It’s that time of the week again: Woman Crush Wednesday, our weekly roundup of badass women in the news! I’m sure you’ve been waiting with bated breath since last week’s list. Rest assured, this week’s roundup is chock full of some pretty powerful ladies, from women banding together to shed light on male-heavy startup culture to one Afghan woman who braves frequent death threats and gender discrimination as her country’s first taxicab driver. Talk about courage.
Here’s who we’ve been crushing on this week:
- Grist’s own science editor, Amelia Urry, who appeared on MSNBC’s Greenhouse to discuss how forgoing steak for dinner this week might be one of the best ways to conserve water. (Grist)
- This brave 15-year-old from rural Guatemala just addressed the United Nations about her efforts to bring better health care and education to young girls throughout her hometown. A budding activist in the making! (NPR)
- Leanne Pittsford, founder of Lesbians Who Tech, and the other women like her across the country organizing to “Break the Bro Code” and talk candidly about what it’s like being a lesbian working in the field. (Fortune). Speaking of women in tech …
- All the women out there working in startups, where harassment and gender discrimination are still pervasive and where female entrepreneurs own just 36 percent of small businesses. Not cool, not cool at all. (The Atlantic)
- Sara Bahai, who braves frequent death threats as Afghanistan’s first and only female taxi driver to provide for her 15-member family. (Quartz)
- Marielle Anzelone, the urban ecologist and conservation biologist who wants to turn Times Square into a pop-up forest this summer. Botany > Billboards. (Grist)
[protected-iframe id=”274acd6abc636af50ad549e581e7aa5d-5104299-70834845″ info=”https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/popupforest/build-a-popup-forest-in-times-square-nyc/widget/video.html” width=”640″ height=”480″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no”]
- Alexis Krauss, of the band Sleigh Bells, and Jessica Assaf, a Harvard Business School MBA student, whose new project #Truthbeauty wants to promote safer cosmetics. (Who knew some mascaras are made with an ingredient used to wax airplane wheels?) Each product in the #Truthbeauty campaign is also sourced from companies owned and operated by women — even better. (The Huffington Post)
Stay tuned for next week’s roundup!
