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(AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
MOTHER NATURE
Earth Day turns 50 on Wednesday, and we’re celebrating the women who have been on the frontlines of environmental efforts.
- In 1970, organizers of the inaugural Earth Day struggled to mobilize college students, who were consumed with protesting the Vietnam War.
- The first people to show interest were “overwhelmingly” young, college-educated mothers from single-income households, according to Denis Hayes, one of Earth Day’s first organizers.
- These were women who “had gotten frustrated by not being involved in the social tumult of the era and who were deeply affected by environmental threats to their children,” Hayes told Time last year.
Women have a long history of initiating radical environmental movements.
- In the 1970s, the Chipko movement, a women-led effort to stop deforestation, kept loggers in India from cutting trees by clinging to them — the first modern “tree huggers.”
- The Green Belt Movement, founded by political activist Wangari Maathai in 1977, trained rural Kenyan women in forestry. Maathai went on to become the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Studies show that women are disproportionately affected by climate change.
On this Earth Day, many of us are being encouraged to stay inside. But there are still ways to celebrate.
— Abby Johnston
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ESSENTIAL
One in three jobs women hold have been deemed “essential,” according to an analysis by The New York Times. The analysis found that 28 percent of jobs held by men were designated essential.
Women make up 52 percent of all essential workers, the analysis found. More than three-quarters of the social work and health care jobs in the U.S. — two of the most critical industries during the pandemic — are staffed by women.
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 What we're reading
New Zealand’s prime minister may be the most effective leader on the planet.Through clear messaging and decisive action, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has calmed her nation and helped lead New Zealand to effectively flatten the coronavirus curve. (The Atlantic, April 19)
The secret to Germany’s COVID-19 success: Angela Merkel is a scientist. As the pandemic tests global leaders, a recent spate of stories has emerged examining the notable efficacy of women on the world stage. In addition to profiling New Zealand’s prime minister, The Atlantic reported on German Chancellor Angela Merkel — who has long enjoyed broad support from her constituents — and how her background as a scientist has influenced her direct and methodical approach to confronting the coronavirus. (The Atlantic, April 20)
Did gender keep Democratic women from winning the presidential primary? A journalist sifts through her reporter’s notebook to conduct an autopsy of the 2020 campaign and what role gender played in the primary election. (NPR, April 17)
Early journal submission data suggest COVID-19 is tanking women's research productivity. The pandemic hits women in yet another sector: academia. One academic journal editor says submissions by women in the past month have been “negligible,” while another says they have remained flat. Editors at a third journal say that submissions by women are up, but in part because those papers are co-authored. (Inside Higher Ed, April 21)
A pandemic nearly derailed the women's suffrage movement. As the saying goes, history rhymes. One hundred years ago, a pandemic threatened a different political moment, forcing leaders of the suffrage movement “to figure out how to continue their campaign in the midst of the deadliest pandemic in modern times.” (National Geographic, April 21)
📺 Watch: A study conducted at two New York City hospitals tested 215 pregnant women admitted for delivery for coronavirus; researchers found that 33 women tested positive, even though 29 of them — roughly 87 percent — were asymptomatic. (CBS This Morning)
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