The World’s Most Powerful Women: August 30

France’s highest court has overturned a burkini ban in the seaside town of Villeneuve-Loubet near Nice, but it hasn’t ended the debate. The New York Times reports that despite the ruling, France’s parliament could still ban the full-body swimsuit, and some of the candidates running in the country’s 2017 presidential election want to do away with wearing religious attire in public. Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, for one, has called the burkini a “provocation.”

Israel, meanwhile, is doing the opposite, telling women to cover up. The Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport announced performers at government musical events must be modestly dressed. The move came after singer and Israeli reality TV star Hanna Goor wore a bikini top with an unbuttoned shirt on top during a performance and was told by a representative from the production company to cover up. She initially ignored the request, but then later made a quick exit after the man re-approached her with a security officer.

Being told to take off clothes or put more on is disparaging to women. In either situation, “people in positions of power say, ‘We’re putting these rules in place for the woman’s good,'” as Deirdre Clemente, a history professor at the University of Nevada recently put it. “The implication is that women are unable to regulate their appearance themselves.” At least in one small French town, women are free to wear a burkini, if they so choose.

@laurascohn

Be sure to check out the latest episode of Fortune’s new weekly show, Broad Strokes, featuring Kristen Bellstrom, of our sister publication, the Broadsheet, as well as Valentina Zarya. The latest episode discusses Kobe Bryant entering the VC game and Hillary Clinton’s health.

Also, tune into Fortune’s new podcast, Fortune Unfiltered with Aaron Task, which features Jeff Lawson, co-founder and CEO of Twilio.

EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA

Back to Brexit
Now for the hard part. Back from a hiking vacation in Switzerland, British PM Theresa May is set to gather with her cabinet tomorrow at Chequers, her country retreat, to talk about Brexit. The confab comes ahead of May's weekend trip to China's G20 summit, her first international trip as PM outside Europe.
Independent

Unplugging by the pool

Did you check your work email while on vacation this summer? If you answered "no," you're very trendy, according to Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway, who writes that "emailing from the pool does not prove you are powerful, it is starting to be seen for what it is—a sign of weakness, poor time management and an inability to delegate." Well put.

Financial Times

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Clark's calculation

African countries lose roughly $95 billion a year because of gender inequality. Such nations "are not harnessing the full potential of women, and that costs economically, at the family level, community level and the national level," according to UN official Helen Clark, who's among the five women in the running to be the next secretary general of the organization.

Business Standard

THE AMERICAS

Dilma's defense

Brazil's suspended president Dilma Rousseff was defiant on Monday as she testified at her impeachment trial. She claimed that since she took office, "several measures were taken to destabilize my government." Brazil, she said, is "one step away from a real coup d'etat." She'll officially be ousted from the presidency if 54 of Brazil’s 81 senators vote to impeach her, which is widely expected.

BBC

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Pushing down prices

Mylan, headed by CEO Heather Bresch, answered public criticism about the skyrocketing price of its auto-injector EpiPen by announcing the availability of a generic product yesterday. The new offering, which, at $300, would be 50% cheaper than its branded price, is still three times what it cost in 2008.

CNBC

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HP in the hot seat?

A group of former Hewlett-Packard employees has filed a suit alleging they were discriminated against because of their age. The suit claims that comments from four years ago by Meg Whitman—who was CEO of HP and is now CEO of HP Enterprise—indicate a push for younger workers. The companies have denied the discrimination charges.

MarketWatch

ASIA-PACIFIC

Tang's Taiwan

Meet Audrey Tang, the Apple consultant who was just named as head of digital policy for the Taiwanese government. Tang, who's worked on several startups and created a search engine for Mandarin lyrics, said she will use "digital services to assist public servants, welcoming contributions from civic tech, open knowledge, and collaborative innovations." When she starts her new job in October, she will be the youngest official in the government.

Quartz

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Killing for cash

The controversial president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has hired three women to be part of a hit team that performs contract killings in the government's war on drugs. In this disturbing piece, one of the women says the leader puts a premium on female killers because they raise fewer suspicions than men do.

BBC

IN BRIEF

Hillary Clinton's closest aide Huma Abedin is separating from her husband after his latest sexting scandal

New York Times

Snack giant Mondelez, led by CEO Irene Rosenfeld, has officially dropped its bid for Hershey.

Fortune

Fifty percent of Germans don't want Angela Merkel to serve a fourth term

Reuters

The companies that have equal pay for women

SILive

PARTING WORDS

You can do a hell of a lot more negotiation and mediation over a good meal.—Margaret Anstee, the UN's first female undersecretary general, who died last week at the age of 90