The iWoman Report: A New Rugby Barbie, Tech Companies Bring Awareness to Perimenopause, and an Author Uses Her Success to Help Women in Need

Ilona Maher and the Power of Seeing Yourself in Barbie

When U.S. Rugby player Ilona Maher takes the field, she's doing more than throwing a ball. She’s rewriting the narrative of what strength, beauty, and femininity look like. And now, she’s doing it in plastic form.

Mattel has announced that Maher will be immortalized as a Barbie doll, alongside fellow professional athletes Ellie Kildunne (England), Portia Woodman-Wickliffe (New Zealand), and Nassira Konde (France). The release, part of Team Barbie, will celebrate International Day of the Girl on October 11 and aims to inspire girls to “own their confidence proudly.”

Mattel created a new mold for the famous doll that features a new athletic body sculpt with visibly defined muscles. The muscular frame and wide shoulders are a powerful departure from the traditional, often unrealistic Barbie physique. For Maher, this representation is deeply personal. She has shared time and again that her goal is to show that there are many different forms of beauty and strength is one of them. She walked in the Sports Illustrated Swim fashion show in May, on her period, no less, demonstrating her poise, beauty, and athleticism simultaneously.

Mattel’s research found that 1 in 3 girls stop playing sports by age 14, often due to body confidence concerns, self-doubt, and a lack of visible female role models. Through initiatives like Team Barbie and the Role Models Series, Mattel is tackling these issues head-on.

The Barbie Role Model Collection, which has included inspiring women like tennis legend Venus Williams, gymnast Rebeca Andrade, and boxer Estelle Mossely, was designed to highlight real-life women breaking barriers. Each doll serves as a small but powerful reminder to young girls that there is no one way to be strong, beautiful, or successful.

Since her breakout stardom after the 2024 Olympic Games, Maher has become a dominant presence on social media promoting body positivity and confidence in women's sports. Following her Olympic bronze medal win with Team USA and her viral presence during the Games, Maher became a global ambassador for female athleticism: unfiltered, joyful, and unapologetic. After her Olympic success, she finished second on Dancing With The Stars and is on the board of directors for The Hidden Opponent, a non-profit organization dedicated to athlete mental health advocacy, education, and support.

Maher’s addition to the Barbie universe, along with the other Rugby players' dolls, adds more exceptional athletes to their roster. But it also gives young girls another type of role model, seeing themselves in their heroes. A Barbie with biceps is just as beautiful as a Barbie in stilettos. And while we're at it, why not just make it both?

How Women and Wellness Tech Are Teaching Us About Menopause

For decades, the conversation around menopause has been reduced to hot flashes and night sweats. But the reality is far more complex, and even has a precursor that many women don't even know about.

Unlike menopause, perimenopause doesn’t wait until 50. For many women, it begins quietly in their mid-to-late 30s or 40s, colliding with peak years of career growth, caregiving, and constant multitasking. The transition can trigger more than 100 possible symptoms, from brain fog, anxiety, and weight changes to sleepless nights and mood swings. Yet most women never receive proper support or even a diagnosis.

A new report from women’s wellness company NNABI highlights just how overlooked this stage has been. The Peri Power Report 2025, based on a national survey of 1,000 U.S. women, found that while most respondents experienced an average of seven perimenopause-related symptoms, only 10% had ever been formally diagnosed. Nearly 40% had never even considered perimenopause as the cause, instead attributing their experiences to stress, aging, or mental health struggles.

This lack of awareness stems from decades of under-research and misinformation. When the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) released findings in the early 2000s linking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to health risks, the backlash led to a 46% drop in HRT prescriptions within a few years. The result was a generation of confusion and stigma surrounding women’s midlife health, a silence that persisted for nearly two decades.

Today, that silence is breaking. A new wave of women-led innovation is reshaping the narrative, and this time, the world is finally listening.

Women’s midlife care has become one of the fastest-growing sectors in health tech and wellness innovation. From fitness companies to digital health startups, new products are emerging that address both the physical and emotional realities of perimenopause.

Peloton has joined forces with Respin Health, the holistic wellness platform founded by Halle Berry, to study how targeted exercise impacts menopause-related symptoms. Their PRESS (Peloton/Respin Exercise & Symptoms) Study will follow 500 participants through an eight-week regimen combining Peloton workouts with Respin’s care protocols. The initiative aims to create a data-backed foundation for exercise-based symptom management, with results expected in 2026.

Cycle-tracking leader Clue is getting its foot in the door of women's mid-life health too. The period tracking app is expanding its mission beyond menstrual health by addressing misinformation that often clouds women’s wellness online. With over 100 million users, the platform is using its scale to deliver verified education and medical insight about the full spectrum of hormonal health, including perimenopause. Its leadership team now includes a dedicated Chief Medical Officer focused on closing knowledge gaps and ensuring women have access to clear, science-backed information.

The Oura Ring, a mainstay in wearable health tech, is another tool that has evolved into a resource for perimenopause awareness. Its new Perimenopause Check-In feature integrates the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) to help users track symptoms and quality of life over time. Through partnerships with care providers such as Evernow, Maven, Midi Health, and Progyny, Oura is helping users connect their biometric data with personalized medical support, bridging the gap between everyday wellness and clinical care.

Hair wellness brand Nutrafol is bringing information to the table with The Menopause Edit. This digital and print magazine is designed to normalize conversations about this life stage. It combines expert insight with real stories from women navigating hormonal transitions, creating a trusted resource for those seeking both education and solidarity.

There are so many great companies and initiatives working to bring awareness to the existence of perimenopause. It's about time we turned our attention to women's health, and these organizations are leading the charge to ensure women are informed, knowledgable, and actionable about their own bodies.

How Barbara Kingsolver Is Turning Her Pulitzer Prize Into Hope

In the heart of Appalachia, a quiet revolution is taking place inside a modest house called Higher Ground. It’s a place built not just of bricks and beams, but of second chances. A recovery home for women rebuilding their lives after addiction.

The home was founded earlier this year by celebrated author Barbara Kingsolver, who used the royalties from her Pulitzer Prize–winning novel Demon Copperhead to fund its creation. The book, which shines a light on Appalachia’s opioid crisis, became a vital catalyst for change. Kingsolver decided to invest the novel’s success back into the very community that inspired it.

Appalachia has long been ground zero for America’s opioid epidemic. Decades of economic hardship and aggressive pharmaceutical marketing left deep scars on families, communities, and especially women, who are often among the most vulnerable in cycles of addiction and incarceration.

Higher Ground was created to interrupt that cycle. The home offers a safe, structured, and supportive environment for women in early recovery, many of whom are transitioning from jail, treatment centers, or unstable living situations. They can stay for up to two years, receiving help with employment, education, and life skills.

Unlike clinical rehab centers, Higher Ground feels like a real home with warmth, laughter, and shared responsibility. Residents cook meals together, volunteer in the community, and support one another through the challenges of recovery. For many of the women, it’s the first time they’ve felt genuine sisterhood. They celebrate each other’s milestones as collective victories. Some are studying for their GEDs, others are working or volunteering locally, and all are learning what it means to live independently again.

What’s remarkable about Higher Ground is how deeply the local community has embraced it. From donated furniture and quilts to volunteer labor and local church support, the initiative has become a shared effort. Kingsolver’s social media followers from around the world also pitched in, but much of the help came from neighbors who wanted to see their town heal.

The home operates with just one paid staff member and weekly fees from residents. The rest comes from donations and Kingsolver’s ongoing efforts to sustain the project. She even purchased the building next door, planning to open a thrift shop that will both support the home financially and provide job experience for residents.

Experts in addiction treatment say programs like Higher Ground are essential because recovery doesn’t end with detox. Many relapses occur when people return to environments that haven’t changed. Recovery homes help bridge that gap by offering stability, accountability, and purpose.

Barbara Kingsolver has always written about the resilience of ordinary people. With Higher Ground, she’s written a new kind of story. By transforming her literary success into a tangible refuge for women in need, she’s showing that storytelling can be a form of service, and that healing a community begins by giving women a place to stand, rebuild, and rise together.