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Good morning, Broadsheet readers! President Trump sends Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter about impeachment, male scientists are more likely than their female counterparts to describe their work in glowing terms, and more women are needed on the ‘frontier.’ Have a wonderful Wednesday.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
-'Frontier' women. I’ll be honest, the new World Economic Forum report on the global gender gap is not easy reading. The top-line takeaway is that “none of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children.” That’s because gender parity will not be attained for 99.5 years. Not exactly uplifting news to kick off your day.
But don't dismiss the issue as hopeless; it's important to understand the powers at play. The report examines gender parity across four categories: economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Education and health and survival are the closest to eliminating gender gaps; they’re at 96% and 97% parity, respectively. Political empowerment is the farthest from parity at a woeful 24.7%, but it did see a 1.8 percentage point uptick in the past year.
The real trouble area is economic participation, where the march toward parity actually regressed last year to 57.8%. The usual culprits are at play here: a smaller share of women are in the labor force, gender gaps widen with seniority, women are still prohibited—in one way or another—from opening a bank account or obtaining credit in 72(!) countries, women shoulder a disproportionate share of household and care responsibilities, and that dang wage gap persists.
But there's another data set that stood out to me as more novel: women’s representation in ‘frontier’ jobs—defined as those that will grow in the next five years—in the leading 20 economies. In only two of the eight categories of jobs (people and culture and content production) did women make up a majority of the workforce. In the other six—marketing, sales, production development, data and A.I., engineering, and cloud computing—female workers were in the minority. (On top of being underrepresented in these emerging fields, women are overrepresented in professions at risk of being automated.) The supply of women with ‘frontier’ skills is only part of the problem; in some instances, employers are overlooking women who are qualified for such roles.
That call to action doesn’t necessarily dull the blow of the report’s headline, but it is at least one concrete approach to addressing what remains an enormous, global problem.
Claire Zillman
@clairezillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
Today's Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Dear Madame Speaker... President Trump sent a six-page letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in which he railed against the Democrats' move toward impeachment. The letter's language is trademark Trump: "As you know very well, this impeachment drive has nothing to do with Ukraine, or the totally appropriate conversation I had with its new president," Trump writes to Pelosi. "It only has to do with your attempt to undo the election of 2016 and steal the election of 2020!" Fortune
- A groundbreaking study! When male scientists present their work, they are more likely than women to call their studies “unprecedented,” “remarkable,” “excellent,” and “novel.” Women stick to specific, narrower language. Researchers believe that male confidence (overconfidence?) leads to men's studies getting 10% more citations. Wall Street Journal
- Cleanup not so complete? 60 Minutes supposedly cleaned house as part of CBS's big cleanup following the ouster of Les Moonves and show executive producer Jeff Fager. But associate producer Cassandra Vinograd says in a lawsuit that she faced retaliation for reporting workplace misconduct by her boss as recently as September. HuffPost
- Acquisition season. Sophia Amoruso's media and networking platform Girlboss sold to Attention Capital, the new media investment firm founded by Fox Networks Group president Joe Marchese, Snap’s former head of content Nick Bell, and former Palantir executive Ashlyn Gentry. The size of the deal wasn't disclosed, and Amoruso will stay on and join Attention Capital. Plus, Ankiti Bose's near-unicorn Zilingo, a fashion platform, acquired the Sri Lankan SaaS startup nCinga in a $15.5 million deal.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Kuwait appointed Mariam Al-Aqeel as finance minister; she is the first woman in the Gulf region hold that job. Hearst Magazines named Kristen O'Hara, formerly of Snap. Inc, SVP and chief business officer. The New York Times promoted Washington bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller to assistant managing editor. When Leading Women founder and CEO Susan Colantuono retires at the end of the month, president and COO Kelly Lockwood Primus will become CEO.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Apology accepted? Last weekend, Estonian Conservative People’s Party chairman and interior minister Mart Helme took a swipe at new Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. Helme called the 34-year-old "a cashier" (Marin has worked in a department store); Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid reached out to Finland to apologize. Helme yesterday survived a no-confidence vote called because of his comments. Time
- Congressional wardrobe. We know that many working women have started relying on Rent the Runway's unlimited offering for their wardrobes—but what about working congresswomen? The clothing rental service, led by CEO Jennifer Hyman, is growing in popularity on Capitol Hill. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Stephanie Murphy use the service, and the Congressional mailroom can often be seen piled with Rent the Runway delivery bags. Washington Post
- Little Women, big problem. Greta Gerwig's new adaptation of Little Women could suffer this awards season—because male Academy members aren't even watching it! RSVPs for screenings so far have skewed heavily toward women, and Oscar voters, well, do not. Producer Amy Pascal says she's not sure men are watching their screener DVDs at home either. Vanity Fair
ON MY RADAR
A forgotten crisis: Domestic violence in the military HuffPost
20 women of color in politics to watch in 2020 Elle
New Away leaks reveal employees worked without heat, struggled with headaches and nausea The Verge
What it's like to be a Melania Trump expert The Cut
QUOTE
"I graduated with my doctorate, won mayoral office, and married the love of my life!"
-Claudia López, incoming mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, after marrying her partner Angélica Lozano. López is the first woman to lead Bogotá and the first openly lesbian mayor of a capital city in Latin America.
