In today’s edition: Coterie gets acquired, RTO increases the gender pay gap, and Fortune’s Lila MacLellan reports on a new group that thinks it’s found a way to advance women’s health in Washington.
The founders of a new organization believe they’ve cracked the code for closing persistent gender gaps in medical research funding and women’s health care: They’re building a big-tent, apolitical membership-based network to raise funds for women’s health causes—and they’ve chosen to sidestep the polarizing topic of abortion.
It’s an intriguing idea that has been met with some enthusiasm—and skepticism.
51&—a name the group is announcing today—was initially cofounded in early 2025 by Jodi Neuhauser, a branding specialist and founder of fertility company Ovaterra, and Candace McDonald, a former alternative health activist who recently became the chief growth officer at “clean beauty” wellness company Wonderus, which promises “non-toxic alternatives to hypochlorous acid and benzoyl peroxide.” McDonald had also been the CEO and board member of a PAC that supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, movement. In that role, she oversaw the campaign behind the now-secretary of health’s Super Bowl ad for his presidential run as an independent, according to her LinkedIn profile. Shortly before 51&’s public launch, however, McDonald stepped down from the organization.
Neuhauser is continuing on with 51&’s lofty goals: building a $900 million bipartisan movement, borrowing from a well-established business model for special interest groups, such as the AARP and even the National Rifle Association (NRA).
At the heart of the model is a for-profit public benefit corporation—a “topco”—that will earn most of its revenues from membership fees. For $100 per year, women will have access to planned celebrity-studded women’s health talks, networking opportunities, a newsletter, and more. The goal is to attract 1 million members by the end of 2026. “We’re creating a consumer brand,” says Neuhauser. “It’s going to look and feel like SoulCycle, like Peloton, like Nike.”
Like those popular brands, 51& will not be political. Neuhauser explains that she hopes to bring a fractured community together to attack the obstacles that have hindered efforts to advance research and policies for women, such as a lack of data or lower insurer reimbursement rates for women’s medical procedures. Women’s health includes more than reproductive health, from autoimmune diseases to cardiology. And the bigger issues are systemic, not political, she argues.
51&’s board will allocate revenues within a larger ecosystem, which includes an affiliated PAC, the Women’s Health PAC, and a nonprofit that will fund other health research and policy groups. Crucially, the PAC has and will continue to back both Republican and Democratic lawmakers focused on women’s health issues, and none of the funds will support advocacy or policy research for or against abortion. Neuhauser argues that the intense politics around abortion— “a third rail in D.C.,” she calls it—have blocked progress in women’s health.
Several women founders have privately supported the idea. But Neuhauser has also found that some “ideologically pure” people struggle with the strategy. She has heard comments like, “‘I don’t understand how you can be a women’s health organization and donate to Republicans,’” she recalls. People on both sides of the abortion issue have said: “‘I love what you’re doing, but abortion is so core to who I am that I can’t get behind this because you’re supporting the other side.’”
Neuhauser helped stand up the PAC that McDonald oversaw during Kennedy’s run for president. The experience seems to be part of her “big tent” approach to the issue of women’s health. “We’ve had a couple of people say to us, ‘I just don’t know that I can be under the tent with someone who believes differently than me about vaccines,’” Neuhauser says. “I say to them, ‘We’re not a vaccine organization.’”
Neuhauser is willing to welcome all perspectives on controversial issues, if it helps advance the practical women’s health policies and research that have been stalled for decades. “We believe in evidence-based science, all of that stuff, but we have to create space for people to ask questions about the science too,” Neuhauser explains, adding, “That’s what it means to be welcoming to both sides.”
Lila MacLellan
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Emma Hinchliffe. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
Coterie gets acquired—reportedly for as much as $1 billion. Mammoth Brands is acquiring the diaper brand, which was founded by Frank Yu but is now led by Jess Frenchman Jacobs. That figure depends on Coterie hitting certain targets; it's done $200 million in revenue over the past year. Mammoth Brands owns Harry's and Flamingo. Reuters
Women in MAGA world have one thing in common. Many of them got their start in beauty pageants, from Erika Kirk (Miss Arizona) and Kristi Noem (South Dakota's Snow Queen) to deputy press secretary Anna Kelly (Miss State Fair of Virginia). Wall Street Journal
Return-to-office mandates are behind a growing gender wage gap. Women are taking pay cuts for jobs that don't require five days in person or leaving the workforce entirely. Washington Post
What to know about Trump's IVF plan. Its federal guidance urging employers to cover fertility treatments is voluntary—so unlikely to lead to much change. Drug discounts through "TrumpRx" don't apply to most patients who access those drugs through their insurance. Meanwhile, some conservative groups that oppose IVF don't support the proposal. Vox
Twenty-something women are Oura's fastest-growing consumer base. Young women's interest in wellness—especially mental health and sober curiosity—is driving the growth. TechCrunch
ON MY RADAR
Would Japan's first female prime minister advance women's rights? New York Times
How a prosperity mindset can supercharge your career MSNBC
Brandi Carlile climbed music's peak. Then she had to start over New York Times
PARTING WORDS
"Her life's work was connection, through ideas and culture."
— Josh Stamberg on the death of his mother, Susan Stamberg. She was a "founding mother" of NPR and the first woman to anchor a nightly national news program. She died at 87 last week.
