The World’s Most Powerful Women: June 3

June 3, 2016, 4:57 AM UTC

Good morning, WMPW readers! There may be a male bias in office design, a group of women in Pakistan is giving out contraception door to door, and GM chief Mary Barra has some advice for young career women. Want to pass on some news about an exceptional woman? You can find me on Twitter at @laurascohn. Enjoy your weekend!

THE BIG STORY

A gender bias in office design

Is there a male bias in office design? There may be. To make the case, a convincing piece in the Financial Times analyzes two common issues that women have at work. Feeling cold. And feeling that the tray on the printer is nearly impossible to remove. Turns out, office temperature standards are based on the needs of a 154-pound man who's 40 years old, according to Maastricht University's Boris Kingma. An average women gives off 35% less heat than such a man. And the printer tray? Men have a higher degree of hand strength than women, even at the age of 70. I am always cold in offices, but never thought it had anything to do with my gender. Perhaps it does.

Financial Times

EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA

From prison to high office?

Nadiya Savchenko, the pilot who became a Ukrainian national hero after being detained and then released from a Russian jail in a dramatic prisoner swap, says she would consider running for president.

Quartz

A political comeback

Zimbabwean Joice Mujuru, who was a vice president to Robert Mugabe before being pushed from the government, wants to make a political comeback. Mujkuru, famous for shooting down an enemy helicopter in 1974, is eyeing the presidency in 2018.

New York Times

Touchy in Turkey

Merve Buyuksarac, a former Miss Turkey, has been convicted by a Turkish court for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Instagram. The lawyer for Buyuksarac plans to appeal the decision, which human rights activists say is just the latest move by Erdogan to mute critics.

BBC

ASIA-PACIFIC

Rewarding outspokenness

Independent lawmaker Jacqui Lambie of Australia raised eyebrows almost two years ago when she praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for his "no-nonsense attitude," but her current popularity with voters is expected to let her to keep her seat next month. "Voters are sick of being taken for granted by the major parties," she says.

Bloomberg

Reducing maternal mortality

A group of women in Pakistan is knocking on people's doors and distributing condoms, birth control pills, and intrauterine devices. The program, sponsored by the non-profit Health and Nutrition Development Society, is an attempt to reduce the country's high maternal mortality rate.

Guardian

THE AMERICAS

Family feud

The battle for Viacom just got even messier. Keryn Redstone, Sumner's granddaughter, has hired a lawyer to work with the company's directors in the fight for the media conglomerate.

Bloomberg

Discrimination in coaching

A survey of 2,500 coaches of women's college sports found that 40% of the female coaches felt "discriminated against because of their gender," compared to just 29% of the men. The report, by the Women's Sports Foundation, also found that 91% of the female coaches said it was easier for men to arrange an increase in salary.

PR Newswire

How to drive a career

GM CEO Mary Barra, No. 1 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, says women starting out in their careers should resist the urge to limit themselves. "Sometimes women say, I know I want to have a family or play in the local symphony, and they start pulling themselves out of their career path," she says. "You don't have to take yourself out of the running before you even start." Sound advice.

Time