1. Kim Kardashian defended her decision to become a lawyer this week via an empowering Instagram post in response to trolls telling her to “stay in her lane.” (Sound familiar ladies?) KKW recently announced her new legal undertaking in Vogue’s May 2019 issue, after working with criminal justice reform advocate Van Jones in the highly-publicized pardon of 63-year-old great-grandmother Alice Marie Johnson from her nonviolent drug offense. Because California allows a four-year law apprenticeship rather than the traditional route of law school to become a “reader of the law,” privilege, money, and entitlement shots have been fired all over the media. But Kim stands up for herself and ALL working women and mothers here: just like everyone else, she will sit for the California Bar Exam (one of the hardest in the country) to qualify as a lawyer in 2022. Team Women Doing Whatever TF They Want!
2. It’s the most wonderful TIMES of the year! Time Magazine’s annual and iconic list of the world’s 100 most influential people was revealed this week with more women than ever! Almost half of 2019’s list (48 total) feature female artists, icons, leaders, pioneers, and titans -- as opposed to 2004 when only 24 were highlighted. The list spans politicians to pop stars like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former first lady Michelle Obama, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, Ariana Grande, and Lady Gaga. It also features Christine Blasey Ford, as well as Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju -- Indian lawyers who fought in country’s battle for LGBT rights! Edward Felsenthal, editor-in-chief and CEO of Time Magazine comments: “Obviously still a ways to go in our society, and the list is in some ways a reflection of our society, but it’s been an amazing year for the women on the list.” We’ll raise our glass to that!
3. The recent, devastating murder of 21-year-old University of South Carolina student Sami Josephson who mistakenly got into a car she thought was her Uber shook the nation (and our TFW team here on a personal level.) Now, her family is taking action to educate and protect passengers just like their daughter. On Monday, Josephson’s parents introduced the website Whatsmyname.org to educate the public on ride-share safety and precautions every rider must take to prevent another tragedy (at least two dozen women have been attacked in recent years). The family is determined to share her story, make a lasting change, and protect passengers everywhere, so that before anyone gets in a rideshare they ask “What’s my name?” and remember Sami’s. #WHATSMYNAME?
4. Amidst the intermission of dueling Coachella weekends, Beyoncé reminds us she’s STILL the reigning festival queen, and a downright cultural enigma, by dropping a Netflix documentary and surprise album titled Homecoming. The documentary chronicles the eight month lead-up to her history-making performance (Bey was the FIRST black female headliner) and gives us an intimate peek into the creative mindset and empowering mission behind the performance. It’s already being hailed (even earning a video shout-out from former First Lady Michelle Obama) for honoring black culture, celebrating the beauty of curvy, ethnic female bodies, and paying homage to historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s) that uphold tradition and shape black culture in America. Beyonce, through Homecoming, has finally brought these topics to the forefront of the country via a Netflix subscription near you.
5. Upskirting, the term used to describe the act of taking a sexually intrusive photograph or video up an unsuspecting someone’s skirt, is now officially a criminal offence in the UK. Thanks to badass Gina Martin -- a victim of the offense who launched a campaign to criminalize the act after police told her they could not press charges against her perpetrator, they could only ask he deleted the photos ( &@$@&*@ ! ) -- who launched an online petition calling for upskirting to be made part of the UK’s Sexual Offences Act 2003. Within days, the petition received 50,000 signatures and was moved into amendment. Now, the crime is punishable by up to two years in prison and perpetrators are placed on the sexual offenders’ register.
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