The committee’s policy proposal on Wednesday followed a 2015 report that showed that pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the country was more prevalent than a decade earlier. Last week, two new studies piled on to that bad news, finding that British women are increasingly concerned about discrimination related to maternity leave and that the gender pay gap of 18% balloons even further after women have kids.
The reality of being a working mom in the U.K. is at odds with the country’s official stance. Its 39 weeks of paid maternity leave is second-longest among OECD countries (trailing Greece’s 43 weeks). Women do not receive 100% of their salaries during those 39 weeks, so the full-rate equivalent is actually 12.2 weeks, but that number still puts the U.K. ahead of 15 other OECD countries, notably, Australia (2.5), Canada (8.2), Japan (9.4), and the United States (0).
The problem the U.K. faces echoes a critique of the feel-good maternity policies at companies like Netflix and Micorsoft in the U.S.; that bestowing a generous leave to new moms is not as helpful as it could be—and can even backfire against women—if the wider culture doesn’t support them taking advantage of it.
@clairezillman
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
| Tech savvy |
| A new study from Accenture found that female members of corporate boards are nearly twice as likely as their male colleagues to have technical experience, such as holding a CTO or CIO role. In the U.S., 26% of female board members have tech experience, vs. 17% of men. The difference is even starker in the U.K. and Australia: 18% vs. 9% and 14% vs. 4%, respectively. |
| Fortune |
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| The Brexit red line |
| Theresa May has vowed to put restricting immigration—an issue that also dogged her as Home Secretary—at the heart of the U.K.'s Brexit negotiations, but that could threaten the country's future in the single market. |
| Guardian |
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THE AMERICAS
| Dilma is done |
| The widely anticipated impeachment of Brazil's first female president became official yesterday, as the country's Senate voted 61 to 20 to convict Dilma Rousseff of manipulating the federal budget. For her critics, her ouster marks a fitting end for an arrogant leader, while her supporters see her downfall as a threat to the nation's young democracy. To outside observers, the vote smacks of irony since 60% of those who cast a vote in the impeachment trial have themselves been implicated in criminal wrongdoing. | | New York Times |
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| Ditching the MBA |
| Jen Rubio and Steph Korey, co-founders of luggage company Away, met while working at Warby Parker and advise wannabe entrepreneurs to skip the traditional MBA in favor of what they refer to as "startup grad school." |
| Fast Company |
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| One-woman band |
| Suzanne Ashe is the reporter, editor, designer, and delivery woman for Skagway News' one-person newsroom in Alaska. “Every single aspect of the job, I know how to do," she says. "But putting it all together, all at once, is obviously a tall task.” |
| Columbia Journalism Review |
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ASIA-PACIFIC
| Overturning overtime |
| In an interview with the AP, Tokyo's first female governor Yuriko Koike said she will push for more diversity in Japan's national government by advocating against overtime hours, which are tolerated as normal and can hamper work-life balance. |
| Japan Today |
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| Where credit is due |
| One scientist, Sellappan Nirmala, is largely responsible for discovering the HIV virus in India some 30 years ago, but her pioneering work has been all but overlooked until now. | | BBC |
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IN BRIEF
| This Colombia native's clothing company Naja makes 'nude' underwear and bras for six different flesh tones |
| Bloomberg |
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| Hillary Clinton writes an open letter to working moms |
| Fortune |
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| Airlines have no idea how to deal with sexual assault on planes |
| Slate |
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| The story of how the Virginia Company convinced women to come to the New World |
| The Atlantic |
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PARTING WORDS
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