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Women with hormonal condition <keyword id="20290460" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="PCOS" source="keywords">PCOS</keyword> could be at about 50% more risk of developing <keyword id="20066093" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="eating-disorders" source="keywords">eating disorders</keyword>, including bingeing, according to a new study. Affecting roughly one in eight to 10 women in their reproductive ages globally, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is marked by higher-than-usual testosterone levels and related symptoms, including irregular menstrual cycles and excess body hair. The analysis is the first to confirm "an increased risk of specific eating disorders, including <keyword id="22729705" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bulimia" source="keywords">bulimia</keyword> nervosa, commonly called bulimia, and binge eating disorder" among women affected by the hormonal condition, according to first author Laura Cooney, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin, US. Bulimia is marked by episodes of binge-eating, followed by resorting to means to avoid weight gain, which can include induced vomiting, excessive exercising or fasting. Women having PCOS are known to be at a higher risk of experiencing <keyword id="19946458" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="metabolic-disorders" source="keywords">metabolic disorders</keyword>, such as diabetes, and <keyword id="22729706" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="reproductive-issues" source="keywords">reproductive issues</keyword>, including infertility. "Many women with PCOS experience weight stigma, and that can be detrimental to mental health generally, and contribute to disordered eating," Cooney said. For the study, published in The <keyword id="22729707" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="journal-of-clinical-endocrinology-and-metabolism" source="keywords">Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism</keyword>, the authors looked at results from 20 cross-sectional studies across nine countries. Data from close to 29,000 women with PCOS and over 2.5 lakh women not having the condition were included in the analysis. "Individuals with PCOS had higher odds of any eating disorder, which persisted in studies where PCOS was diagnosed by Rotterdam criteria," the authors wrote. According to the Rotterdam criteria, women are diagnosed with PCOS when they have two of these three key features -- increased numbers of ovarian follicles containing immature eggs (called polycystic ovaries) seen on ultrasound, slightly higher levels of testosterone or related symptoms like excess body hair, and irregular or no menstrual periods. Looking at the body mass indices (<keyword id="20014829" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="BMI" source="keywords">BMI</keyword>) of women, the researchers found that both women with normal and those having a higher weight had a higher risk of disordered eating, suggesting that the risk of developing eating disorders did not depend on BMI. "Our findings emphasise the importance of screening women with PCOS for eating disorders before clinicians share any lifestyle advice," Cooney said. "The lifestyle modifications we often recommend for women with PCOS -- including physical activity, healthy diet and behaviour modifications -- could hinder the recovery process for eating disorders. Health care providers need to be vigilant about screening for eating disorders in this population," Cooney said.

Women with PCOS at higher risk developing disordered eating, study finds

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia's defense industry is short some tens of thousands of skilled laborers.</li><li>Traditional gender roles limit women's participation in crucial jobs there, a report says.</li></ul>Russia's defense manufacturing sector is short some tens of thousands of skilled laborers — and its hard stance on traditional roles for women could be part of it, according to new reports.Two years into its war in Ukraine, Russia is ramping up its military with a record <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/30/russias-defence-spending-to-rise-by-25-next-year-the-highest-since-the-cold-war">40% of its overall budget</a> now devoted to defense. It also plans to expand its number of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-orders-russia-army-expand-experts-cannot-do-this-forever-2024-9">active soldiers to 1.5 million</a>.That requires vast amounts of military equipment, and the infrastructure to support it.And that, in turn, requires workers, which Russia is currently struggling to find.In January, Russian President Vladimir Putin boasted that "over half a million jobs were created in the defense sector over the last year and a half alone," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://tass.com/defense/1740983">according to Russian state-owned news agency TASS</a>.Yet, while the jobs may be there, the workers aren't.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cd6qndy200xo">An analysis published this week by BBC Russia</a> found that in the space of a single month this summer, some 90,000 defense industry-related job postings had appeared, with wages much higher than average salaries.The BBC said there were some 18,600 vacancies for operators of computer numerically controlled machines, or CNCs, which are used for shaping materials and are in wide demand in manufacturing. But just 600 resumes had come in for those roles, the outlet reported.Some of the postings had stood unfilled for months, it added.Researcher Dara Massicot, who focuses on defense and security issues in Russia and Eurasia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, highlighted labor shortage issues in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/09/russian-military-reconstitution-2030-pathways-and-prospects?lang=en">a recent paper</a> on how Russia is reconstituting its military.Workers who would normally plug the gap — such as migrants, students, and prisoners — are now being used as combatants to fight in Ukraine, she wrote."According to conservative estimates, wartime emigration and military mobilization have cost the workforce about 600,000 working-age males," Massicot said.Russia does have one largely untapped source of labor for the defense industry: women. But here it finds itself in a bind.Since the 1970s, women in Russia have been barred from a raft of professions that are crucial to the defense sector, for fear of harming their fertility or a pregnancy, according to Massicot."Women are prohibited from certain occupations deemed physically dangerous," she wrote, giving examples such as those that deal with hazardous chemicals or heavy metals, which rules out many defense industry jobs.Women are also barred from jobs like mining, heavy lifting, operating heavy machinery, most metallurgy, and handling various chemicals, she added.By contrast, 5% of US welders are female, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://weldingworkforcedata.com/">according to the American Welding Society</a> — a small proportion of the workforce that still amounts to tens of thousands of available workers."Russia would rather import foreign labor and use convicts than change the labor code (from the 1970s) to allow Russian women into certain types of jobs," Massicot <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/MassDara/status/1841921332230967464">wrote on X this week</a>.But Russia is in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-population-decline-worker-shortage-growth-outlook-ukraine-war-2024-8">a demographic spiral</a>, which pre-dates COVID and the mass mobilization for the war in Ukraine.At the end of 2023, Russia was short a record 5 million workers across all sectors, according to an estimate from the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Economics, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-short-around-48-million-workers-2023-crunch-persist-izvestia-2023-12-24/">Reuters reported at the time</a>.The decline in Russia's labor force is forecast to continue until 2040, Massicot wrote.Meanwhile, Russia <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-ukraine-war-moscow-military-spending-currency-inflation-budget-2024-9">is now leaning on the war to keep its economy from collapsing</a>, putting more pressure on its labor force. Economists say the war is the only thing keeping Russia from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-ukraine-war-moscow-military-spending-currency-inflation-budget-2024-9">entering an immediate recession</a>.Yet Russia appears to be focusing on longer-term solutions to its demographic issues, with a strong turn toward traditional roles for women.Putin recently reminisced about a time when women "had seven or eight children, and maybe even more," adding that "large families should be the norm," <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-12-08/abortion-restrictions-and-discouragement-of-female-university-students-moscow-wants-russian-women-to-focus-on-childbearing.html">El País reported</a>.Last summer, Russia's Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko proposed policy tweaks that would reduce women's access to abortion, saying that there is a "vicious practice" of prioritizing a woman's career before children, per El País.This would make bringing women into defense manufacturing a hard cultural and political pivot, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/MassDara/status/1841922270962364867">Massicot said on X</a>.

Russia's defense industry has a massive labor shortage. Rules on what jobs women can do are part of the issue.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Soula app has an AI chatbot, Dua, that aids mothers with postpartum depression support.</li><li>AI chatbots like Dua aim to reduce healthcare burdens and improve mental health access.</li></ul>Caring for a month-old newborn and two-year-old son felt overwhelming for LeRonika Francis.During her first postpartum period, Francis said she experienced a heavy wave of depression while dealing with a baby with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/parenting/why-is-my-newborn-crying">colic</a>. She ultimately sought the help of a counselor. It was not until her most recent pregnancy that she also started to use an AI chatbot on the fem-tech app Soula, which she said helped with reducing depressive symptoms and reassuring her about her mental health."It tells me: 'Welcome back, LeRonika. Your reactions are natural,'" said Francis, who is based in New Iberia, Louisiana.The AI chatbot called "Dua" also sent her some videos that she could watch about self-hugging, a practice that could reduce stress levels."I feel like Dua is there more than anything. It really showed me: OK, this is what you could do. Make sure you make time for yourself, too, because that's important as well," said Francis.Soula was co-founded by Natallia Miranchuk and Andrei Kulik, who conceptualized a 24/7 AI doula that could close the gap in mental health support for mothers during pregnancy and postpartum periods. Rather than replacing medical providers, apps such as Soula aim to increase broader access to maternal healthcare. Healthcare providers said that these apps could also help reduce the burden on the healthcare system, where wait times can be long and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-nurses-strike-labor-union-staffing-shortage-covid-2023-1">workers face burnout</a>.Business Insider spoke with OB/GYN doctors and doulas, who largely welcomed the rise in AI chatbots because they can make information more accessible to patients.According to data obtained from Sensor Tower, Soula now has more than 35,000 downloads. The startup has fundraised over $750,000 and is backed by investors such as Andrey Mikhaylyuk, the former vice president of product at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/unicorn-pitch-deck-flo-health-raises-200-million-series-c-2024-7">Flo Health</a>, a period tracking app.Miranchuk told BI that her experiences as a single mother of two and her work as a former maternity photographer inspired her to develop a supportive app for women. Initially conceptualized as a hub to connect doulas worldwide to those in need, the generative AI boom shifted the startup's focus to integrating a chatbot that could serve more populations."Women are shy to ask questions, even in the community, because they have the feeling that maybe 'as a mom, I should have known that, but I don't.' And she doesn't know where to go," Miranchuk said.The ease of customizing ChatGPT has spurred a wave of new AI-based chatbots like Soula. According to Sensor Tower, the companion apps <a target="_blank" href="http://Character.ai">Character.ai</a>, Talkie, and Paradot have more than 73 million collective downloads, soaring more than 130% between 2023 and 2024. AI therapy apps such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wysa-mental-health-startup-raises-fresh-vc-funding-expand-coverage-2021-5">Wysa</a> and Woebot received over 1 million downloads, the data said.Corenia Smith, director of the Birth Justice Collaborative in Minnesota, said that while popularizing tools like chatbots can help broaden healthcare access, it is important to avoid a "one size fits all" and ensure that AI can reflect the communities it serves."There are cultural practices that exist and have existed for thousands of years that people still use," Smith said. "A human could talk about all their experience and what they've seen and give referrals. When you reach that limitation with an AI, it has to have the ability to hand over care or make a referral in a way where people don't feel dropped."<h2 id="245c9b56-b4a4-4a1a-abbc-5f6bbf950f49">The role of a doula</h2>The AI chatbot Dua aims to function like a doula, providing mothers with information about the pregnancy experience during a time of transition.Doulas are trained professionals who can provide non-medical, continuous physical, emotional, and information support for women before, during, and after childbirth, helping to <a target="_blank" href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10292163/">reduce</a> mental health-related morbidity for the mother and reduce infant mortality rates.Access to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/reproductive-health/what-is-a-doula">doulas</a> can be costly. While there's Medicaid coverage for doulas in several states, not all private health insurance plans cover these expenses. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266613821003120">Long wait times and socioeconomic inequality</a> also contribute to increased levels of stress and lack of healthcare usage among mothers and pregnant people."Traditionally, it's been something that's been available only to folks with a lot of money and a lot of resources. The people that benefit the most from doula care are those that might not trust the healthcare system," said Dr. Devon Rupley, an attending physician and OB/GYN specialist at NYC Health. "That tends to be people of color who've had previously negative experiences with racism and bias that can really harm their experience in the healthcare system generally."Rupley added that using an AI healthcare app to address basic questions can allow patients to spend higher-quality time with doctors by asking high-level questions and discussing their healthcare issues.<div type="image" title="Dua, an AI chatbot, talks to the user with texts." height="3000" width="4000" msid="114502558" hostid="261" sizebytes="72158"></div><h2 id="7b015d0f-002f-4d99-8f8d-2ae73851d6bc">How to design an empathetic AI chatbot</h2>Soula enlisted real-life doulas to help train its chatbot and strike the right tone."We can't create it to be as personable as talking to a real-life person, but we can try to create that as much as possible," said Lexi Pacheco, a doula from Arizona who worked to help refine the dialogue in Soula's chatbot Dua. For $22 per hour, she helped improve the chatbot by using it "hand-in-hand" during her pregnancies, adding in her expertise.While asking questions on Google could yield more informational responses, Pacheco said mothers would want something that provided "more of that reassurance that Google wouldn't."For Armani Grant, a Soula user who became pregnant at 18, Google felt overwhelming. The chatbot allowed her to ask questions that she wouldn't feel comfortable asking her mother. Pacheco said many women she's worked with reported similar experiences."They might even feel incompetent to ask the question, which no woman should ever feel, but with my history of working with people, they definitely tend to revert to: I'm sorry, I'm asking this question for some reason, and that might just be because of the societal pressure that more medicalized doctors have put on people that they don't give the time and day to us," Pacheco said.The app isn't meant to completely replace a doula. Moreover, retention rates of AI healthcare chatbots can be low, said Johannes Eichstaedt, a computational social scientist and assistant professor of psychology at Stanford University. The high dropout rates for healthcare apps are "an elephant in the room," he said.At the same time, Pacheco said AI bots can help "calm nerves" and fill the gaps when patients feel they are "bothering" their healthcare providers."AI isn't like a healthcare provider to give you guidance, but it's supposed to be there to give you a little bit more comfort," Pacheco said.

The AI app Soula seeks to improve healthcare access for pregnant women

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is funding IVF treatments for women using his sperm.</li><li>AltraVita IVF Clinic in Moscow confirmed the program, which it said is open to Russian women.</li></ul>Pavel Durov, the billionaire CEO of Telegram, funded fertility treatment for women using his sperm to conceive.A clinic in Moscow is advertising the service, which it said is paid for by a "very generous" contribution by Durov.It is a striking example of the enthusiasm of some tech figures to increase the number of births, including by fathering many children themselves.AltraVita IVF Clinic in Moscow has been advertising the service since at least this summer.In a phone call with Business Insider, a clinic spokesman confirmed the free IVF program, which he said was only open to Russian women.The spokesperson said the treatment would normally cost around $5,000. He declined to give more details of the treatment, citing medical confidentiality.Durov is being prosecuted in France, where officials are seeking to hold him personally responsible for illicit material shared on Telegram.Durov, who has French and Russian citizenship, was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-arrested-french-airport-2024-8">detained in August as he left his private jet in Paris</a>. He was released from custody but is banned from leaving France while the case progresses.In a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://t.me/durov/339">July Telegram post,</a> Durov said he started donating sperm 15 years ago, resulting in "over 100" children in 12 countries.He said AltraVita had his sperm and that it was "available for anonymous use by families who want to have kids."In the post, he spoke of declining fertility as "an increasingly serious issue worldwide" and said he wanted to normalize sperm donation."Defy convention — redefine the norm!" he concluded.Durov's pronatalist views are in keeping with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pronatalism-elon-musk-population-tech-2022-11">other tech figures who see declining fertility as an urgent crisis</a>.Elon Musk has repeatedly said he believes too few births in Western countries will lead to societal collapse.Musk fathered at least 12 children, including six with his first wife, Justine Musk, three with the musician Grimes, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-third-child-with-neuralink-exec-shivon-zilis-2024-6">three with the Nurealink executive Shivon Zillis</a>.Sam Altman, the OpenAI CEO, has invested in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/retro-biosciences-sam-altman-longer-lifespan-2024-3">reproductive tech businesses</a>.One is the startup <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://conception.bio/">Conception</a>, which aims to enable women to conceive later in life and also to enable two biological males to reproduce.In a 2022 episode of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://podcasts.musixmatch.com/podcast/greymatter-01gtcnf5z0jrfe3e707r10jhfq/episode/openai-ceo-sam-altman-ai-for-the-next-era-01gtcnf5z0jrfe3e707r10jhfr">Greymatter Podcast</a>, Altman, who is gay, said he "of course" is going to have a "big family," and that "I think having a lot of kids is great."Peter Thiel, the billionaire cofounder of PayPal, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNewfkhhwMo">raised</a> the issue of birth rates at the University of Cambridge in May.He said it was "very odd" that people are not reproducing themselves and that it's "probably somehow entangled" with stagnation, decline, and a sense of pessimism about the future.JD Vance, the Vice President-elect, has also long been a proponent of increasing birthrates, as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-childless-cat-ladies-birth-rates-555c0f78ef8dd4c13c88b9e8d5f0024a">the AP reported earlier this year</a>.On the campaign trail, he presented declining birth rates as an existential issue, saying, "We don't have enough families and children to continue as a nation," which he argued was a more urgent priority than supporting Ukraine.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov is funding free IVF for women who have his children

Declaring that "<keyword id="22950053" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="enough-is-enough" source="keywords">enough is enough</keyword>", President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday said it is time for <keyword id="19895063" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="India" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="India" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="India">India</keyword> to wake up to the "perversion" of <keyword id="20177429" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="crimes-against-women" source="keywords">crimes against women</keyword> and counter the mindset that sees women as "less powerful, less capable, less intelligent". "Those who share such views then go further and see the female as an object... We owe it to our daughters to remove the hurdles from their path of winning the freedom from fear," Murmu said in an exclusive signed article for PTI. Referring to the August 9 <keyword id="19907938" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rape" source="keywords">rape</keyword> and murder of a junior doctor in a <keyword id="19896626" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kolkata" source="keywords">Kolkata</keyword> hospital, a "dismayed and horrified" president said what is even more depressing is that it is part of a series of crimes against women. Murmu said no civilised society can allow daughters and sisters to be subjected to such atrocities. "The nation is bound to be outraged, and so am I," she wrote. The hard-hitting and personalised article, titled "<keyword id="19996463" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="womens-safety" source="keywords">Women's Safety</keyword>: Enough is Enough", is the first time the president has articulated her views on the August 9 Kolkata incident that has once again shaken the conscience of the nation and led to widespread, continuing protests. The president gave the article after a detailed conversation on topical issues with a team of PTI senior editors, who called on her at Rashtrapati Bhavan to mark the 77th anniversary of the news agency's founding on August 27, 1947. "Even as students, doctors and citizens were protesting in Kolkata, criminals remained on the prowl elsewhere. The victims include even kindergarten girls," Murmu said. During the interaction, she recalled her recent meeting with a group of schoolchildren on Raksha Bandhan. "They asked me innocently if they could be assured that there would be no recurrence of the Nirbhaya-type incident in future," the president said, referring to the brutal rape and murder of a physiotherapy intern in Delhi in December 2012. She noted that an outraged nation then made plans and devised strategies, and the initiatives did make some difference. In the 12 years since, there have been countless tragedies of similar nature though only few drew nationwide attention, Murmu said. "Did we learn our lessons? As <keyword id="22950054" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="social-protests" source="keywords">social protests</keyword> petered out, these incidents got buried into a deep and inaccessible recess of social memory, to be recalled only when another heinous crime takes place," she said. Taking a macro view of the rights of women, she said they have had to fight for every inch of ground they have won. Social prejudices as well as some customs and practices have always opposed the expansion of women's rights, Murmu added. "This is a rather deplorable mindset... This mindset sees the female as a lesser human being, less powerful, less capable, less intelligent," she wrote. In her view, it is the objectification of women by a few that is behind the crimes against women. "It is ingrained deeply in the minds of such people," the president said, stressing that countering this mindset is a task for both the State and society. Acknowledging that there have been laws and social campaigns, she said, "Yet, there is something that continues to come in the way and to torment us." History, the president said, "often hurts" and societies scared to face history resort to "collective amnesia" to bury their heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich. "Now the time has come not only to face history squarely but also to search within our souls and probe the pathology of crimes against women," she said in her impassioned appeal. "Let us deal with this perversion in a comprehensive manner so as to curb it right at the beginning. We can do this only if we honour the memory of the victims by cultivating a social culture of remembering them to remind us of our failures in the past and prepare us to be more vigilant in future," Murmu said. The society needs honest, unbiased self-introspection, and ask itself some difficult questions, the president said. "Where have we erred? And what can we do to remove the errors? Without finding out the answer to that question, the half of our population cannot live as freely as the other half," she said.

'Enough is enough': anguished President Murmu asks nation to wake up, end crimes against women

After a full day of meetings at Julie, a startup that sells a morning-after pill, CEO Amanda E/J Morrison jumped a flight from New York to Boston and headed to a small, private college, where a trivia night awaited her. Dozens of students shuffled into a classroom with plates of chicken tenders, Texas toast, and bright blue boxes of the emergency contraceptive.Morrison had worked with the Planned Parenthood Generation Action club at Suffolk University to sponsor the event, part of Julie's efforts to win a new generation of consumers. However, she had another, more pressing reason for being there. Julie is doing more campus events to clear up some of the confusion about emergency contraception — namely, that it isn't medication abortion.Standing at the head of the classroom, Morrison read off a projector screen, "Emergency contraceptives like Julie are legal in how many states? 25, 48, 50, 37." Students tapped their answers into a quiz app. "It's 37," Lily, a spirited sophomore, whispered to her teammates.In a minute, the correct answer appeared on screen, and the quiet chatter rose to a clamor. Half the teams said 37 states."Fifty states, guys. It's everywhere," Morrison said.When asked why she said 37, Lily said, "Just the way things are going."In states that outlaw abortion, some patients and politicians worry that contraception could be in legal jeopardy, too. There's no federal law preserving access to birth control, rather, a patchwork of state laws and court decisions holding it in place. Another Trump term <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/29/trump-birth-control-contraception-00159555">could change that</a>.For Julie, "that's the million dollar question of this election," Morrison said.<div type="image" title="TK" height="2000" width="2667" msid="114460252" hostid="261" sizebytes="193282"></div>"We're not worried about some big ban happening in the first hundred days. But how those decisions trickle down — what is presented in Congress as a bill, how the Supreme Court reacts, what trickles down to the states — becomes a real secondary concern," she said.Founders of women's health startups feel doubly invested in this election, one of the closest presidential races of the century. Half a dozen founders and investors of women's health companies, all women, told Business Insider that if Vice President Kamala Harris wins, it's business as usual. They said another Trump victory creates uncertainty for reproductive health startups, from period trackers to online abortion clinics to embryo banks.<div type="image" title="TK" height="1610" width="2147" msid="114460254" hostid="261" sizebytes="109206"></div>While Harris's presidential campaign has been marked by unrelenting support for reproductive healthcare, including contraception and abortions, Trump's position has been a moving target.The former president suggested <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/29/trump-birth-control-contraception-00159555">in May</a> that he was "looking at" restrictions on birth control, then walked that position back in a social media post later that day. During the September presidential debate, he called himself a "leader" on IVF, a move that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/12/trump-ivf-gop-roe-abortion-00178760">angered</a> parts of his base that have sought to restrict fertility treatments. He said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-says-he-would-veto-federal-abortion-ban/">in October</a> that he'd veto a national abortion ban after deflecting the question for months but would support states ordaining their own abortion bans.Trump's waffling on reproductive rights has put founders of women's health startups on notice. "It is one of the major issues that we're discussing and that our CEOs are focused on — how to continue to provide care to women, especially women of childbearing age," said Trish Costello, founder of Portfolia, an investing platform that pools money from female accredited investors.The day after the presidential debate, Mika Eddy was vibrating with the weight of the election. The race's outcome could drastically change reproductive rights, foreign policy, gun safety, and climate law — all issues close to Eddy, a 35-year-old Californian and mother of two.But Eddy also has skin in the game as the chief executive officer of Malama Health, a startup helping women with gestational diabetes access better care. Its doula network assists patients on Medicaid with applying for benefits such as diabetes-friendly meals and medical transport.Eddy worries that if Trump wins, he would restrict access to the coverage and benefits that her users rely on, weakening one of Malama Health's key services."There is this common misperception that, 'we're in California, we're in a liberal state, and so we're safe.' And I don't think that's the case," Eddy said.For some founders of women's health startups, this election is more than a political contest; it has ramifications for their livelihoods. With so much at stake, they're planning how to handle a scenario where states or courts might impose more limits on reproductive rights.<div type="image" title="US Vice President Kamala Harris taking pictures with some young teen girls." height="3000" width="4000" msid="114460257" hostid="261" sizebytes="755478"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/abortion-telemedicine-startup-hey-jane-roe-v-wade-2022-10">Hey Jane</a> is a telehealth startup that connects patients to medical providers who offer online appointments and delivers abortion pills to their doorsteps. A year after the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, ending the constitutional right to abortion, Hey Jane started selling birth control and treatments for urinary tract infections, yeast infections, and herpes, both oral and genital. The new products cushion the business against a "plan E" scenario of a national abortion ban, said Carli Sapir, a Hey Jane investor and founding partner of Amboy Ventures."We're thinking about how to make sure those other verticals are in a good place to continue carrying the company forward," said Sapir.This time last year, one of Hey Jane's rivals, Choix, shut down <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vcs-backing-online-abortion-sites-say-its-good-business-2021-9">after three years in service</a>. The company said in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/choix-closes-virtual-doors-launches-130300919.html">press release</a> that "the stigma and politics surrounding abortion care posed significant fundraising challenges." It raised a $1 million seed round in 2022.While direct providers of abortion, like Hey Jane, could see major restrictions or shutdowns to their core businesses if Trump returns to the White House, a wider range of companies expect to feel the ripple effects. Startups that seem removed from the front lines, such as those involved with period tracking and fertility treatments, are also preparing for potential challenges.<div type="image" title="Then-President Donald Trump addresses the anti-abortion &quot;March for Life&quot;" height="750" width="1000" msid="114460247" hostid="261" sizebytes="53678"></div>If a national abortion ban were to occur, apps like Flo Health or Clue might face increased scrutiny, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-lux-capital-deena-shakir-wrote-childrens-book-2024-9">Deena Shakir</a>, a general partner at Lux Capital. These apps track when women have their periods and when they miss them. In today's post-Roe America, privacy experts worry that such data could be used to suggest that someone has had or is thinking about having an abortion, potentially putting women at risk of prosecution in certain states.The stakes could be equally high for companies involved with fertility treatments.The demand for services like in vitro fertilization, or IVF, and surrogacy has been climbing for years as people have kids later in life and infertility rates increase. That's birthed a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fertility-startups-booming-despite-market-downturn-2023-6">global fertility market</a> that includes companies that operate clinics to provide services like egg freezing and IVF, companies that run labs and tests, and firms that help people pay for the procedures.However, the industry's future is uncertain following attacks on abortion access. The end of Roe v. Wade opened up the legal terrain for states to interfere with access to other reproductive care, said Lauren Berson Sugarman, founder and chief executive officer of Conceive, a startup that offers personalized fertility guidance, including text support from nurses and peer groups.In Alabama, the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children. That put patients and fertility clinics on edge that they could be criminally charged for destroying extra embryos. A handful of Alabama clinics paused IVF treatments while patients throughout the South began moving their embryos to jurisdictions with more stable legal protections."We see a lot of patients come to us and say, should I move my embryos out of a red state? Because what happens if they come after IVF?" said Berson Sugarman.The push for "embryo rights" could have wide-reaching repercussions for startups like Maven Clinic or Carrot Fertility, which offer fertility benefits for employers, and TMRW Life Sciences, a biotech company creating robots for the safe storage of frozen sperm, eggs, and embryos.Moreover, it could influence the type of research that startups conduct and where. Alice Zheng, a principal at women's health investor RH Capital, explains how the shifting legal landscape might affect companies like Vitra Labs. As a biotech startup working on developing eggs from stem cells for IVF, "they're doing really cutting-edge research for fertility, but they need to think very carefully about where they set up shop," Zheng said. "Some of their research might involve certain types of tissue, which is more closely scrutinized in some areas than others."<div type="image" title="TK" height="2000" width="2667" msid="114460250" hostid="261" sizebytes="243576"></div>Two years ago, in the hours after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion, Morrison's phone started ringing and didn't stop. Investors wanted to know if the ruling would kill Julie's launch in Walmart stores that fall. Job candidates wondered if the company would still exist in six months. Morrison's mom called, concerned for her daughter's future."For probably two weeks straight, I was just doing reassurance calls," Morrison said.While emergency contraception is not the abortion bill and is currently legal in all 50 states, it is continuously confused with the abortion pill, which can have damaging consequences. In June, the medical journal JAMA Network Open published a <a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2820370?%20utm_source=For_The_Media">study</a> that found retail pharmacy fills of Plan B, a leading morning-after pill brand, fell by 65% in states with near-total abortion bans the year after the Dobbs decision, partly due to clinic closures and confusion about its legal status.That confusion could threaten Julie's sales, and puts the onus of the company to better educate consumers. It sponsors events like trivia nights and sorority house brunches. It has enlisted TikTok influencers to share videos of their drugstore hauls showing how easy it is to buy Julie. In one video, a young woman going back-to-school shopping walks off with a two-count pack of the emergency contraceptive pill. The caption reads, "double majors, not double strollers."Other startups are urging consumers to fight for reproductive rights at the polls. Eddy's Malama Health has reminders to register to vote in its app and will tell users where their nearest polling station is closer to election day. The company asks for their ZIP codes during onboarding, Eddy explained."When you have a baby, you're like, 'I want to vote, but I don't know where to go,'" Eddy said. She hopes the emails will get more pregnant women and new moms to head to the polls. Eddy added that the emails won't support a candidate and are meant as a "nonpartisan resource."<div type="image" title="TK" height="2000" width="2667" msid="114460255" hostid="261" sizebytes="192114"></div>Julie's content isn't political, either. It's not trying to change any minds about abortion rights. The goal is simply to spread awareness among young adults that emergency contraception helps prevent pregnancy, not end it. This way, Morrison said, a woman who is anti-abortion and has unprotected sex can feel confident taking Julie knowing that she isn't compromising her abortion stance.It was past 9 o'clock on a weekday, and the competition at trivia night was heating up. Students in teams of two or three screamed with delight as they watched their names climb the leaderboard. They competed to win prizes like sex toys and T-shirts with the phrase, "A Better Morning After.""Morning-after pills end pregnancy. True or false," the club president called out.Thirty seconds later, the screen showed that every team had answered correctly.Morrison pumped both fists in the air, beaming her approval.<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/melia-russell">Melia Russell</a> is a senior correspondent at Insider covering startups and venture capital. She can be reached via the encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 603-913-3085 and email at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:mrussell@businessinsider.com">mrussell@businessinsider.com</a>.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/rebecca-torrence">Rebecca Torrence</a> is a correspondent at Business Insider writing about healthcare startups and venture capital. Send her an email at <a target="_blank" class="" href="mailto:rtorrence@businessinsider.com">rtorrence@businessinsider.com</a>.

'The million-dollar question of this election': Women's health startups are confronting a shifting legal landscape   

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Kamala Harris criticized Donald Trump on abortion during the presidential debate Tuesday.</li><li>She looked directly at Trump during an impassioned response about the consequences of abortion bans.</li></ul>Vice President <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris ">Kamala Harris</a> hammered former President Donald Trump on abortion during the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-donald-trump-presidential-debate-takeaways-2024-9">presidential debate on Tuesday</a>, invoking real-world consequences of abortion bans.Trump noted his success in appointing Supreme Court justices that ultimately overturned Roe v. Wade, arguing that "everyone" wanted it and that the issue should be left up to the states. (In the summer of 2022, a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/07/06/majority-of-public-disapproves-of-supreme-courts-decision-to-overturn-roe-v-wade/">Pew Research survey</a> found that 57% of adults disapproved of the SCOTUS decision.)Harris responded by saying more than 20 states have since passed "Trump abortion bans," including some that do not have exceptions for rape or incest, calling the bans "immoral."During the exchange, the vice president looked directly at Trump with a powerful response that included specific examples of how state-level abortion bans have impacted reproductive rights."You want to talk about this is what people wanted? Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://apnews.com/article/pregnancy-emergency-care-abortion-supreme-court-roe-9ce6c87c8fc653c840654de1ae5f7a1c">suffering from a miscarriage being denied care</a> in an emergency room because the healthcare providers are afraid they might go to jail, and she's bleeding out in a car in a parking lot? She didn't want that. Her husband didn't want that," Harris said.Harris said that as president, she would sign legislation that would codify Roe v. Wade into law. Trump, for his part, declined to say whether he would sign a national abortion ban."I think the American people believe that certain freedoms, in particular the freedom to make decisions about one's own body, should not be made by the government," Harris added.Her impassioned response is likely to resonate with many Americans, as 63% believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/fact-sheet/public-opinion-on-abortion/">Pew Research Center</a> polling.Abortion is also a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/abortion-rights-decisive-issue-democrats-politics-desk-rcna147615">winning issue for Democrats </a>and has been important for turnout in states where abortion referendums have been on the ballot. President Joe Biden, notably, botched his answer on abortion during his debate with Trump before he dropped out of the race.Trump, in 2016, turned out evangelical voters by running on an anti-abortion platform, and his selections of Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court only solidified his already strong standing among conservatives — especially after they voted to overturn Roe in 2022.But Trump in 2020 faltered among swaths of suburban voters, notably those in many onetime GOP strongholds in states like Arizona and Georgia. While most Republicans that year stuck with Trump, independents and a small bloc of more moderate Republicans helped Biden find success in the Sun Belt.Harris has been a powerful voice in advocating for reproductive rights, and it's an issue that, in poll after poll, is the one that voters trust her most on — a dynamic that could cause electoral hiccups for Trump in November.

Kamala Harris nailed her debate response on the Democrats' most winning issue: abortion

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Online platforms reflect a growing demand for menopause care like hormone-replacement therapy.</li><li>More research is needed to better tailor virtual clinics' treatment plans.</li></ul>When Jodi Miller was 49, she started to experience mood swings, hot flashes, weight gain, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teledermatology-future-of-skincare-musely-ceo-jack-jia-2024-6">adult acne</a> — some of the many <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/reproductive-health/menopause-age">symptoms of menopause</a>.When Miller, then a middle-school teacher in Rochester, New York, sought care from her OB-GYN, she said she felt dismissed."I was told to stop focusing on the negative and to start focusing on the positive," Miller, who is turning 50 this month, told Business Insider.Levels of estradiol, or estrogen produced by the ovaries, typically drop to below 20 picograms per milliliter, compared with the 40 to 300 pg/mL produced during a normal menstrual cycle, according to Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, an OB-GYN and clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the Yale School of Medicine.This hormonal shift can lead to hot flashes and night sweats and negatively affect bone health, cardiovascular function, cognition, and skin elasticity. It can also lead to discomfort during sex because these hormonal shifts contribute to the thinning and drying of a woman's vaginal walls, Minkin said.Frustrated by the lack of support for her menopause symptoms, Miller reached out to Midi Health, a virtual care clinic that specializes in helping patients navigate <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/perimenopause-symptoms-tech-founder-shares-treatment-2024-9">perimenopause</a> and menopause, or the stages in midlife when a woman's hormones fluctuate and then decrease drastically.Since launching in September 2022, Midi Health says it has served more than 100,000 patients. It's one of a few dozen <a target="_blank" href="https://sjfventures.com/sjf-ventures-market-analysis-outlines-startups-disrupting-menopause-care-and-opportunities-for-investors/#_ftn3">menopause-care startups</a> that have launched since 2010 and one of a handful of virtual and hybrid clinics that offer menopause-symptom support, such as hormone-replacement therapy, to women.An estimated 1.3 million women in the US reach menopause each year. Now, as millennials — one of the country's largest generational groups — enter their 40s and many begin to experience perimenopause symptoms, some health professionals anticipate an uptick in patients seeking this specialized care.<h2 id="cabb2b87-466e-4def-9596-2a67fa519cac">Patients are demanding solutions for common and debilitating menopause symptoms</h2>The menopause market — which includes supplements, medical devices, HRT, and telehealth services — is valued at an estimated $5.3 billion in the US and projected to grow by about 4.8% each year until 2030, according to an analysis from Grand View Research, a US- and India-based consulting firm for the energy, healthcare, and technology industries, among others.One reason menopause-care initiatives are gaining visibility is women's increasing presence in executive roles in the workplace, said Dr. Neel Shah, the chief medical officer of Maven Clinic, a digital platform that employers and health plans use to provide care for women and families.With more women in top decision-making and hiring roles — many experiencing perimenopause or menopause themselves — there tends to be more awareness and empathy for employees seeking this type of midlife health support, Shah said.And <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-employers-can-help-menopausal-women-2022-1">companies need to retain talent</a>, so preventing absenteeism and attrition due to employees' severe perimenopause or menopause symptoms could motivate employers to seek solutions like telehealth clinics for their workers, Shah said.Miller, for example, said that her hot flashes and heart palpitations made it difficult for her to teach her classes. She was also transitioning to a career in higher education at the time and becoming an empty nester."I felt so horrible, and my energy levels were so low that I was ill-equipped to manage it all," Miller said.Shah added that millennials entering perimenopause and menopause may be more willing to advocate for the care they want than previous generations experiencing the same symptoms.Fortunately for Miller, a combination of treatments — including low-dose HRT for estrogen and progesterone, another sex hormone — helped her manage tough-to-handle symptoms. After undergoing the therapy, she said she experienced fewer hot flashes and an increased sex drive. Miller's doctor also prescribed her a low-dose antidepressant to help get rid of her mood swings and a GLP-1 medication to help her lose about 60 pounds, which helped regulate her blood pressure.According to Joanna Strober, Midi Health's CEO and cofounder, doctors may also prescribe supplements and lifestyle changes to patients who want to manage their symptoms.<h2 id="4b765042-0d6a-48bb-8bfe-e17b54eb8608">Ramping up menopause research</h2>As the demand for women's midlife-healthcare support grows, research and education are critical to improving treatments and support."We started Midi out of a realization that very few doctors or medical providers are trained in understanding the issues of women in this age category, particularly with regard to their hormones," Strober said.Knowledge about perimenopause and menopause is still evolving, so more research into effective treatments and interventions is needed to improve and tailor treatments, Minkin said.Researchers are collecting data as part of two long-term National Institutes of Health projects: "The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation" and "Menopause Strategies: Finding Lasting Answers for Symptoms and Health." These studies aim to develop a better understanding of women's menopause symptoms like depression, insomnia, and hot flashes, with the goal of developing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/reproductive-health/how-to-stop-hot-flashes">more helpful treatments</a>.Another influential — but controversial — piece of research has been the Women's Health Initiative. Study results published in 2002 described some types of HRT as increasing some health risks, such as breast cancer and blood clots. In response, doctors resisted prescribing the therapy, Shah said.However, the interpretation of the data in the media and in clinical practice lacked nuance, and secondary research papers have since demonstrated HRT's benefits in most women, according to Shah. "To be honest, the medical profession is still catching up on the data," Shah said.To further address the need for perimenopause and menopause research and medical care, Congress introduced in May the bipartisan Advancing Menopause Care and Mid-Life Women's Health Act. The bill is being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. If it's passed, the legislation would boost federal research and public-health promotion of menopause care. Additionally, in his 2024 State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called on Congress to invest $12 billion in women's health research, which would include menopause.Most recently, a phase 3 Bayer study found that the nonhormonal treatment elinzanetant can help reduce the severity and frequency of hot flashes, according to a September 10 press release from the pharmaceutical company.<h2 id="4a418015-96ba-41b3-bf0f-9ec33fffe2f5">Expanding treatment options and providers for patient satisfaction</h2>Overall, Minkin said, advancing women's health during perimenopause and menopause requires a comprehensive approach that blends technological innovations like online care platforms with strong research and educational initiatives.An estimated 30% of residency programs in the US offered a formal menopause curriculum, according to a 2023 report published in the journal Menopause. Minkin said this may be a lingering effect of the Women's Health Initiative's preliminary results. She added that an increased focus on menopause across all levels of medical training was needed."Addressing the physiological, mental-health, and social-support needs of women during these stages of life demands a multifaceted strategy," Minkin said. "By integrating technological tools with a strong foundation in research and education, we can work toward closing this gap and improving menopause care for all women."After roughly a year of treatment for her menopause symptoms, Miller is flourishing."I'm getting my doctorate in higher educational administration, and I would have never been able to navigate such an enormous responsibility without menopause care," Miller said. "I feel like anything is possible now."

Women are demanding better menopause care. Online platforms are heeding the call.

<keyword id="20114810" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="West-Bengal-chief-minister" source="keywords">West Bengal Chief Minister</keyword> <keyword id="19909056" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mamata-Banerjee" source="keywords">Mamata Banerjee</keyword> has written another letter to <keyword id="19898052" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Prime-Minister-Narendra-Modi" source="keywords">Prime Minister Narendra Modi</keyword>, expressing concern over the lack of response to her previous communication regarding the rape and murder of a PG <keyword id="22760814" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="trainee-doctor" source="keywords">trainee doctor</keyword>. In her letter, dated August 30, Banerjee emphasised the gravity of the situation and urged for prompt central intervention, highlighting the inadequacy of the reply received from the Union Minister of <keyword id="20086338" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Women-and-Child-Development" source="keywords">Women and Child Development</keyword>. The letter reads, "No reply was received from your end on such a sensitive issue. However, a reply has been received from the Minister of Women and Child Development, Government of India (vide their No. 1/RESC/HMWCD/2024 dated 25th August 2024), which barely addresses the gravity of the issue raised in my letter. I am of the view that the seriousness of the subject and its relevance to society have not been adequately appreciated in this generic reply." The letter was posted on her social media handle, X. In response to Union Minister Annapurna Devi's allegations regarding the state government's failure to implement essential safety measures for women and children, including Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs), CM Mamata stated that the state government has approved 10 exclusive POCSO FTSCs, while 88 FTSCs and 62 POCSO-designated Courts are functioning with complete state funding. The letter mentioned, "Moreover, I would also refer to some of the initiatives in this area that our State has already undertaken, which appear to have been overlooked in the reply. Regarding Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs), 10 exclusive POCSO Courts have been approved by the State Government. In addition to this, 88 FTSCs and 62 POCSO-designated Courts are functioning throughout the State with complete State funding. Monitoring and disposal of cases are entirely in the hands of the Courts." Highlighting the issue of appointing Presiding Officers in FTSCs, she further stated that this process requires examination and action from the Government of India, which, according to her, needs PM Modi's intervention. "As per Central Government guidelines, only retired Judicial Officers can be posted as Presiding Officers in FTSCs, but the Hon'ble High Court has observed that, in view of the severity of the cases, permanent Judicial Officers need to be appointed. This requires examination at the level of the Government of India and appropriate action thereafter, for which your intervention would be necessary. Moreover, Helpline Nos. 112 and 1098 are functioning satisfactorily in the State. Additionally, Dial 100 is also extensively used in emergency situations," the letter added. Urging for central <keyword id="20082569" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="legislation" source="keywords">legislation</keyword> and exemplary punishment for heinous crimes, the West Bengal CM expressed hope for very considered attention from PM Modi. Mamata Banerjee mentioned in her letter, "I would reiterate and earnestly request that a stringent Central legislation and exemplary punishment for heinous crimes of rape/rape and murder be considered, with a mandatory provision for the disposal of cases within a specific timeframe by the trial authorities. I hope this matter would receive very considered attention at your kind end in the interest of our society at large." On August 26, Union Women and Child Development Minister Annapurna Devi criticised the West Bengal government for its failure to implement essential safety measures for women and children in the state. In a letter written to West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, the Union Minister stated that 123 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) were allocated to the state, but none of them are functional yet. Earlier, on August 22, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging the central government to bring in central legislation and set up fast-track courts for "sensitive" issues to ensure a speedy trial. Mamata, in the letter, mentioned that such "sensitive" issues need to be addressed comprehensively through stringent central legislation prescribing exemplary punishment against the perpetrators of such heinous crimes. The Bengal Chief Minister suggested the setting up of "fast-track special courts" to deal with such cases, which require a speedy trial. This development comes after the trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9.

"No reply received, hope this matter receives considered attention": CM Mamata writes to PM Modi again on rape-murder case

Fewer <keyword id="21932926" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flexible-work-options" source="keywords">flexible work options</keyword>, <keyword id="19901232" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="work-life-balance" source="keywords">work-life balance</keyword> and <keyword id="20237287" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="family-responsibilities" source="keywords">family responsibilities</keyword> pose substantial challenges for <keyword id="19900675" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="women" source="keywords">women</keyword> trying to re-enter the workforce and are the main reasons for quitting their jobs, according to a report. A survey by <keyword id="20120149" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="naukri-com" source="keywords">Naukri.com</keyword> has revealed that work-life balance poses a significant concern, as 39 % of the women respondents cited it as a key reason for leaving their jobs. "These issues pose substantial challenges for women trying to re-enter the workforce, with 41 % identifying a lack of flexible work options and 35 % highlighting family responsibilities as significant barriers to continuing with their jobs," the report said. The report is based on a survey conducted by online recruitment company Naukri.com among job seekers registered on its platform. The report found that 73% of women interviewed said <keyword id="20028277" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="equal-opportunities" source="keywords">equal opportunities</keyword> exist for both men and women in employment and leadership positions, and 79% of men agreed that both genders get equal chances at workplaces. Despite a majority of respondents viewing that workplaces offer equal opportunities to both genders, the report revealed that 24 % of women felt men have better growth prospects compared to only 8 % of men holding the same view. On the other hand, 13% of men interviewed said women have better opportunities at the workplace, however, only 3% of women shared this opinion. "Our report highlights an encouraging trend towards <keyword id="20250318" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-equality" source="keywords">gender equality</keyword> in the workplace, with 73 % of women recognising that equal opportunities do exist today. "It also reveals lingering challenges in areas of work-life balance and career advancement, underscoring the need for strategic interventions by industry to ensure continued progress," Naukri.com Chief Business Officer Pawan Goyal told PTI. Even the <keyword id="19898698" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="gender-pay-gap" source="keywords">gender pay gap</keyword> remains an area of concern, with 31 % of women perceiving unequal compensation relative to 16 % of men. It also found that 53 % of respondents said that salary compensation is entirely equal for both genders in the same role.

Work-life balance, fewer flexible work options pose challenge for women at job front, says new report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I started dating a man who was 15 years older than me.</li><li>Everyone in my life criticized my age-gap relationship, asking if I was only in it for the money.</li></ul>Age is an odd topic of conversation. In high school, a year's difference can feel like eons. In college, two or three years are of no consequence. Then, later in life, just as I thought I've escaped the constraints of social expectations, they reared their heads again and told me that a certain <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/age-gap-marriage-understand-parents-2024-5">age gap</a> is inappropriate.It all started when I began <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dated-sugar-daddy-money-felt-sexy-2024-10">dating a man</a> 15 years older than me. He was faster and more athletic than I was, pushing me to climb and hike harder. I huffed and puffed on steep Colorado hikes while he sat on a rock and waited for me to catch up. He was also more stable than anyone I'd dated before, remaining consistent and predictable, making scary topics less difficult to broach. He made me laugh, and it was easy to stay up to all hours of the night talking about life's problems from the comfort of our pillows.Yet everyone threw criticisms at me like darts in the dark, telling me <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-boyfriend-girlfriend-intimate-friends-new-relationship-2024-9">my relationship</a> was wrong.<h2 id="739d05c9-53dc-4e6b-9083-d9dbce908d53">Everyone seemed to have an opinion</h2>Relationship commentary wasn't exactly new for me. Everyone around me always seemed to have something to say about my mate's attractiveness, occupation, and general charisma — even before this particular match. Yet the criticism was at a minimum until the age gap widened. Then, everyone had opinions about what my <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-always-been-single-loves-being-in-control-of-life-2024-9">romantic life</a> should look like.One evening, about three years into my relationship, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/my-roommates-and-i-share-groceries-to-save-money-2024-8">my roommates</a> held an intervention of sorts. Over a card game and a few glasses of whiskey, their lips flew loose. They started probing for answers.They asked: What did I see in a man who grew up in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-work-culture-changed-30-years-generations-hr-exec-2024-8">different generation</a> than me? How could we possibly relate? Was I in it for the money?The truth was that we often didn't understand each other's cultural references. But there was no money to dig, and we related in all the ways that counted."We just think you deserve better," my friends said.As much as I appreciated the sentiment, "better" seemed to carry a strange definition. I didn't want kids or a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/death-of-typical-american-nuclear-family-economic-crisis-marriage-divorce-2024-3">conventional family</a>, and I didn't need the same relationship that my friends had with their partners.At the same time that friends, family members, and even strangers verbalized their disapproval of my partner's age, I began wondering if my partner was receiving similar criticism. When I asked him, he said he wasn't. In fact, dating a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/my-husband-is-eleven-years-younger-than-me-2024-11">younger woman</a> seemed like a status symbol that shot him to the top of the herd. If he could land a woman who was 15 years younger, then he must've been some kind of alpha in the chain of evolution.Yet the comments I received seemed to indicate that dating an older man made me less desirable. I was labeled "damaged" or a "gold digger." The people around me started citing Freudian concepts, saying that I must have "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dad-doesnt-censor-kids-curse-talk-openly-sex-2024-11">daddy issues</a>."<h2 id="251b54c7-a42f-4298-8b69-f4f88c95f105">One question actually did give me pause</h2>In the glow of dusk over Christmas cookies, my sister asked, "Do you want to be alone in your old age?"I didn't. And I knew that basic math wasn't on my side.In the US, the current <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/human-life-span-plateaued-what-you-can-do-long-life-2024-10">life expectancy</a> for men is just under 75. Meanwhile, women have an age expectancy of about 80. Add 15 years, and basic statistics told me that I might spend many years alone.Not only did that idea frighten me, but it also made me think about caregiving. What would my life look like when my partner became sick or bedridden? I didn't know and wasn't exactly sure I wanted to find out.Yet I did know that I could just as easily become the one who needed care. Where <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ghosted-acquaintances-friendships-not-sorry-2024-10">my friends</a> saw issues, I saw a person with common interests and perspectives who made me a better version of myself. Where my sisters saw only obligation, I saw someone who contrived life master plans that were as exciting and full as mine.So, when our relationship ended years later, it wasn't the gray hairs peeking through the brown that pushed us to split up. It was simply that our desires were no longer aligned, and it was time to move on. And I realized it wasn't about age at all; it was about what I wanted all along.

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