The naughty or nice list
Can you IMAGINE how long this newsletter would be if we actually got into the naughty list? And how downright depressing? (Just see some of the items below…😳) So, we’ll give that a miss.
But let us know who you think should be on this year’s “nice” list and why (ex: Simone Biles for breaking the taboo on discussing mental health in the workplace). We’ll publish some of the selections, along with a round-up of the stories you shared of inspiring work experiences from 2021. Just hit reply, we’re here, on the other end, just waiting to hear from you! 🥰
See you next week, in our last newsletter of the year (goodbye and good riddance to 2021!).
News to note 📝
“To love is to think, and to think is to love.” Writer, thinker and intellectual luminary bell hooks passed away this week and we don’t know how to deal. hooks, whose writing spanned race, class and gender, leaves behind a legacy of intersectional feminism that — finally — took into account Black women’s lived experiences. Her writing is known for being easy to read and understand — a joy, really — no easy feat given the depth and breadth of subjects she explored and her fearless vulnerability. We leave you with one of our favorite quotes from hooks: “No Black woman writer in this culture can write ‘too much.’ Indeed, no woman writer can ‘too much’ … No woman has ever written enough.” [Guardian, NYT]
“If the bad people don’t get their punishment, I might never be able to walk out from [under] the shadow.” After a female employee at Chinese tech giant Alibaba accused her manager and a client of sexual assault, CEO Daniel Zhang vowed to do better. However, last month the company terminated her even as she and her family face vicious online harassment and abuse. The woman, known only by her surname “Zhou,” said that she wouldn’t encourage other women to come forward because of the retaliation she’s faced. Women who make sexual assault and harassment accusations in China face steep legal and cultural barriers. After tennis star Peng Shuai made a public accusation of sexual assault against a prominent government official, media censors quickly worked to erase and reverse her claims. [Quartz, AP]
Six more women allege sexual harassment at Tesla factory. What’s the saying? When it rains, it pours. And is it just us, or is it always pouring? More women have filed lawsuits alleging sexual harassment at Tesla’s Fremont factory. The women describe a pervasive environment of lewd comments and inappropriate, sexist behavior from male coworkers and supervisors. According to one former employee, it got so bad that she stacked boxes around her workstation and bought flannel shirts to tie around her waist to conceal her body. These allegations follow Jessica Barraza’s sexual harassment lawsuit filed last month alleging similar behavior. And speaking of Tesla, a former SpaceX employee is speaking up about her own experience of sexual harassment at Elon Musk’s other mega company. [WaPo, Fortune]
The N.Y.P.D. gets its first female police commissioner. Keechant Sewell, formerly the Nassau County chief of detectives, is making history as the first female police commissioner of the N.Y.P.D. Incoming New York City mayor Eric Adams announced the appointment — perhaps his most important — this week. Sewell will start the new role in January as the department faces scrutiny over police violence. [NYT]
#MeToo hits the Smithsonian and the male-dominated world of film composing. Female researchers who worked at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama — for many, a dream assignment — are speaking out about the sexual harassment they faced in the field. In a familiar turn of events, women faced career repercussions for speaking out against powerful male colleagues, sometimes even ending up with their harassers as co-authors of their research. And in Hollywood, female composers say that there’s a toxic culture of harassment and exploitation in an industry where women make up only 1.7% of all composers. [BuzzFeed, THR]
Big banking is getting with the paid leave program. As the rush for talent continues amid the #GreatRecession, Morgan Stanley is giving parents a minimum of 16 weeks of paid leave, covering adoptions, foster care and surrogacy, in addition to births. [Bloomberg]
