Issue 31: Women of Science March '25
News, profiles, research, reviews, recommendations on all things women in science
Welcome back to another edition of WOSc - the weekly newsletter covering all things women in science 📈🧠📚𝞹
🔬 What to expect?
All subscribers receive the free edition covering highlights in media, awards and discovery as well as things to read, see and watch re: women in science. Drops every Tuesday. Tell your friends:
Thank you for joining. Enjoy the read.
A quick run-down of this issue:
Abstract & Intro: News and updates on all things women of and in science
Materials, Methods, Discussion: Interviews and talking points of note
Conclusions & Further Reading: Our media & content recommendations for your week
Abstract & Intro
Your rundown of headlines, news, notes & media snippets re: women of science
🥼 Industry & Life sciences
This report direct from The Economist compared working conditions for women across the 29 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
📌 ‘Male-dominated campuses belong to the past’: the University of Tokyo tackles the gender gap
A range of initiatives, from financial-support schemes to awareness campaigns, is already changing the university’s environment.
💻 Tech
📌 Startups take on big tech: women’s health companies file EU complaints over digital censorship
Six leading startups in the women's health sector are taking a stand against digital censorship, filing formal complaints with the European Commission.
📌 Why women doubt their tech skills even after years in the job
A new study reveals that women in tech earn less and hold just 14% of leadership roles despite excelling at math.
📌 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki trying to buy DNA testing app she sold for $6bn for just $75m
The CEO has joined forces with venture capital firm New Mountain Capital in the bid to take the company private.
🤖 AI
📌 Afghan women forced to make do with AI friends ‘to give yourself fake hope’ under oppressive Taliban rule
More than three years after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, women say daily life is “difficult”, and are leaning in to AI chatbot use.
📌 AI model uses ECGs to detect females at high risk of heart disease
An AI model at Imperial College Healthcare can flag females who are at higher risk of heart disease based on an electrocardiogram (ECG).
Brarista founder Bella Trang Ngo says 70-80% of women wear wrong bra size and has now secured funding to support them.
💊 Healthcare
📌 Amazon Restricted Vaginal Health Products for Being ‘Potentially Embarrassing’
Big Tech's restrictions on adult content are crippling businesses and organizations focused on sexual health, according to a new report.
📌 Over 3,000 beauty products targeting Black women contain health hazards, study shows
Analysis finds products contain at least one moderately hazardous ingredient, and most contain multiple.
📌 Women in the UK will finally be entitled to bereavement leave after miscarriage before 24 weeks
The government's change to the employment rights bill will give women and their partners two weeks paid statutory leave.
📌 This Founder’s Gene Therapy Company Helped Blind Kids See Again
A new gene therapy from publicly traded company MeiraGTx has managed to do something unprecedented: It's given eyesight to 11 children who were previously registered blind.
📌 Why women’s brains are more resilient: it could be their ‘silent’ X chromosome
A new study in mice and human cadavers hints that a brain-protective gene in the chromosome becomes more active with age.
Materials, Methods, Discussion
This week - interviews, discussions, and more:
🖊️ Interviews and features of note:
Behind every great woman in science, there’s another great woman in science
Against the odds: 12 women who beat bias to succeed in science
🖊️ Pods and vids:
🧠 The Mid Point with Gabby Logan Sally Gunnell OBE, Helen Glover MBE, Karen Carney OBE & Dame Denise Lewis join in on this special episode focusing on Accelerating Action this International Women's Day.
Conclusions & Further Reading
More links & signposts for you to enjoy this week…
The Written Word:
🤖 Building AI for All: Why Inclusion is Critical in Shaping Ethical AI
🌎 A tale of two women: What climate vulnerability actually looks like
🧑💻 What the world's richest men could learn from the world's richest women
Events & opportunities:
🎯 Sign up to be a healthtech mentor (or mentee) with Sixty Twelve: Is this something we at WOSc are building ourselves? Keep your eyes peeled (and pass on the message)!
📍 Open deadline
🎯 Diverse History of Science Tours: For those based in London (or just visiting), you can take a free guided tour of some of the Science Museum’s most famous galleries, led by award-winning Learning Volunteers, covering all things women in science to gender and sex in scientific history.
📍 Open (and free)
🎯 Sifted Talks | Online. On March 12, Fintech reporter Tom Matsuda is bringing together panellists from Flo Health, Cherry Ventures and Navan to discuss the new CFO mindset — how to balance profit with growth.
That’s all for this issue!
Thank you for reading: The WoS mission is to support, share and promote the innovative and groundbreaking work that has been and continues to be done by women across all scientific disciplines, and to empower and inspire the next generation of female leaders in the field.
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