Good morning, Broadsheet readers. Fortune’s 18th Most Powerful Woman in Business is leaving her post next year. Read on to learn why the ‘education excuse’ for the tech industry’s women shortage just won’t cut in anymore. Have a great Thursday!
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Mel Healey out at P&G. Once considered a possible successor to CEO A.G. Lafley, the current head of Procter & Gamble's North America business is leaving the company next year. The global brand giant is in the middle of a huge slim-down with hopes of boosting struggling sales. It plans to shed as many as 100 brands to bring more attention to the ones producing strong profits. “These changes simplify the way we organize and manage the company,” Lafley wrote in the memo. “As a result, we will have the same or fewer presidents and function leaders as we had in 2001 when sales were $39 billion—less than half our sales today.” Fortune
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Elizabeth Warren for Treasury Secretary? Warren has denied all aspirations to run for the White House but, when People asked her about potentially serving as Treasury Secretary under a President Hillary Clinton, she said "Well, that's a fun thought!" People
• How to find your path after leaving Wall St. Sallie Krawcheck, the former star banker who famously got fired from Citigroup and Bank of America, and Dambisa Moyo, a women who quit Goldman Sachs to promote her first book and went on to nab major corporate board seats, shared their secrets of success with Fortune's Pattie Sellers. Say "yes" to every invite and find a sponsor were among their top recommendations. Fortune
• Campbell Soup CEO: Let's fix this. Denise Morrison wants a magic wand to bring more women into the C-suite, and is calling on business leaders to realize that diversity in executive roles makes good business sense. "I’m from a generation of women that found it exhilarating to shatter the glass ceiling," she said. Time
• Japan's government shakeup is good for "womenomics." The resignations of two of the five women in Japanese Prime Minister Abe’s cabinet might help women in the long run. By resigning quickly, former Trade and Industry Minister Yuko Obuchi still has a shot at being Japan's first female Prime Minister. As for former Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, she was replaced by a more liberal politician who is not afraid to champion women's issues. Fortune
BROADVIEW
No matter the job, women don't want to work in tech
“It’s a pipeline problem.”
That’s what many tech industry executives say when asked why there are so few women working in their field. More women need to graduate with STEM-related degrees before the gender gap will be solved, they'll add at the end of their excuse.
Yet a new study conducted by Catalyst shows that plenty of women are graduating with technical degrees – they just don’t want to work in the tech industry. Looking specifically at the gender divide in business roles within the tech industry, the nonprofit found that while 75% of MBA grads have a tech background, only 36% return to tech-intensive industries -- like oil and gas or energy – after completing their MBA. Women MBAs are less likely than men to enter these industries to start, and they are more likely to leave tech-intensive industries quickly.
“We found that no matter the job, these companies are a particular difficult place for women to work in,” said Catalyst’s research director and the study’s author Anna Beninger.
Catalyst’s report is based on survey results from nearly 6,000 MBA graduates working in business roles from 2007 to 2014 across industries in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. The organization found that the gender gap in both position and pay exists from day one in tech. Women in business roles at tech firms are more likely to start their first post-MBA job at a lower level than men and get paid less as well. Lower pay and the more entry-level roles are partly responsible for 53% of women leaving the industry after their first post-MBA job. That compares to 31% of men.
Click over to Fortune.com to read my full story.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• The tough truth about egg-freezing perks. Despite the media firestorm created by Facebook and Apple's egg-freezing perks, the procedure is very costly, time-consuming, and there are no guarantees. Fortune
• 'Twerking is not feminism.' Sorry, Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus. Former Eurythmics star Annie Lennox does not think either of you will move the needle for gender rights by shaking your groove thang."Twerking is not feminism.... It's not -- it's not liberating, it's not empowering. It's a sexual thing that you're doing on a stage; it doesn't empower you," she told Billboard. Billboard
• Jennifer Garner: Let's end sexism in Hollywood. At Elle's Women in Hollywood event on Monday night, the actress said while she always is asked work-life balance questions by reporters, her husband, Ben Affleck, is just asked if his co-star's boobs are real. "I mean, the 'men in Hollywood' event is every day -- it's called Hollywood. 51% of the population should not have to have to schedule a special event to celebrate the fact that in an art that tells the story of what it means to be human and alive, we get to play a part," she added. NY Daily News
ON MY RADAR
Nike thinks women can lead to $2 billion in revenue Fortune
Why do female CEOs get fired more than male ones? Boston Globe
Meet the second woman ever to run a U.S. bank worth more than $10 billion Bloomberg
The counterintuitive, competitive advantage: Men with workplace flexibility HuffPost
Marissa Mayer tells investors to back off Fortune
QUOTE
I'm glad folks think I look different! I'm living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I'm thrilled that perhaps it shows.
Actress Renée Zellweger responds to Internet buzz about her appearance.
