Down Arrow Button Icon

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

• 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 funded 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 "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. Refinery29

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• 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 get the nod. Fortune

• Calling out the chasm. With the political schism between men and 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?" New York Times

• 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. Fortune

• 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 Steven Cohen, who seems ready to join the Bitcoin party. 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. Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush is stepping down in January and will be replaced by COO Kathy Warden.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• That Markle sparkle. Fortune's Rachel King digs into the so-called Meghan Effect after Canadian clothing brand Aritzia credited the newly-crowned Duchess of Sussex with boosting its record quarterly earnings. Fortune

• 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 gymnastics (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. WSJ

• 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, and 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.) New York Times

• Adios, machismo. Female candidates made major gains in Mexico’s 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 as their first female mayor. WSJ

Share today's Broadsheet with a friend.
Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here.