Afghanistan’s first all-female crewed flight in history
A Boeing 737-500 made history when it flew from Kabul to Herat with two female pilots and four female cabin crew as the first all-female crewed flight. This 90-minute trip in Afghanistan was performed by the country’s only private airline, Kam Air.
First female president of England’s cricketers union
Charlotte Edwards has become the first female president of the Professional Cricketers’ Association after an international career spanning 1996 to 2016. Four-time Ashes winner, Edwards was captain when England won both limited-overs World Cups in 2009. She remains the country’s leading run-scorer in women’s one-day internationals and Twenty20s.
Facebook status made way for life-saving diagnosis
After Christina DePino posted on Facebook about itching during pregnancy, her friends commented that she might have cholestasis: a hormonal condition that affects the gallbladder and can cause babies to die in utero if undetected. After being diagnosed the Michigan mother posted another Facebook status about her experience, to warn other pregnant women to call their doctor if they have symptoms. The status has now been shared more than 62,000 times.
Margaret Zhang is Vogue’s youngest ever editor-in-chief
27-year-old, Sydney born Margaret Zhang, who started her own fashion blog at 16-years-old, has been announced as the new editor-in-chief of Vogue China. She has a law and commerce degree from the University of Sydney, was named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Asia list in 2016. She will begin her new role based in Sydney but has plans to move to Beijing when the pandemic ceases.
Gap between men and women’s full-time earnings drops
Australia’s national gender pay gap has dropped to 13.4%, with a small decline of 0.6 percentage points. Director of the WGEA (Workplace Gender Equality Agency), Libby Lyons, said the drop in the gender pay gap was mostly due to labour market volatility during coronavirus, and not a result of improved structural changes for women in the workforce, indicating there’s still much work to be done in this area.
