She has a passion for the ocean — and sharks

Women and girls changing their worlds — and ours. No Images? [Click here]( [Across Women's Lives]( Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Fear not, sign-up and receive your own copy weekly in your inbox. [Subscribe]( Hi, I’m Jasmine Garsd, lead reporter for our Across Women’s Lives project. I’m excited to bring you the stories of women from around the world and America. In the coming week, I’ll be reporting out of Texas. But here are some of the highlights from this week’s AWL coverage. [This week from AWL.]( [These female marine scientists have a message for girls: Sharks aren't just for boys]( When Alison Kock was a little girl, her father would take her out fishing for lobster. That was when she started to foster her passion for the ocean — and sharks. While fishing, shysharks would sometimes get caught in the crawfish nets. Kock watched as the sharks would wrap their tails around their heads and cover their eyes. “I was really concerned," Kock says. "My dad said to me, ‘Listen, they'll be fine. Just pick them up, kiss them on the nose and release them back into the water.’” And so she did. Kock still spends her days with sharks, but instead of kissing them on the nose, she’s researching them for the South African government in Cape Town. [Share via Twitter]( [Listen to the story]( [These photos show the strength and beauty of aboriginal cultures in Canada]( Earlier this summer, the first Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week featured the creations of 25 designers from First Nations communities across Canada. Joleen Mitton, a former model who has Plains Cree and Blackfoot ancestry, launched the four-day event, held at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver, Canada. As a teenager, Mitton traveled the globe modeling for major brands and had many photo shoots in Asia. She later returned to her roots in Canada, where she mentored teenage indigenous girls who grew up in foster care. She helped the girls reconnect with their First Nations heritage and recruited a few of them to walk down the runway at the inaugural fashion show. [Share via Twitter]( First, it rained bullets. That's how Ann described her husband’s last fit of rage against her and her children. He told her before he was going to kill them, and one night a few weeks ago, he showered the outside of their house with bullets. I've withheld Ann’s last name because she's afraid for her safety. Terrified, she brought her children to the only domestic violence shelter in Beaumont, Texas. A few weeks after she moved into the shelter, it started pouring. Hurricane Harvey pummeled Beaumont. She tells me she got out of bed and felt the water on her bare feet: The shelter was flooding. She watched in fear as others evacuated. But where was she and her children to go? Her eyes well up as she tells me she considered going back to her husband, even though she knew he might kill her. In the last few weeks, we've witnessed a series of horrific natural disasters, the devastation of much of the Caribbean, the American South and Southeast, and Mexico. Beyond the humanitarian disaster, this is also the story of the privilege of mobility. Before hurricanes Irma and Maria came down on the island, several dear Puerto Rican friends of mine lamented that not only did they not have the physical ability to leave the storm’s path, they also didn't have the money to. Nor does Puerto Rico's status afford them the same shelter facilities as people in the continental US. In Miami, and in Texas, the hurricanes hit, indiscriminate of class and race. But [the recovery process drew distinct class lines.]( In an increasingly interconnected world in which humanity is more mobile than ever before, not everyone gets to leave before a natural disaster strikes, and certainly not everyone gets to stay afterwards. One of the most vulnerable populations in these cases are working- and lower-class women, and women of color. Over and over at various domestic violence shelters, women told me the same story: They watched as Harvey approached and wondered, "Where do I go now?" One woman in Texas told me the loss of her car was terrifying: It was the one place she’d been able to sleep in when her husband was violent. In a state with meager public transportation, it was her only way out. Deniers of climate change often characterize the phenomenon as an idea pushed by liberal elites. What is often unreported is that [climate change pushes the most vulnerable into deep desperation:]( In Texas, law enforcement told me they are deeply concerned about women who were already living in poverty falling into sex trafficking after losing everything to the hurricane. [This isn’t speculation on their part.]( [They already saw this happen.](As a sex trafficking survivor told me one night in Houston, driving through a gang-controlled prostitution strip: After Katrina, these streets filled up with girls from New Orleans. Next week, we'll be focusing on Texas, and bringing you the stories of women affected by Hurricane Harvey in different ways. Stories of survival, strength and resilience. Yes, the natural catastrophes of the last few weeks proved to be the stories of who gets to go and who gets to stay. But they also are the stories of how women everywhere push forward, literally dodging bullets, treading water and helping each other through storms. Against the most unbelievable odds. [Share via Twitter]( Across Our News Feeds 👀 Weekend reads and dinner party fodder The Guardian [Australian women spend twice as much time on childcare and chores than men]( According to the latest report on gender indicators, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this week, women spend, on average, two hours and 52 minutes of their day on domestic work and 59 minutes on childcare. In contrast, men spend one hour and 37 minutes on domestic work and 22 minutes on childcare. Bustle [DeVos's Title IX Sexual Assault Announcement Kills Obama's "Dear Colleague" Letter]( TEducation Secretary Betsy DeVos made good on a promise to rescind Obama-era guidance on how campuses handle sexual assault investigations. Under the old guidelines, schools had been required to evaluate sexual assault cases using a "preponderance of evidence" standard, otherwise, risk losing federal funding under Title IX. The Atlantic [How Graham-Cassidy Would Affect Women]( The latest health-care bill by Senate Republicans, Graham-Cassidy, is being called the most radical Obamacare-repeal proposal yet. Women are one group that would be most affected by the overhaul. Mashable [Women in STEM get prime real estate on Grand Central's ceiling for an inspiring reason]( There are plenty of ways to recognize the pioneering women who've made unique contributions to science, technology, engineering, and math. But GE chose an unorthodox strategy by creating custom-designed animations of 12 influential women in STEM and projecting them onto the ceiling of Grand Central Terminal in New York City. NY Times [Harassing women in the streets of France could become a public offense]( France is considering new legislation that would make it illegal for men to harass women in the street — the so-called “cat calling” and “wolf whistling.” Marlene Schiappa, France’s under-secretary for gender equality, wants to introduce new legislation that would prosecute man who take part in street harassment. NewsDeeply [Seventy Percent of Victims of Modern Slavery are Women and Girls]( A new report provides the first comprehensive estimate of the extent of modern slavery worldwide. In most contexts, women and girls are especially vulnerable to exploitation. Broadly [The Man Behind the Pill Decided Women 'Need' to Have Periods—But They Don't]( Although the majority of oral contraception brands include inactive pills in their packages, there's no actual medical justification for this—gynecologists have deemed withdrawal bleeding medically unnecessary for years now. Across Women’s Lives is PRI’s ambitious multi-platform journalism and engagement initiative about the connection between the empowerment of women and girls, and economic development and improved health around the world. This newsletter highlights our reporting and the work of PRI staff in calling attention to the ways that women are shaping a better future for their communities. [Donate Today]( PRI Public Radio International Hear a Different Voice [Like]( [Tweet]( [Forward]( [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](