Friday, 13 July 2018

Sandra Oh, Emmy Nomination, Wimbledon: Broadsheet July 13

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Sandra Oh makes Emmy history, Mexico’s Congress is nearly 50% female, and paid family leave is once again on the agenda on Capitol Hill. I’m heading to Aspen next week for Fortune Brainstorm Tech, so come say hello if you’re there. Meanwhile, have a refreshing weekend.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

[bs_bullet_primary] The lowdown on leave. Given the gaping political divide in the U.S. (a look at how that split breaks down along gender lines below), is it really possible to find a bipartisan issue right now?

If such a thing exists, it might be paid family leave--an issue that Pew reports is supported by 90% of Democrats and 75% of Republicans. But for all that on-paper enthusiasm, the U.S. remains the only industrialized nation without such a policy.

This Refinery29 story breaks down a new PFL bill expected to be introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), as well as the Democrats' FAMILY Act. Here's my quick-and-dirty version: The GOP plan would provide new parents, both biological and adoptive, with 12 weeks partially paid leave, which would be paid for by tapping into their Social Security benefits. The Dems' plan would also provide 12 partially paid weeks--but would be available to caregivers and people struggling with their own health issues as well as parents--and would be funded, at least in part, by taxpayers.

(Side note: Refinery did get a comment from Ivanka Trump, who has been talking about paid family leave since the 2016 campaign. She says she would like to like to "go beyond parental leave," but ultimately stands behind the Republicans' plan.)

Can the two sides find some middle ground? The fact that politicians on both sides of the aisle are focused on the issue is encouraging, but history suggests this is a thornier question than it might appear. Case in point: the Dems' FAMILY Act, which Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) testified in favor of just this week, was first introduced back in 2013. [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2NOt8Iz" source="Refinery29"]

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

[bs_bullet_primary] Oh, yaas! A highlight from yesterday's Emmy noms: Sandra Oh, star of BBC America's Killing Eve, became the first actress of Asian descent to earn an Emmy nomination for lead actress in a drama series. She earned five consecutive supporting actress nominations from 2005-2009 for her role on Grey's Anatomy, but never won. More good news: Oh was one of a slew of actors of color to the get the nod. [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2NcFsRT" source="Fortune"]

[bs_bullet_primary] Calling out the chasm. With the political schism between men women growing (with men shifting right and women moving left), this op-ed asks, "What happens if the gender gap becomes a gender chasm?" and, more pointedly, "Will the votes of women who are hostile to Trump eventually take him down, along with the Republican majority in Congress? Or will we see a repeat of elections in the 1980s, when Democratic hopes of capitalizing on the votes of women fizzled?" [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2NN1s6O" source="New York Times"]

[bs_bullet_primary] Beary big mess. Build-A-Bear Workshop, led by CEO Sharon Price John, shut down its "pay your age" deal only hours after it began--after chaos erupted across its U.S. stores. Some Build-A-Bear customers took to social media to express their frustrations over waiting in line for hours only to be turned away at the door when the promotion prematurely ended. [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2JhKNVJ" source="Fortune"]

[bs_bullet_primary] Crypto convert. My colleague Lucinda Shen talks to Arianna Simpson, whose VC fund, Autonomous Partners, is focused on acquiring cryptocurrencies and equity in blockchain-related companies. Simpson just got an infusion of capital from hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen, who seems ready to join the Bitcoin party. [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2zyyBQT" source="Fortune"]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: President Trump has named Shahira Knight as his top liaison to Capitol Hill as the White House pushes to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

[bs_bullet_primary] From greens to gold. The U.S. Olympic Committee is hiring Sarah Hirshland, chief commercial officer for the U.S. Golf Association, to guide it out of what the WSJ calls, "one of the most tumultuous periods in its history." That's a reference not only to the massive Larry Nassar sex abuse tragedy in gymnastic (her predecessor, Scott Blackmun, resigned amid questions over his handling of the scandal) but also to abuse issues that have surfaced in other sports.The USOC's acting CEO, Susanne Lyons, was reportedly offered the permanent CEO position but declined it. [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2NPj6ab" source="WSJ"]

[bs_bullet_primary] Adios, machismo. Female candidates made major gains in Mexico's election recent election--a sign of change in a culture that some have called a hotbed of machismo. Women landed 49% of the seats in Mexico's 128-member Senate and 48% of the lower house of Congress, both the nation's highest-ever levels of female representation. (For context: The U.S. Senate is 23% female, the House, 19.3%.) In Mexico City, voters elected Claudia Sheinbaum,their first female mayor. [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2JkU6UR" source="WSJ"]

[bs_bullet_primary] Living legend. Martina Navratilova reflects on winning her first Wimbledon 40 years ago, the now-closed gender pay gap between her and fellow BBC commentator John McEnroe, the Trump Administration's policy of separating migrant families at the boarder. (Navratilova fled Communist Czechoslovakia at 18 to seek political asylum in the U.S. during the 1975 U.S. Open and went nearly four years without seeing a member of her own family.) [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2lR6oLn" source="New York Times"]

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ON MY RADAR

Walmart was once again forced to pull a sexist shirt from its website [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2utSMcG" source="Fortune"]

Podcast: Meet the woman amplifying black voices in tech [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2NBNDrO" source="Vice"]

Meghan Markle's Aritzia wardrobe helps company's earnings [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2NM0EPP" source="Bloomberg"]

Why Stormy Daniels was arrested in Ohio [bs_link link="https://ift.tt/2Jhgqi9" source="Fortune"]

QUOTE

[bs-quote link="https://ift.tt/2NKsjjY" author ="beauty entrepreneur Linda Rodin"]I need to be in the driver's seat... I don't wanna just give an idea and let someone else bake the cake. You know, it's not gonna taste right.[/bs-quote]