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:

‘We’re truly not valued’: In New Orleans, Black mothers are increasingly the victims of gun violence

Daja E. Henry, The 19^th*

Between the weeks of April 20^th and June 2^nd, nine Black women were killed in New Orleans – all victims of gun violence and eight of them being mothers. Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, homicides continued to rise in New Orleans; however, as the numbers began to fall in 2023, the number of women victims has continued to increase. Thirty-six women were killed in New Orleans last year, and as of June 4^th of this year, 16 women have been killed. What’s happening in New Orleans is a part of a larger nationwide trend: “… Black women are being killed at alarming rates, and their children are being left behind to deal with the lasting effects of loss and the devaluation of their mothers’ lives.”

Read the full story here.

‘It’s inherently political’: looking back upon a history of women at work

Veronica Esposito, The Guardian

On July 21^st, the New-York Historical Society debuted its show Women’s Work that will run through August 18^th, 2024. The exhibit showcases the complicated subject matter and the unique story of women in the workforce. A few of the items incorporated into Women’s Work include a pin-back button from the National Welfare Rights Organization, a Native American beaded pincushion, a birth certificate of a child born to an enslaved woman, and a photo of transgender sex workers working along the Stroll. Jeanne Gutierrez, one of several curators who put the show together, hopes that the audience of the exhibit comes away from it understanding that women’s work is inherently political and can’t be divided from men’s work.

Read the full story here.

Barbie never went to Harvard (that we know of), but the papers of Ruth Handler, her creator, did

Nicole Kagan, Boston Globe

While Barbie never went to Harvard, her creator Ruth Handler’s papers did after she passed away in 2002. The Papers of Ruth Handler currently reside at the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. The papers include 35 file boxes, photographs, videotapes, and audiotapes. The collection of work was donated by Handler’s husband. One of the interesting facts in the collection is that Handler and her husband had $14 in their joint back account before the invention of Barbie.

Read the full story here.

Female soccer players earn 25 cents to the dollar of men at World Cup, new CNN analysis finds

Issy Ronald, Antonia Jarne, and Krystina Shveda, CNN

A new CNN analysis found that soccer players at the 2023 Women’s World Cup will earn 25 cents for every dollar earned by men at their World Cup last year. This is an improvement from 2019, less than eight cents per dollar according to data from FIFA and global players’ union FIFPRO. In June, FIFA announced that for the first time about $49 million of the record $110 million Women’s World Cup prize money will go directly to individual players – $30,000 each for participating members and $270,000 to each player on the winning squad. FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that there is an aim for equality in payments for the men’s and women’s World Cups in 2026 and 2027 respectively.

Read the full story here.

Melinda French Gates on investing in the political power of women

Washington Post Live

On Thursday, July 27^th, philanthropist, and businesswoman Melinda French Gates will join The Post’s Leigh Ann Caldwell for an event focused on investing in the political power of women. Gates is a long-time advocate for gender equality. During this talk, Gates will share, “… her efforts to help more women run for public office in the United States, how she sees the structural barriers holding women back and her approach to philanthropy.”

Read the full story here.