Updated at 10:15 a.m.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Since the Paycheck Fairness Act passed the House in March, full-time female workers in the U.S. have earned $159 billion less than their male peers, according to an analysis published Monday by the Center for American Progress (CAP). The proposed pay legislation, which would require companies to prove wage differences were not based on gender and would penalize violations, was approved by the House in late March and moved along to the Senate, where it seems destined to die. Again. “Women across America are tired of hearing politicians promise that they will fight for them if elected only to ignore the gender pay gap once in office,” wrote CAP research assistant Robin Bleiweis. We shall see what more the candidates have to say on that front during this week’s 2020 Democratic debates [CAP]. Also on the pay gap: Women pay 18 percent more in banking fees, new research showed. The company behind the report attributed that to their lower earnings [Finance & Commerce].
Here’s the BB breakdown of the biggest female-focused news by industry. Have news to share? Email us at tips@bossbetty.com.
ADVERTISING & MEDIA: PR Week‘s “40 under 40 is out” — are you on it [PR Week]? PBS CEO Paula Kerger — who just signed on for five more years in her current stead — warned brands against losing their true identities in a quest to stay ahead of the curve. “The more important question is, rather than what changes, is what needs to stay the same,” the public television honcho said [AdWeek]. The prestigious September issue of British Vogue got the royal treatment: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, guest edited the magazine after turning down a spot on the cover, which will feature women who are “trailblazing change makers” [NYT]. Former BET chairperson and CEO, Debra Lee, joined AT&T’s board and will leave her post on Twitter’s board [Variety]. Barton F. Graf CEO Caroline Winterton is leaving to be managing director of the New York Region at Digitas [AdWeek].
ENERGY: As Cheryl LaFleur ends her long tenure on the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee (FERC), she reflects on the differences between the Obama and Trump administrations [Utility Dive]. Pink Petro CEO Katie Mehnert writes that the poor representation of women in the energy industry — less than 20 percent of clean energy jobs are held by women and women make up just 15 percent of the workforce at oil and gas companies — is hurting our ability to innovate when it comes to climate change issues [NYT].
FINANCE: Despite the publicity companies are doing around efforts to increase gender diversity in finance, the needle has barely moved on the number of female partners at private equity firms, hedge funds and other financial services companies. Just 14 percent of partners are women, up a meager 1 percent since 2013 [Private Equity News]. The demand for exchange traded funds that focus on environmental, social and governance criteria — which includes investing in companies emphasizing gender-diversity — continues to grow [Financial Times]. JP Morgan Chase CMO Kristin Lemkau is experimenting with using AI in the company’s marketing efforts, and so far she’s liking what she sees [WSJ]. Maria Vullo, who was supervisor of New York State’s Department of Financial Services, weighs in on Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency and regulating fintech [American Banker].
MANUFACTURING & RETAIL: In preparation for the Democratic debates this week, Mary Barra’s GM — which has cut thousands of workers since November — released fact sheets detailing its 2009 government bailout and subsequent operational moves. This week the auto manufacturer shuttered its 78-year-old plant in Warren, Michigan [Reuters & CNN].
REAL ESTATE: A former fashion exec is set to be Douglas Elliman’s new head of marketing. Stephanie Garbarini will join Elliman next month as the brokerage preps for a rebranding. She replaces Samantha Yanks, who stayed just a month with the firm [TRD]. Los Angeles-area real estate agents Sarah Scheper, Ajani Scott, Taylor Schwartz and Samantha Barretto are among the cast of “Love & Listings,” the new VH1 docuseries that premiered Monday. The celeb side of the show includes Jordin Sparks, Amber Rose and Brandy Norwood [PR Web].
SCIENCE & HEALTHCARE: QUE Oncology, which develops drugs for “unmet medical needs associated with debilitating Women’s Health conditions,” appointed Dr. Julie Cherrington and Elizabeth Cermak to its Board of Directors [BusinessWire].
TECH & ENGINEERING: Uber’s head of communications, Jill Hazelbaker, wrote in a staff email that Monday’s massive marketing department layoffs were the result of an unnecessarily large team that led to inefficient decision-making. The dismissal of approximately 400 members of the department came on the toes of a rocky IPO, and just a week after Arianna Huffington left the board [NYT]. Being a woman in the male-dominated tech field is hard. Being a woman of color is a whole helluva lot harder — just 12 percent of women in computing are black or Latinx, and at major Silicon Valley firms that number is just 2 percent, research shows. That paltry representation is driving women of color to create their own networking communities [BuiltIn]. Jess Lee is Sequoia’s first female partner. To achieve success as an Asian woman in the white-male dominated world of VCs required an innovative approach [Businessweek]. Lara Lindenbaum is headed to SurveyMonkey as VP of communications. She was previously with Facebook, GoPro and Cisco [O’Dwyer’s]. The news about the teenager who won $3 million playing Fortnite is everywhere. What’s not is the fact that not one of the 100 finalists in the game’s first World Cup Finals — viewed by millions — was female, and that’s a problem as the esports industry grows [Guardian].
If there’s no relevant news of note to share in a given sector, we skip it for the day. Did we miss something? Let us know at tips@bossbetty.com.
