This is the ForbesWomen newsletter, which every Thursday brings news about the world’s top female entrepreneurs, leaders and investors straight to your inbox. Click here to get on the newsletter list!It’s not often that an economist makes the social media rounds and group chats with BFFs, but this week, renowned Harvard economist Claudia Goldin managed to do just that. Goldin recently published a new working paper on the declining fertility rate here and abroad, and within the paper is a quote you might have seen on your own Instagram feeds: “The more that men can credibly signal they will be dependable ‘dads’ and not disappointing ‘duds,’ …the higher will be the birthrate in the face of greater female agency.” In other words: if husbands can be equal partners in the raising of children, women will be more inclined to build families.To zoom out a bit, much of what we understand about the history of women's participation in the U.S. labor economy, the evolution of gender roles and the factors contributing to the lasting gender pay gap stems from Goldin’s work. When she speaks out about women’s economic progress, it’s therefore worth paying attention. And so, it’s also worth paying attention to research that plainly states: “The real obstacle [in fertility rates] is the need for husbands and fathers to demonstrate their commitment [to child-rearing] in advance.” As you may remember from past ForbesWomen coverage, men no longer outnumber women in the workforce and the number of female breadwinners is growing. (Based on some reporting from our friends at New York magazine this week, these statistics will not remotely surprise the Gen-Z women who are paying for their boyfriends.) Goldin notes that it can be tempting to blame the decline of fertility on these economic trends, but to do so is to ignore the fuller picture. “Many in the U.S. and elsewhere are seeking a solution to fertility decline. Some even propose to reduce aspects of female autonomy. The Dobbs (2022) decision and resultant state action on abortion and threats to contraception access are examples,” she writes. “But trying to reduce female autonomy may backfire and produce even lower birthrates… Enabling and bolstering female autonomy with guarantees of family support of various types could lead to higher birthrates, greater female productivity in the labor market, and more equitable, happier families.”Is she right? It will take time—and more equal partnerships—to truly tell.Cheers,Maggie McGrathFeatured Forbes Profile: The Ex-Meta And Salesforce Exec Using AI To Fix Gen Z’s Jobs Crisisnew work foundationAfter seeing first-hand how artificial intelligence can transform hiring, tech exec Clara Shih started the New Work Foundation to help young people build careers using AI, rather than be replaced by it. “These are smart, talented, ambitious young people who should be gainfully employed, but because of what's been happening with AI automating entry level tasks, they're being underutilized and it not only hurts them, it hurts our society because this is our tax base and this is our voter base for the future,” Shih says. She launched the New Work Foundation in April, and what started as a self-funded organization is now a nonprofit where individuals can donate to the organization’s mission of equipping young workers with the tools, information, and skills needed to navigate an economy being reshaped by AI.ICYMI: Stories From The WeekReformation CEO Hali Borenstein at the Women in Power Forum held at the Glasshouse on September 08, 2025 in New York, New York. (Photo by Katie Jones/WWD via Getty Images)WWD via Getty ImagesReformation, the female-founded (Yael Aflalo) and female-led (Hali Borenstein, above) clothing brand, said this week it has launched its IPO roadshow and is looking to raise as much as $239 million, offering 14 million shares at $15 to $17 per share. The company also said it’s been approved to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “REF.”The notion that men have stronger negotiation skills than women has been dealt a major blow by new research out of UC Berkeley Haas and the Cornell University ILR School. The studies found that women and men routinely achieve equivalent economic outcomes in negotiations. At the same time, women negotiators are rated by their adversaries as more trustworthy, better communicators, and more desirable future negotiation partners as compared to men.Stella Lefty, a singer-songwriter whose country-tinged breakout hit “Boston” surged to new heights on the Billboard charts this week, has billionaire roots as the daughter of Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky—though some have questioned whether she’s an “industry plant,” or if she’s ripping singer Noah Kahan’s sound. Some $124 trillion is expected to change hands in the United States through 2048, with $105 trillion flowing to heirs and $18 trillion to charity. Women overall are expected to inherit $47 trillion and will therefore control more capital, more philanthropic giving, and more investment power than at any point in modern history. But as contributor Penny Abeywardena explains here, there is the problem with the celebration around this expected wealth transfer: “it assumes that when money moves, power moves with it. It does not.”The Checklist1. Master the art of attention management. When did it become so difficult to stay focused long enough to finish your work? You open a document, answer a message, glance at an email, join an unexpected call and return to the document with the vague suspicion that it once contained a good idea. By late afternoon, you have been busy for eight hours and fully present for roughly 14 minutes. Attention management helps avoid this scenario by giving you the ability to decide what deserves your focus—and it’s becoming an essential career skill.2. Prevent AI addiction. A new JAMA study found that adults who used AI most frequently — especially for personal rather than work-related purposes — had significantly higher rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety and irritability compared to non-users. Notably, this association held even after accounting for social media use, suggesting that AI's pull on mental health is its own distinct phenomenon. Read on to learn about the conditions that make AI addiction more likely to develop—and how to remedy the situation.3. Professionally disagree. Many professionals tend to shy away from disagreements at work. However, defaulting to groupthink does a disservice to everyone by silencing outlier good ideas. Here are five phrases to use the next time you need to disagree with a coworker.Liked what you read? 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