Gender Pay Gap, Donna Brazile, Trump Defamation Suit

Good morning, Broadsheet readers. WEF has a new prediction for when women will achieve gender equality, Janet Yellen’s successor is named, and President Trump is being sued. Have a wonderful weekend.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

Today's lead Broadsheet item is brought to you by Fortune's Claire Zillman:

The recent string of sexual harassment allegations against high-powered men has reminded women that they’re still a long way from achieving equal treatment in the workplace. The World Economic Forum yesterday hammered the point home, pegging a specific time frame to solving the problem. Ladies, it's going to be a slog: 217 years.

Rather than shrinking, the global economic gender gap—which considers women's labor force participation, wage equality, and professional leadership—continues to widen, according to the WEF report. In fact, progress on this front reverted back to 2008 levels this year, after peaking in 2013.

Not a single country has fully closed its economic gender gap. The small African nation of Burundi has come the closest, narrowing its divide by 91%. By comparison, the U.S. comes in at 19th, having narrowed its gap 78% of the way.

The report offers a few clues as to why women's economic disadvantage is getting worse. While global labor force participation is declining for both men and women, the dip has been especially steep for women. At the same time, earned income is on the rise for both sexes, but it's been especially sharp for men, "suggesting that the growth in prosperity is not equitably distributed along gender lines," the report says. Plus, women remain underrepresented in senior positions professionally: This year, they held just 22% of senior managerial roles.

A major incentive to increase efforts on the gender equality front: There's a ton of money at stake. Closing the economic participation gender gap 25% by 2025 could add some $5.3 trillion to the world GDP. The U.S. alone could see an extra $1.75 trillion by achieving economic gender parity.

Those figures, the report says, make an especially powerful point: that public investment into close global gender gaps could have "potential self-financing effects.” Fortune

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• Trump to go to court? Summer Zervos, a former contestant on Donald Trump’s show The Apprentice is bringing a defamation suit against that the President, claiming that he defamed her during his presidential campaign when he repeatedly called her and other women who accused him of sexual harassment liars who were motivated by getting “ten minutes of fame.” Trump has sought to dismiss or stay the case, claiming that a sitting president cannot be sued in state court. However, lawyers point to the Supreme Court ruling that allowed Paula Jones to bring a sexual harassment suit against President Bill Clinton, and several law professors have filed briefs supporting the legal grounds for the suit. New York Times

• I'm sensing a theme here. Director Brett Ratner, who has been accused by six different women of sexual harassment, is suing one of them for defamation. Melanie Kohler wrote on Facebook that she was raped by the director in the mid-2000s. She wrote: “Ratner was a rapist on at least one night in Hollywood about 12 years ago,” contending that he “preyed on [her] as a drunk girl and forced himself upon [her].” Ratner's suit claims the statements were made falsely, with “the intent to damage Ratner’s reputation.” Fortune

• End of the Yellen years. President Trump has tapped Fed Governor Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen as the head of the Fed. Yellen will continue to serve until her term expires in February 2018. Fortune

• Brazile's bombshell. Donna Brazil, who served as the interim chairperson for the Democratic National Committee starting in July 2016, has written a bombshell piece for Politico claiming that she found proof that Hillary Clinton rigged the nomination process during the 2016 presidential election. The proof, according to Brazile, is a joint fundraising agreement document between the DNC, the Hillary Victory Fund and Hillary for America. The agreement "specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised"—and was signed a full year before she cinched the nomination over Sanders. Politico

• Could Weinstein stop Brexit? Fortune's Geoff Smith makes the case that "the global wave of revulsion against sexual harassment in the workplace triggered by the allegations against Weinstein has now broken on the U.K. Houses of Parliament" has made the risk of Theresa May's government collapsing "non-negligible." And if the U.K. government collapses, with it may go Brexit. Fortune

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Emma Rosenblum is going to Elle, where she will take on the newly created position of executive editor. Rosenblum was the editorial director of Bloomberg Pursuits.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Kaine on 'Killary.' Tim Kaine, Virginia Senator and Hillary Clinton's running mate during the 2016 presidential election, has written an editorial for Esquire about the need for men to stand up for the opposite sex. He writes: "The attitudes toward Hillary that we saw on the trail—the 'lock her up' chants, the 'Killary' and 'Shrillary' memes, the proliferation of bogus conspiracy theories and vulgar attacks—showed how far away American men are from respecting women and accepting our own role in combating sexism." Esquire

• They're sorry, Ms. Jackson. Bloomberg has the scoop on U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who, in just six years on the bench, "has a record on hot-button issues that might cause President Donald Trump’s already overheated Twitter feed to burst into flames." Her latest case is the one involving ex-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his business partner, Rick Gates, who are being charged with money laundering and conspiracy. They pleaded not guilty. Bloomberg

• In defense of that dossier. Days after news emerged that Hillary Clinton's campaign and the DNC had helped pay for the so-called "Steele dossier," a document that describes salacious ties between the Trump camp and the Russian government, Clinton defended her involvement. She told The Daily Show's Trevor Noah that while her campaign ultimately funded some of the research, it was initially backed by Republican donor Paul Singer during the Republican primary. Fortune

• The Lion Queen. Let's end this week on a high note, with the official news that Beyoncé will voice Nala, the childhood friend-turned-love interest of Simba in Disney's live-action remake of The Lion King. The rest of the cast is equally impressive: The lead lion himself will be voiced by Donald Glover, James Earl Jones is reprising his role of Mufasa, John Oliver will play Zazu, and Billy Eichner and Seth Rogan will voice the comedic duo of Timon and Pumbaa. The movie is scheduled for release in summer 2019. Fortune

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