Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley will continue her campaign if she loses in New Hampshire, a slew of new women-focused media sites launched, and Oscar nominations are in—with a notable omission. Have a wonderful Wednesday!
– And the nominees are. The 2024 Oscar nominations were announced yesterday morning with some notable picks, like Lily Gladstone, whose Best Actress nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon makes her the first Native American up for the award.
But one omission drove debate all day. Greta Gerwig didn’t receive a nomination for Best Director for Barbie. The Mattel-backed project was the highest-grossing film of 2023 and made Gerwig the first solo female director to helm a film that earned $1 billion at the box office. Many commentators expected her to be among the year’s director nominees.
Barbie was hardly ignored—it earned eight nominations. America Ferrera was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, which included a widely shared monologue about the pressure of being a woman. Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s script was nominated in the Best Adapted Screenplay category (another controversy!). And the movie was among the 10 picks for Best Picture—which makes Gerwig the first female director to have her first three features (Barbie, Lady Bird, and Little Women) nominated for Best Picture.
And yet Gerwig’s shutout in the director category has touched a nerve with women. Memes pointed out that an Oscars nom for Ryan Gosling (for his performance as Ken), but not Gerwig and Margot Robbie—Barbie herself!—was a little too on the nose for a film that skewers the patriarchy.
The Best Director category has been one of the toughest for women to crack at the Oscars. It’s not a total shutout for women this year; Justine Triet is nominated for Anatomy of a Fall. She’s only the eighth woman ever nominated in the category; three have won over the ceremony’s soon-to-be 95-year history. While women’s films are nominated in other categories—in Best Picture, Barbie is joined by Anatomy of a Fall and Celine Song’s Past Lives—the directing award itself remains elusive.
Barbie fans may be understandably disappointed that the film that drove so much of the year’s cultural conversation—and box office revenue!—was excluded from one of the Oscars’ most prestigious categories. But like Ferrera said onscreen, reciting Gerwig’s script: “Always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Full steam ahead. Former President Donald Trump defeated Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary yesterday, which was thought to be the former UN ambassador's best and potentially last chance to beat Trump. Haley vowed to continue her campaign and tried to coax Trump to the debate stage. “New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last,” she said. The Guardian
- More media. Three women-focused publications on Tuesday announced expansions of their offerings. Midlife and perimenopause blog Jumble and Flow transitioned into a new independent site called The Midst. The Cut launched a women's sports vertical titled Keep It Moving, and women-led newsroom The 19th announced The 19th News Network, a new collective of like-minded publications across the country.
- Wider walkout. Across the media landscape, layoffs continued at the Los Angeles Times and Time on Tuesday. Anne Hathaway walked off a Vanity Fair photoshoot after learning that members of parent company Condé Nast's union were participating in a work stoppage to protest planned layoffs. Variety
- The cost of a handbag. Opponents of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol are launching intense attacks at Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, over a 2022 video that shows her allegedly accepting a $2,200 Dior handbag as a gift. The majority of South Koreans believe the gift was a violation of the country’s antigraft laws, though Yoon’s party argues that the video was recorded illegally and the first lady initially chastised the gift-giver for bringing it. Wall Street Journal
- Dobbs' mental toll. New data from the Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey found that depression and anxiety symptoms increased among women of reproductive age in states with trigger laws after Roe v. Wade was overturned. The researchers said the findings could reflect many factors, from women's concerns over the availability of life-saving reproductive care to the mental toll of losing reproductive sovereignty. Forbes
ON MY RADAR
Pamela Anderson is finally feeling like herself again Vogue
Gen Z's gender divide is huge—and unexpected Business Insider
The campaign against D.E.I. The New Yorker
PARTING WORDS
"Obviously, I met the most broken version of myself this year, but now—the strongest...I feel like the universe has sent me a gift, and I’m ready to take it."
—Former women's soccer star Ali Krieger after a year that saw her professional retirement and a tumultuous divorce from former teammate Ashlyn Harris
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