Good morning, Broadsheet readers. The headlines are filled with Ebola coverage right now, but I spoke with UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin about what stories are missing. Read on to hear why a ban for women in Saudi Arabia is a boon for taxi drivers. Have a great weekend!
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Where's Angela Ahrendts? On Thursday, Apple had a big media event to unveil new iPads, iMacs and other products. And for the countless time in a row, the tech giant failed to put a single woman or minority presenter on the big stage. One would think that Ahrendts, Apple's SVP of retail and online stores, would have been a logical choice, but she remained in the shadows. Instead, the only woman to make an apperance during the presentation was in a video demo of the new iPad's photo capabilities. Read Write
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Homicide ruled out in Joan Rivers's death. The New York City medical examiner announced that Rivers died from a “therapeutic complication” during medical procedures to evaluate changes in her voice. NYTimes
• Cosmo Editor: Women can be interested in mascara and the Middle East. "Men are allowed to talk about sports relentlessly and yet we still take them seriously. I don't understand why women can't talk about fashion, or sex, or love or wanting more money and not be taken as seriously as men," Joanna Coles tells NPR about her decision to cover politics and foreign affairs in Cosmopolitan. NPR
• Many still uncomfortable about egg freezing. OvaScience CEO Michelle Dipp is encouraged by Facebook and Apple's recent announcements to cover employees who want to freeze their eggs because most women still won't even discuss the topic. "My hope is that as more companies offer fertility coverage, it will help women feel they have more control over their fertility," she said. Fortune
• Mindy Kaling: Being a role model is 'the thing keeping me out of jail.' The Mindy Project star is often referred to as a pioneer. She is one of the few actresses who have created and now run their own TV shows. “Everyone should try to live their life like they'd like to be a role model. I think it's like the thing keeping me out of jail. ... It's good for me mentally, selfishly, and it's also nice to try to do that for, especially, younger women. I mean, it's scary as hell.” NPR
• MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Michelle Lee, a former Google lawyer, is now the director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
BROADVIEW
UN Foundation CEO on 3 untold Ebola stories
Kathy Calvin was late for our scheduled phone interview on Wednesday, but she had a good excuse. Calvin, the United Nations Foundation's president and CEO, was just getting off the other line with Dr. David Nabarro, the man leading the UN’s fight against Ebola.
The UN Foundation, which serves as an advocate for the UN and a platform for ideas and resources to help the organization solve global problems, is focused on delivering accurate information about what exactly is happening on the ground. The foundation also has set up a fund for people who want to make a donation to UN efforts to halt the Ebola outbreak.
Yet as the U.S. combats its first domestic cases, Calvin says there are still a few key story lines that are getting left out of the discussion.
“They are being told, but they are hard to compete against a nurse getting Ebola in Texas," Calvin said. "It’s just the way of storytelling.”
Here are three stories that Calvin says are missing from mainstream Ebola coverage:
- Ebola is not everywhere in Africa for a reason. “The disease has been around for quite some time. It has been contained before and it is being contained right now in countries like Gabon. Where we are seeing the outbreak is in three countries that are still recovering from conflict and are rebuilding, and they are too vulnerable and fragile to handle these kinds of attacks. Why isn’t it everywhere in Africa? Because where you have a robust system - we hope Dallas has a robust system - there are methods in place for quarantine and immediate reaction.”
- Borders are not protection. “Even putting up barriers at borders doesn’t work. The countries that tried it immediately had to back off of it. It is everyone’s first instinct and it’s not workable.”
- The private sector is key to finding solutions. “The private sector engagement and contribution of support on everything has been tremendous. I’m talking about the companies that are providing some of the protective gear and the companies that are already in Africa that are stepping up. The private sector has found a robust number of ways to be deeply engaged from financial to real assets to it’s own role in advocacy. We know that’s what the future has to look like. Problem solving is not limited to just governments.”
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• In Saudi Arabia, a ban for women is a boon for taxi drivers. Women are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia, spurring the launch of a slew of car-booking apps in the country. The companies say that roughly 80% of their customers are women. “They take me to work, they pick me up from the airport, they take me anywhere I want,” a female customer told the Wall Street Journal. WSJ
• The women building up Seattle. The city is growing fast, and real estate developers Liz Dunn, Lisa Picard and Ada Healey have a lot to do with that. “It is still somewhat rare to see women in real estate development,” a source told Bloomberg. “Many more women have entered this field but very few make it to the top like Liz, Lisa and Ada have done.” Healey, for example, oversees a $2 billion real estate portfolio that so far has put up 25 residential buildings. Bloomberg
ON MY RADAR
Syrian women know how to defeat ISIS Weekly Wonk
Mattel’s Barbie out of fashion with today’s girls Fortune
Eileen Fisher: 'Business as a movement' Fast Company
The 'pinking' of women's footwear Medium
For these women, going into space is a priceless dream WNYC
QUOTE
Here's what I'm going to tell you about your fear: It's the most boring thing about you. Everyone's got the same one. It is not precious. It is not special. It is not singular to you. It's just the one we all got wired with when we came in. The most interesting thing about you is your creativity, your passion, your love, your joy, your faith -- all that stuff is fascinating.Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, during a speech at Oprah's The Life You Want Weekend.