✊Boss Betty✊ Newsletter: Coach & Kate Spade’s new CEO — Positive gender equality + pandemic news — & more

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The Fortune 500 got a new female CEO — but it’s a pretty freaking weird story…

The Fortune 500 gained a new woman CEO this week with the news that luxury goods company Tapestry was replacing its top exec, Jide Zeitlin, with CFO Joanne Crevoiserat. That’s a big deal since Tapestry is home to renowned brands Kate Spade, Coach and Stuart Weitzman, and because Zeitlin is (was) one of only five Black Fortune 500 leaders (all of them male), and his successor, Crevoiserat, will join just 35 other women helming the country’s biggest companies.

Also notable is that the story behind Tapestry’s management shake-up is pretty darn odd.

In a Tuesday LinkedIn post explaining his abrupt resignation — his contract had recently been renewed for three years — Zeitlin writes that a reporter had revived old allegations of an “inappropriate relationship with a woman whom I had met while pursuing my interest in photography.” The ex-CEO then goes on to say, “I sometimes used a pseudonym, based on my middle name ‘James,’ when photographing strangers.” Uh huh… Read the story.

Here’s how the pandemic could actually maybe make work life better for women

Good news alert — this sh*tshow has some positive potential. We know this is massively flipping the script given the super sad stats we’ve been citing re: gender inequality worsening exponentially amid the pandemic but, hey, nobody likes to be a bad news bearer all the time and we’re into the lemonade out of lemons thing.

If we do things right, it’s moments in history like these — when everything is in flux, when our visions of the short- and long-term future shift hourly, when the world is (figuratively and literally) on fire — that we have the opportunity to make the biggest leaps in progress. Here’s a sunnier look at the impact of the coronavirus on gender equity in the work world:

The majority of those participating in a survey by the nonprofit Catalyst see the coronavirus disruption “as an opportunity for companies to take a stance around inclusion and equity.” About 40 percent said they believe their companies will prioritize gender equity more after the pandemic ends.

The comparative success female-led countries have had in containing the coronavirus could reshape “our old, obsolete [male] leadership archetypes.”

The creep of personal life into professional life is widespread now that we’re all working from our living rooms and kitchens, and these new windows into the lives of others — and their caregiving issues, for example — are driving up empathy among colleagues and allowing for more strategizing around building a work environment that works for everyone.

Pursuant to the above, both employees and employers are — many for the first time — discovering that remote work is totally doable (and has the upside for employers of savings on real estate expenses).

Caveat lector: We’re fairly certain we’ll be back on the not-so-sunny side of things next week…

Other big stuff to keep track of in the femiverse 🌎:

*A star-studded group is launching a National Women’s Soccer League team in L.A. Nicknamed “Angel City” for the moment, the franchise’s backers include Mia Hamm, Serena Williams and her toddler Alexis Olympia, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Uzo Aduba and plenty of other bold-faced names. [Guardian]

*Does the Lincoln Project, the organization trolling the president with its viral anti-Trump ads, have a woman problem? “As the group expands and its leaders make the rounds on cable news programs, no one is talking about how The Lincoln Project plans to target the group of voters most open to changing their mind about the president: women,” this piece reads, saying that the organization’s “hyper-masculine approach” is not helping its cause. [Glamour/The 19th)

*Planned Parenthood of New York is removing the name of Margaret Sanger, who founded the national organization, from its Manhattan clinic because of her views on eugenics. [WaPo]

*The top 10 ranked companies for women, as rated by women, include Medela (run by a woman), Zoom and HubSpot. [CNBC]

*“There is a tidal wave of multicultural women that are about to leave corporate America.” A new survey shows that 50 percent of multicultural women are considering leaving their firms over the next two years, citing factors such as wanting more control over their careers and race/ethnicity discrimination. [NBC News]

*About that “sexist vulgarity” Rep. Ted Yoho used to refer to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez… “The GOP has been desperately trying to shake its image as the party of old, white males … But between the nasty confrontation with AOC and the [Liz] Cheney pile-on, this was a bad week for that effort.” [NYT & Politico]

*“Bacardi targeted women with its new reduced-alcohol vodkas. It went over as well as you’d expect.” [WaPo]

And, don’t forget to read this week’s Boss Betty breakdown by industry of the week’s biggest female-focused news.