It was Tracy Edwards’s mother—a globe-trotting ballerina and burlesque dancer whose career-ending diagnosis of multiple sclerosis inspired a return to her first love of motorbikes—who served as a role model for her daughter. She also supported Edwards after she was expelled from school, and encouraged her to travel to Greece, where a family friend resided. Trouble with Edwards’s stepfather had made home a painful place. Greece was a realm of freedom and possibility. She took odd jobs on boats. She faced intense sexism from some men, but many others acted as mentors, showing her the ropes, so to speak. Ultimately captaining an all-female crew, and fitting in, aboard a sailboat named Maiden in the famously difficult 1989–1990 Whitbread, a 32,000 nautical mile race from England to Uruguay to Australia to New Zealand and back, with a stop in America, she chronicles an intense 167 days at sea. The crew of 14 women went on to win two legs of the race in its division, and Edwards became the first woman in Whitbread history to be named Yachtsman of the Year. (Mary Alice Miller - Vanity Fair HWD) https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/06/maiden-documentary-tracy-edwards-sailing-interview Tracy Edward's groundbreaking journey is captured in the new documentary Maiden.

Bethany Vierra wanted a divorce from a husband she described as abusive. Then she wanted to secure custody of her 4-year-old daughter, Zeina. Then she wanted a court order to receive child support from her ex-husband, a businessman. But as an American woman living in Saudi Arabia, Ms. Vierra has navigated a punishing legal maze ever since she first asked her Saudi ex-husband for a divorce in 2017, then opened custody proceedings last November. Under Saudi law, which is based on Islamic law or Shariah, mothers generally retain day-to-day custody of sons until they turn 9, and daughters until they turn 7, while fathers remain their legal guardians. The kingdom announced last year that Saudi mothers could keep custody of children after a divorce without having to file a lawsuit, as they had previously had to do, unless the father was contesting custody. Though she succeeded with the divorce, her custody battle appeared to dead end on Sunday, when a Saudi judge awarded custody of Zeina to her father’s mother. But Saudi courts prioritize ensuring that children are raised in accordance with Islam. According to court documents, the judge accepted Ms. Vierra’s ex-husband’s arguments that she was unfit to raise Zeina because she was a Westerner, and furthermore because she ran her own business, a yoga studio, leaving her with little time to devote to her child. “Since the mother is new to Islam and a foreigner in this country and embraces customs and traditions in the way she was raised,” the judge wrote in his ruling, “we must avoid exposing Zeina to these traditions.” (Vivian Yee - NY Times)

Alta Lauren Gunawan, 30, is the first female officer in the United States Secret Service Motorcade Division's highly selective 14-person unit. She is also the first Asian-American woman to join the division. "My dad is one hundred percent Indonesian. My mom is all sorts of mixed everything. Being mixed is awesome," Gunawan said. "I'm proud to be Asian-American."