Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Indra Nooyi talks about her reign as one of the very, very few women of color running a Fortune 500 company, Beyoncé blesses us with her epic Vogue cover, and it’s Black Women’s Equal Pay Day—and Sheryl Sandberg and Laphonza Butler have something to say about it. Have a mindful Tuesday.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• 62% is not enough! Today is Black Women's Equal Pay Day. That means that the average black woman had to work all of last year and this far into 2018—August 7th!—just to earn as much a white man did in 2017. For those of you keeping score at home, here's how the math works out: black women are, on average, paid 38% less than white men (and 21% less than white women).
Fortune is marking the occasion with an op-ed from Facebook COO and LeanIn.org founder Sheryl Sandberg and Laphonza Butler, president of California's largest labor union, SEIU Local 2015.
The pair note one major problem with the state of the gap: Most people don't know about it:
"More than one in three Americans aren’t aware of the pay gap facing black women. Even worse, nearly four in ten hiring managers—people with the power to do something about it—don’t know that it exists.....The lack of awareness doesn’t end there: 43% of men say that obstacles to advancement for black women no longer exist. Since you can’t fix what you can’t—or won’t—see, this is a problem."
But Sandberg and Butler aren't just here to raise awareness—they also have concrete suggestions for how to start fixing the inequity. There's a lot we can do, they write:
"[Start] with raising the federal minimum wage, which would help increase the incomes of more than one in four black women in the workforce. Several states have taken steps to protect workers from retaliation when they discuss pay; the federal government should follow suit. At a time when labor rights are eroding, we need stronger protections for the millions of women who are proud union members—or want to be. And Congress must pass a national paid and family medical leave law. It would be particularly helpful to black women, too many of whom have to rush back to work after having a baby or put medical care for themselves on the back burner because they can’t afford to go days or weeks without a paycheck."
And their demand for change doesn't end there. Read the full op-ed for their exhortations to employers and managers, and to white women like me—and many of you—who must become allies in this fight. As Sandberg and Butler write: "Women need to come together, stand with one another, and fight for a fairer economy and country—not just for some women, but for all women. That’s solidarity." Fortune
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Nooyi's labor of love. Fortune's Beth Kowitt talked to PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi about the news that she will step down in October after 12 years at the helm. Nooyi has long been one of the more candid chiefs, so it's not surprising that she opened up to Beth about her legacy as one of the very, very few female CEOs of color in the Fortune 500 and the personal toll of leading a major corporation. "It is all consuming," she said. "When you are the CEO, especially of such a large company, there's only one priority, and that priority is being CEO. I think my family was short-changed a lot. The last 24 years, the PepsiCo family always came first. Now is the time to shift my priorities to my family." Fortune
• Bow down. Beyoncé's epic Vogue cover is out—and lives up to the hype. In the feature (which was beautifully photographed by Tyler Mitchell, the first-ever African American to shoot a cover for the iconic fashion title), Queen B talks about accepting her post-pregnancy body, the responsibility she feels to open the door for young artists, and the legacy she hopes to pass on to her children. There are too many spot-on quotes to list here (though you'll find one at the end of the newsletter), so treat yourself to reading the whole thing. Vogue
• Glass gov's mansion? The New York Times looks into why women have made so little progress when it comes to winning the governor's office and zeros in on a few of the women who are hoping to start reversing that trend this year. New York Times
• Diplomacy via tweet. Yesterday, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada's ambassador after Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland used Twitter to call for the release of women’s rights activist Samar Badawi, a Canadian citizen, and her brother, Raif Badawi. Saudi expressed outrage over the move, which it characterized as “blatant interference in the Kingdom’s domestic affairs.” Fortune
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Anne Richards, CEO of Prudential’s U.K. investment arm, is leaving the company to take over as chief executive at Fidelity International. Brenda Tsai has joined BNY Mellon as chief marketing officer. VC firm Maveron has promoted investor Anarghya Vardhana to partner. Former Vogue communications director Zara Rahim will join The Wing with the same title.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Healthy thinking. In this Fortune op-ed, Aetna president Karen Lynch writes about the way the health care industry must shift from focusing on physical illness to thinking about health more holistically—including supporting mental health and more proactive wellness efforts. Fortune
• Banking on it. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Jelena McWilliams, the latest Trump-nominated senior bank regulator to assume her post, talks about her priorities in the new role, including "re-evaluat[ing] rules on bank capital, small-dollar loans and investments in low-income areas." WSJ
• WeWork's beef with meat. Lindsay Baker, WeWork’s global head of sustainability, talks about the rationale behind the startup's recent decision to stop reimbursing employees for meals that include meat. (The company has also stopped serving meat at company events.) Fast Company
• The art of hospitality. Katherine Lo details her vision for Eaton, a group of properties that Vogue describes as "part hotel, part co-working space, part amorphous center for progressive causes." Lo, who is the daughter of the executive chairman of the Langham Hospitality Group, is opening the first Eatons—in D.C. and Hong Kong—this fall. Vogue
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ON MY RADAR
A Harvard sorority says it will disband rather than go co-ed in response to university sanctions The Washington Post
Yes! We're finally getting a Golden Girls cookbook. The Kitchn
Washington, D.C., maternity leave: Everything expectant parents need to know about the new paid family leave law Working Mother
Zola’s plan to take on the $72 billion wedding industry Fast Company
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