Happy Friday! Welcome to our Media Round Up. Each week, we’re collecting and sharing gender + politics stories. Here’s what caught our eye this week:

Ohio voters reject measure aimed at blocking abortion rights amendment

Grace Panetta, The 19^th*

Last night, Ohio voters rejected an attempt that would make it harder to pass citizen-led ballot initiatives. This rejection is in response to Republicans’ efforts to block an expansion of abortion rights that will be on the ballot in November. If passed, Issue 1 would have increased the threshold to pass citizen-led ballot measures from a simple majority to a 60% threshold. Decision Desk HQ reported that when 97% of the vote was in, “no” led by about a 13-point margin. The vote served as a defeat for anti-abortion advocates and GOP lawmakers. The special election on Tuesday was scheduled in part to foil the passage of a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would preserve abortion rights in the state constitution.

Read the full story here.

 

Heat Waves Are Killing Older Women. Are They Also Violating Their Rights?

Isabella Kwai, New York Times

Last year, Switzerland experienced its hottest year on record. Resulting from rapid climate change in the country, in 2020 a group of 2,400 Swiss women aged 64 and over called the KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz filed a landmark lawsuit at Europe’s top human rights court, “…accusing the Swiss government of violating their fundamental rights by not doing enough to protect them from the effects of climate change.” The case is among a growing number of lawsuits around the world using human rights as grounds to argue that governments are ignoring their obligations to ensure the protection and security of their citizens.

Read the whole story here.

From Taylor Swift to ‘Barbie’—Women Are Shaping the Entertainment Economy

Jamie Burton, Newsweek

Between the Barbie movie dominating theaters, and Taylor Swift and Beyonce having two of the most profitable tours going on right now, women are spending billions of dollars in 2023. According to one studio executive, the dominance of the movie and tours stems from the desire to hear “intelligent and inspiring female stories.” Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has become so popular that the U.S. Federal Reserve has credited the singer with changing the economics of major cities across the country. Barbie made history this week as the first movie—by female director Greta Gerwig—to reach $1 billion in sales, and Beyonce and Swift’s tours are slated to gross around $2 billion and $1.6 billion in total, respectively.

Read the full story here.

 

Women battle misogyny to send hip-hop spinning in a new direction

Sharon Johnson and Nardos Haile, ABC News

Although women have been a part of hip-hop since its beginning in 1973, according to African culture and feminist studies professor Msia Kibona Clark, they were “largely invisible” in hip-hop during the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Early in the rap scene, Clark says that female rappers had to navigate a culture tined with sexism and sexual harassment, while also presenting a perspective that often wasn’t heard in the mainstream. Fast forward to the late ‘90s and early 2000s, women became more visible in hip-hop. The theme of female empowerment by women rappers has remained throughout the genre’s history, but the message has changed over time.

Read the full story here.

 

Column: U.S. women’s World Cup loss proves ‘Barbie’s’ point: Women are not allowed to fail

Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times

Earlier this week, the U.S. women’s soccer team lost to Sweden and was eliminated from the World Cup in the Round of 16. While there was extreme disappointment across the country from the loss, others took the opportunity to kick the U.S. women’s soccer team while they were down. Some politicians spoke out saying that the U.S. women’s soccer team deserved to lose because they are too “woke.” This reaction shows how women aren’t allowed to fail, like the character Gloria expressed in America Ferrera’s now iconic monologue in Barbie.

Read the full story here.