Order Places Pregnant Migrants Under Greater Legal Suspicion
A federal judge has raised serious doubts about a new attempt to limit birthright citizenship but has not yet blocked it. The uncertainty could affect pregnant migrants long before a final court ruling
Children and Women Freed in Haiti Need Privacy, Care—and a Search for Those Still Missing Editor’s summary: A gang has released six children and seven women kidnapped during an attack that killed 47 people. Their return is welcome, but survivor care and
A gang has released six children and seven women kidnapped during an attack that killed 47 people. Their return is welcome, but survivor care and an accounting of everyone still missing must take priority over spectacle.
Dolly Parton Gave Working Women Language for Lives Pop Culture Often Ignored
Parton rarely adopted a formal feminist label, but her songwriting repeatedly examined women’s labour, double standards and autonomy. Her death invites attention to the social record embedded in her music.
Greenland’s Contraception Inquiry Must Not Let a Legal Dispute Eclipse Women’s Testimony
Two reports disagree over how international law applies to Denmark’s contraception campaign in Greenland. Whatever legal classification ultimately emerges, the evidence establishes profound violations of Indigenous women’s bodily autonomy.
$35 Million Preeclampsia Project Will Use AI to Search the ‘Dark Proteome’
ProFound Therapeutics and the Gates Foundation are funding early-stage discovery of biomarkers and drug targets for a dangerous pregnancy complication. The investment is substantial, but it has not yet produced a diagnostic test or treatment.
Meta’s Teen Settlement Creates a New Test for Girls’ Online Safety
Facebook and Instagram will introduce time limits, overnight restrictions and stronger age checks under a proposed US settlement. The reforms cover all teenagers, but their effect on girls must be measured separately.
Canada Launches National Study of Menopause’s Health and Economic Effects
The Can-RISE study is recruiting participants to examine menopause across healthcare, work, caregiving and daily life. Its value will depend on reaching people routinely excluded from women’s-health research.
Cross-Border Business Programme Backs Six Mexican Women in Texas HOLD — verify results with the Mexican Consulate and MileOne.
Six Mexican women in Laredo completed free entrepreneurship training, with three receiving small awards to develop their businesses.