Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Activist investors are pushing for diversity on Wall Street, CEOs set a deadline for gender parity, and women dominated the Grammy nominations. Have a terrific Wednesday.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Publicizing the pay gap. Activists Pax World Management, Arjuna Capital, and Trillium Asset Management are in the midst of a push to convince several giants of the financial industry, including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, to release data on their gender pay gaps and on the diversity breakdown of their employees.
The investors, though relatively small, have a track record of successfully influencing the companies they target, having already convinced a number of leading tech players—Apple and Intel among them—to do the same.
As evidenced by the glacial pace of progress in the tech industry, persuading companies to release regular diversity and pay gap stats is by no means a panacea. But it does give outside observers a baseline to judge where the company currently stands—and what headway (or lack thereof) it is making over time. What's more, it forces a business to devote time and resources to thinking about and tracking its diversity and, hopefully, provides motivation to improve.
So bravo to the activists for taking on this fight—and here's to hoping they soon bring it to other industries as well. Fortune
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Déjà vu. Echoing the election, Time has named Hillary Clinton "Person of the Year Runner-up," while Donald Trump walked away with the title. Also on the 2016 shortlist for Person of the Year: Simone Biles, and Beyoncé, as well as the women working on the CRISPR DNA editing technology and those who helped alert the world to the water crisis in Flint. Time
• True blue. Fortune's 2016 list of Blue Ribbon companies (names that showed up on at least four of our seven most rigorous annual rankings) includes a number of businesses run by women, including IBM (CEO Ginni Rometty, No. 4 on our Most Powerful Women list) General Dynamics (CEO Phebe Novakovic No. 8 on the MPW list), and GM (Mary Barra, No. 1 on the MPW list). Fortune
• Get pumped. Breast pumps have a (well-deserved) rep for being noisy, inefficient, and uncomfortable. Startup Naya Health, led by founder Janica Alvarez, is attempting to shake up the category with a new "smart" pump that uses an innovative water-based technology. Fortune
• Partners for parity. A group of more than two dozen CEOs, former CEOs, and other top execs have signed a new pledge to bring gender equality to the upper ranks of American companies by 2030. Among the co-chairs of the coalition: Former DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman and Evercore Wealth Management partner Jewelle Bickford. WSJ
• Find your joy. Tidying guru Marie Kondo writes about how to apply the concept of “tokimeku,” a Japanese word that means “to spark joy,” to your life. New York Times
• Good job. Good American, the denim brand co-founded by Khloe Kardashian and Emma Grede, reports that the company brought in $1 million in sales on its launch day alone. Racked
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Lydia Polgreen, a New York Times associate masthead editor and editorial director of NYT Global, has been named editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post. Bank of New York Mellon has appointed Linda Cook of EIG Global Energy Partners and Jennifer Morgan of SAP to its board.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• A Kelly callout. Megyn Kelly, who is under armed guard after receiving death threats, accused Trump social media director Dan Scavino of stirring up the "corner of the internet that really enjoys nastiness and threats." The Guardian
• Veiled threat? German Chancellor Angela Merkel ramped up her rhetoric toward Muslim immigrants, calling for a ban on the full facial veil "wherever legally possible." The tough words come at a time when she is attempting to garner support from the more conservative wing of her party. WSJ
• Grammy goddesses. Beyoncé, Rihanna, Adele dominated the 59th Annual Grammy Awards nominations, with nine, six, and five nods, respectively. Variety
• Hear her roar. For the second year in a row, Katy Perry claims the title of the most-followed celeb on Twitter. Interestingly, women account for seven of the top 10 most popular handles. Time
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ON MY RADAR
Omarosa: I'm black, female, and Donald Trump is my friend The Hollywood Reporter
SHE's No. 2: Gender diversity lures buyers to one of 2016's Top ETF debuts Bloomberg
Did you change your name when you married? New York Times
The progress and pitfalls in television's treatment of rape Variety
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