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Good morning, Broadsheet readers! The 2020 Olympics postponement is especially tough on gymnasts, female authors are frontrunners for the International Booker Prize, and Australia provides free childcare. Have a relaxing weekend.
– COVID-era childcare. As the coronavirus continues to ravage the globe, its path is revealing which services countries value the most. In Australia, childcare ranks high.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government on Thursday announced that it would provide 1 million families with free childcare during the COVID-19 crisis. It sees the upside of the benefit as two-fold: it keeps the childcare industry—and its tens of thousands of jobs—afloat as the virus upends citizens’ normal work routines, and it makes it easier for parents employed in ‘essential’ jobs to continue their critical work. The first three months of the initiative will cost Australia roughly $1 billion.
The issue of childcare shaped, to some degree, the conversation about closing schools in the U.S. since shuttering them would mean essential workers—those in the healthcare system, especially—would suddenly have to find a way to care for their kids during their workdays. Most schools closed anyway amid valid concerns about the virus’s spread.
The U.K. has tried to address the issue by keeping open school and nursery facilities for the children of essential workers. New York City is trying a similar scheme.
“These services are vital for so many parents so they can provide for their family, and children need as much familiarity and continuity as we can help provide at this unsettling time,” said Morrison in announcing that disadvantaged children and families with working parents will get top priority.
The coronavirus crisis is already teaching us some painful lessons, including that services like childcare—powered almost entirely by women—are vital to the world’s economic and physical well-being and have been underpaid and under-appreciated for far too long.
Claire Zillman
claire.zillman@fortune.com
@clairezillman
Today’s Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Pregnancy protections. Pregnant health care workers, scared for their safety and the safety of their babies, are being forced to keep working without extra accommodations or safety precautions through the coronavirus pandemic, they tell ProPublica. The doctors and nurses are weighing whether to continue in jobs they view as dangerous or to quit and leave colleagues even more overwhelmed. ProPublica
- All-around challenge. The postponement of the 2020 Olympics is tough on all athletes who were planning to go to Tokyo, but it's especially difficult for female gymnasts who compete at younger ages than most of their Olympian peers and whose careers are generally shorter. Simone Biles says she worries about the mental toll of another year of training—and dealing with USA Gymnastics for another year.
- Reading list. The frontrunners for the International Booker Prize for literature translated into English are again mostly women. Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police and Fernanda Melchor’s Hurricane Season are among the contenders. New York Times
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Bridgewater co-CEO Eileen Murray joins Compass's board of directors. Kim Popovits, former CEO and chair of Genomic Health, joins the board of directors at 10x Genomics.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Joe's potential justices. Joe Biden has promised, if elected president, to put a black woman on the Supreme Court. Who would that future Supreme Court justice be? California Supreme Court Justice Leondra R. Kruger and U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson are two possible candidates. LA Times
- Curl class action. The brand DevaCurl is the subject of class-action lawsuits alleging that its products, promoted as part of curly hair acceptance, caused women's hair to become damaged and fall out. The company maintains that "we can conclusively say that our products are safe." New York Times
- Multi-tasking. Kim Kardashian West is lobbying President Trump on criminal justice reform and promoting her new shapewear line Skims at the same time. This profile examines how the two parts of her work blend—and sometimes help each other. New York Times
ON MY RADAR
Saying 'I do' over Zoom The Verge
Coronavirus is a weapon in an increasingly bizarre gender war MEL Magazine
Why men started wearing female athlete jerseys GQ
Finding beautiful baby decor in a sea of plastic Curbed
PARTING WORDS
"You never know who's going to stop by. Wait a minute, nobody's stopping by."
-Chef Ina Garten, making a giant cocktail at home on Instagram
