Anne is reading …

1. Who knew that Republicans are losing ground with working mothers? The Washington Post reports that nearly half of all working mothers voted for George W. Bush. By 2008, only 40 percent voted for Sen. John McCain. And by 2012, only about a third backed Mitt Romney.

Conservative strategist Sabrina Schaeffer is increasingly frustrated with the reality that Republican presidential candidates essentially ignore the needs of female breadwinners.

“For years now, Democrats have been saying: We are focused on women in the workplace,” said Schaeffer, executive director of the Independent Women’s Forum, a nonprofit organization that promotes conservative policies. “For whatever reason, Republicans keep ignoring these issues. It’s the absolute worst thing they can do. They need to understand, engage and offer better solutions. They can’t be afraid.”

2. Women who are delaying pregnancy should freeze their eggs by age 35 and be aware that their chances of giving birth decrease significantly once they turn 38, says a new analysis of nearly 4,200 women between ages 38 and 4 who underwent 5,841 IVF cycles.

Birth rates were shown to fall from 24 per cent for those aged 38 and 39 to 15 per cent for 40 and 41-year-olds, 6.6 per cent for women aged 42 and 43 and just 1.3 per cent for those 44 and older.

3. The share of US births to unmarried mothers dropped in 2014 for the first time in nearly two decades, says the National Center for Health statistics. Simultaneously, the total number of births and the US birth rate rose in 201 for the first time in seven years.

The drop in births to unmarried mothers dropped only slightly to 40% in 2014 from a steady 21% since 2008. The last dip occurred in 1995. In 1980 only 18% of births were to unmarried mothers.

Births to younger women are down, accompanied by a rising share of births to older women. In 2000 36% of births were to women ages 30 and older, reports Pew Research. In 2014, that number rose to 43%

4. Two new studies explore the challenges around cultivating more women leaders. KPMG International, a Big Four accounting and consulting firm, recently launched its inaugural Women’s Leadership Summit. Lynne Doughtie, took to the stage to share findings from the survey the firm conducted with more than 3,000 women, aged 18 to 64, about how the aspiration and ambition to lead is nurtured. The findings were woefully similar to a new Bain study: Women want leadership roles, but something is holding them back.

The KPMG study argues that the ‘socialization of leadership; needs to start at a very young age. When asked to consider the leadership skills they were taught as children, 8% of women reported being taught to be nice to others, while only 34% were encouraged to share their point of view.

5. Arianna Huffington has signed a new contract that keeps her at the Huffington Post through 2019. Huffington founded HuffPo in 2005. Her future and that of ey staff members has been under scrutiny since Verizon Communications Inc. bought AOL Inc last month. Verizon announced this week that it has no intention of selling Huff Po, prompting Huffington to write a memo stating:

‘I am convinced tht we have both the editorial independence and the additional resources that allow HuffPost to lead the global media platform shift to mobile and video.’