[[link removed]] Ms. Memo: This Week in Women's Rights
May 31, 2023
From the ongoing fight for abortion rights and access, to elections, to the drive for the Equal Rights Amendment, there are a multitude of battles to keep up with. In this weekly roundup, find the absolute need-to-know news for feminists.
What Would It Look Like if the Workplace Was Built for Women? [[link removed]]
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(MoMo Productions / Getty Images)
BY PAT MITCHELL | It’s challenging to find positive stories today about progress for women entering top leadership positions in business. Earlier this year, the number of women CEOs leading American companies rose from 8 percent to 10 percent. Five new women are leading Fortune 500 companies, bringing the total number to 53.
Progress, yes… although it’s hard to get too excited about a meager 2 percent rise—even though 10 percent is the highest percentage of women CEOs ever recorded in the U.S.
But this month, in an unexpected place, given its much ballyhooed patriarchal culture and often documented misogynistic government, there is an even more positive gender equity story to report: in Australia.
The number of women leading Australia’s largest listed companies has risen from a dismal 5 percent in 2020 to 30 percent today, according to the Financial Times—boosted by the promotion of Vanessa Hudson to Qantas CEO. (Notably her competition for the job were two other women.) Her biggest business rival company, Virgin Australia, is also led by a woman, Jayne Hrdlicka.
The rapid ascent is a welcome surprise. It was just last year that the Australian advocacy group Chief Executive Women (CEW) “warned it would take 100 years for corporate Australia to achieve a gender balance of 40 percent,” reporter Nic Fildes wrote.
In spite of this good news for top Australian women in business—and the good news that the Labor Party in Australia also met its internally set quota of 50 percent female representation in its delegation—the country’s working women still face many challenges. There is a gender pay gap (13 percent), and a lack of support for childcare and other family support systems, including paid parental leave. These are the same challenges that women face in the U.S., despite study after study recognizing these barriers to gender equity in business.
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The Best Present for Minnesota Mothers: Paid Family Leave [[link removed]] Women Workers Can Help Rebuild the U.S. Economy—If We Can Solve Their Care Challenges [[link removed]]
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From Five Chickens to a Thriving Farm: Why Investing in Women Benefits Everyone [[link removed]] National Survey: Americans Call for Childcare (March 1987) [[link removed]]
What we're reading
Because it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. Here's what we're reading this week:
*
"A
Movement
to
Make
Workplaces
‘Menopause
Friendly’”
—
New
York
Times
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"Why
do
so
many
Black
women
die
in
pregnancy?
One
reason:
Doctors
don't
take
them
seriously”
—
The
Associated
Press
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[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
Last week, a New York jury ruled that columnist E. Jean Carroll was sexually assaulted and defamed by the former president, and awarded her five million dollars in damages. On the latest On The Issues, we dive into the Carroll verdict, and its implications for the larger case against former president Trump.
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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