From  | | | Women are at higher risk for online harassment. Here's how to protect yourself. | | When pandemic stay-at-home orders took effect two years ago, Internet use skyrocketed worldwide. Millions of Americans suddenly relied on their phones and computers as lifelines to remote jobs, classes, now-distant family and friends, socially distanced food and grocery delivery, and an endless fire hose of news to understand the novel coronavirus. As our lives largely moved online, so too did unwelcome harassment. In a 2021 Pew Research Center poll, Americans reported more severe encounters like physical threats, stalking, sustained harassment and sexual harassment compared with pre-pandemic levels. Women, people of color and people in the LGBTQ community are at particular risk for more extreme forms of online abuse, such as sexual harassment, stalking and hate speech, according to the Pew poll and a report by GLAAD. | |  | | A message from McKinsey & Company |  | Where are the women who are missing from the workforce? Amid the pandemic, many working mothers downshifted their careers to care for their children full time. Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, says now is the time to act. Saujani lays out the challenges and steps employers can take to address them in this new interview. | | | | | | "We know that online abuse has a very gendered nature to it," Seyi Akiwowo, the founder and executive director of Glitch, a nonprofit organization aimed at ending online abuse, told The Washington Post last year. "We need language that addresses that." | | Technology reporter Danielle Abril spoke to experts for their tips on identifying your online risk, maintaining online boundaries, responding to threats and more. As a member of the Help Desk team, Danielle writes stories to help you better understand and take control of the technology you use in your daily life. | | | | | Three need-to-know stories | | | Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) | 01.Last week marked the historic confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the Supreme Court. At times joyful and others combative, the hearings displayed the breadth of the nation's partisan divide and the unresolved problems of its past. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote April 4 on Jackson's nomination. 02.The Utah legislature enacted a bill on Friday barring transgender athletes from participating in girls' sports. The vote overrode Republican Gov. Spencer Cox's veto earlier in the week. He wrote an impassioned letter to state GOP leaders on Tuesday explaining his decision and citing his concern for the mental health of trans youths. 03.The 94th annual Academy Awards aired Sunday night, and the show, in which "CODA" won best picture, was full of drama. There were other history-making wins, including Ariana DeBose becoming the first openly queer Afro-Latina to win an Oscar for acting, as well as Jane Campion becoming the third woman ever to win in the best director category for "The Power of the Dog." | | | | | | | A story to make you smile | | | Herrin Hopper, left, with Holly Harper and Harper's 9-year-old daughter, Madeline, after the two women purchased a home in Takoma Park together in April 2020. (Courtesy of Holly Harper) | | Friends Holly Harper and Herrin Hopper used to talk a lot about the challenge — and isolation — of raising young kids. They had a running joke that one day they would move in together and create a commune of sorts, where they would live in the same house and raise their children collectively. Then, in April 2020, when both D.C.-area women found themselves separated from their husbands and feeling more exhausted and lonelier than ever, they were both seeking a support system. That's when they made a life-changing decision to buy a house together and move in with their kids. "What do I have to lose?" Harper remembered thinking to herself in that moment. Her conclusion: "Nothing." Read more from Sydney Page in The Post. | | | | | But before we part, some recs | | | Lateshia Beachum. (Maryam Jameel) | Lateshia BeachumGeneral assignment reporter, The Washington PostWhat are you reading and watching right now?I'm reading "My Sister, the Serial Killer" by Oyinkan Braithwaite. And I'm watching "Bob's Burgers" for comfort. You write about a lot of topics. What are your favorite stories to report?My favorite stories to report are those centered on people affected by a particular issue. I've really enjoyed working on stories about sex workers and pieces about everyday people who would've never imagined that a Post reporter would give them a ring. What's something giving you inspiration these days?I'm getting a lot of inspiration from my pastor's sermons, as well as T.D. Jakes's homilies about striving for purpose and figuring out how to reach success that's unique to the person. I know it might sound a little hokey, but they've been needed. Some people like self-help books, but I like sermons with a little organ break sprinkled throughout. | | | | | | |
