Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Facebook wants the women of India to feel safer on its platform, Donald Trump may be confused about his Georgia history, and we attempt to unpack the lessons of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s ouster. Have a beautiful Thursday.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Unpacking Uber. As soon as the news broke that Travis Kalanick had stepped down as CEO of Uber, the rumor mill went into overdrive. The biggest target of speculation? Who will replace him as chief.
I was particularly interested to see how many women's names were floated yesterday. A sampling: Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg, newly available Marissa Mayer, HPE's Meg Whitman, and CVS Health's Helena Foulkes. While some of the suggestions seem like a stretch, it's worth noting that Uber has been on a female exec hiring spree lately—and that naming a female CEO would be a big step toward winning back employees and customers who've been put off by the company's rep as a toxic place for women.
Speaking of which, Fortune's Valentina Zarya weighs in on how much we should—and shouldn't—read into Uber investors' decision to push Kalanick out. Her take: It was the potential risk to the company's value that forced their hand, rather than a genuine concern for the culture. The lesson here, writes Val, is not that we should trust that corporations will do the right thing, but that employees and consumers should continue to use their economic might to hold them accountable.
Our colleague Beth Kowitt, meanwhile, makes the case that, while Uber board member Arianna Huffington has become increasingly influential, having more women on the company's board from the get-go would have discouraged the cultural rot that led to Kalanick's departure. As a point of contrast, Beth looks at the Starbucks board, which has four female directors—three of whom are women of color. Starbucks created a board that attempted to mirror its customers and employees. It would've served Uber to do the same.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• First...or sixth? The New York Times fact-checks a tweet from President Trump that claims that, after winning a special House election in Georgia, Karen Handel "becomes 1st Woman Rep GA has sent to Congress." It turns out that the state sent Rebecca Latimer Felton to Congress in 1922—though she served just a single day. Five women from Georgia have served in Congress since then, though Handel is the first-ever Republican woman to represent the state. New York Times
• Worth 1,000 words. Facebook has revealed new tools designed to help women in India feel safer on its platform. The features, which allow users more control over how their photos can be downloaded and shared, were rolled out after the company learned that many women in the country felt uncomfortable uploading pictures of themselves onto the site. Fortune
• Standing up for her seat. After Renee Rabinowitz, now 83, was asked to change seats on El Al, Israel's national airline, because an Orthodox man complained about being seated next to a woman, she sued. Yesterday, she won that suit, as a Jerusalem court ruled that Israeli airline employees cannot ask women to move to spare a man from having to sit next to them. New York Times
• Ask for more. Fortune's Maddie Farber talks to Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck about the most common mistakes women make when it comes to salary negotiations. Fortune
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Carol Pottenger, a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral who was one of the first women selected for sea duty, has been named the board of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Meg Whitman, who remains CEO of HPE, has handed off one of her other titles—president—to company vet Antonio Neri. Leslie R. Caldwell, a former assistant attorney general, is joining the law firm Latham & Watkins.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Looking into the gap. This Bloomberg feature—"Why Can't Your Company Just Fix the Gender Wage Gap?"—does a nice job of unpacking all the nuances that make the gap so surprisingly complex and persistent. Bloomberg
• What's $110 million between friends? Theranos is poised to settle with Walgreens over allegations that the Elizabeth Holmes-led laboratory startup breached the companies’ contract. Although Walgreens had sought to recover the full $140 million it put into the partnership, it would reportedly get less than $30 million under the terms of the deal. WSJ
• Look to Liu. Quartz's Joon Ian Wong argues that Travis Kalanick could have learned a lot from Jean Liu, president of Didi Chuxing, the ride-sharing behemoth that merged with Uber China last August. Quartz
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