Katie Hill's Final Speech: Farewell—and Keep Fighting

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Good morning, Broadsheet readers! WeWork’s Adam Neumann is accused of pregnancy discrimination, we learn more about U.S. businesswoman and friend of Boris Johnson Jennifer Arcuri, and Rep. Katie Hill says her final goodbyes in Congress. Have a lovely weekend.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

- Hill says goodbye. Yesterday, Rep. Katie Hill stood in front of her colleagues in the House of Representatives. It was the first time she'd left her apartment since the release of intimate photos taken of her without her consent.

She started with apologies: "This is the last speech that I will give from this floor as a member of Congress," she said. "I wanted to show young people, queer people, working people, imperfect people that they belong here. ... I fell short of that and I'm sorry. ... To every little girl who looked up to me, I hope that one day you can forgive me."

Hill, a Democrat, chose to resign less than a year into her term representing a flipped California district after conservative media published the intimate photos alongside allegations of two inappropriate relationships: one with a staffer in her House office (a violation of new rules imposed after the rise of #MeToo) and one with a campaign staffer. Hill admitted to the campaign relationship (calling it "inappropriate") but denied that one took place after she was a member of Congress. The House Ethics Committee was set to investigate her before she announced her resignation. New reporting from the LA Times yesterday revealed how Hill's ex-husband shopped around the story of their relationship, which Hill has said was abusive, and how GOP operatives who worked with former Rep. Steve Knight, whose seat Hill won in 2018, were behind the first stories.

Hill, as she acknowledged, made serious mistakes. But that does not justify the repulsive decision to weaponize those personal photos against her—an action that is likely to have consequences that reach far beyond the soon-to-be ex-congresswoman.

Hill said in her speech that she chose to resign because of the "misogynistic culture" that "fears and hates powerful women" and "gleefully consumed" naked pictures of her; because of the threatening messages she received; because of the revenge porn's effect on her staff, family, and friends.

It's exactly the kind of nightmare situation that can scare women—and especially young women, with personal digital histories that predate their time in public life—from running for office. No matter your political party, the calculation is the same: What if sensitive photos or information get out—is it worth it? Hill addressed that concern head on, "Keep running for office," she said to women watching.

Hill, whose last day is today, ended her speech by calling out the hypocrisy of the system at large: "I'm leaving, but we have men who have been accused of intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in boardrooms, on the Supreme Court, in this very body, and worst of all in the Oval Office." Her last vote in Congress was in favor of the House's impeachment inquiry. (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, by the way, said it was "shameful that [Hill has] been exposed to public humiliation by cyber exploitation.")

"I yield the balance of my time today, but not forever," Hill ended her farewell address. The congresswoman has said she plans to do activist work against revenge porn, which means we'll likely be hearing from Hill again soon—on her own terms.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- WeWork? Another serious problem at WeWork: pregnancy discrimination. Former CEO Adam Neumann is personally accused of discriminating against his chief of staff, Medina Bardhi, when she became pregnant. Bardhi told her boss she could no longer come with him on business trips “due to his penchant for bringing marijuana on chartered flights and smoking it throughout the flight while in an enclosed cabin." Neumann allegedly referred to Bardhi's maternity leave as "vacation" or "retirement." Bardhi filed an EEOC complaint; WeWork said the company "plans to vigorously defend itself" against the claims. New York Times

- About Arcuri. Bloomberg Businessweek profiles Jennifer Arcuri, the U.S. businesswoman who's at the center of a U.K. political scandal over her friendship with (and alleged favors from) Prime Minister Boris Johnson. A fixture of the London tech startup scene, her ride to fame wasn't what she expected. Bloomberg

- Not-so-baby steps. Companies are racing to build a better baby formula (we covered one startup in the mix earlier this year). The sugar "human milk oligosaccharides" is key; scientists are figuring out how to make more HMOs so formula better resembles breast milk. Wall Street Journal

- Chain refresh. One J.C. Penney in Texas boasts a fitness studio, video game lounge, and styling classes. It's a test location that will determine whether the experiences will roll out to the struggling retailer's stores nationwide—part of the strategy set by CEO Jill Soltau. Wall Street Journal

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Longtime Fox News correspondent Catherine Herridge is joining CBS News as a senior investigative correspondent.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Because it's worth it? After Twitter announced this week that it would ban all political advertising, Sheryl Sandberg weighed in on political ads on Facebook (recently a topic of interrogation for Mark Zuckerberg from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). Sandberg says the ads are less than 1% of revenue and "the revenue is not worth the controversy," but that Facebook is committed to political advertising because of "free speech." Bloomberg

- Trillion-dollar opportunity. If women and men participated equally as entrepreneurs in the global economy, global GDP could rise by 3% to 6%. That would boost the global economy by as much as $5 trillion, the Boston Consulting Group found. Harvard Business Review

- Crash economics. The world is facing a "global fertility crash," with many countries well below the two births per woman generally needed to sustain populations and economies. Bloomberg Businessweek spoke to four women in countries that are outliers among the global averages—France, Saudi Arabia, China, and Nigeria—about having children (or not). Bloomberg

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