Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Rep. Marcia Fudge is in at HUD, a British ambassador comes under fire, and women are mad as hell about the impact of the pandemic. Have an unfettered Thursday.
– Embracing anger. There are some headlines you just can’t ignore. For me, this week’s prime example is this story from The Atlantic: “The Pandemic Has Given Women a New Kind of Rage.”
Author Helen Lewis begins by laying out, in brutal detail, the way the crisis is impacting women. None of it will be new to you—the disproportionate job losses (especially among Black and Latina women), the heavy burden of childcare and remote schooling, the way efforts like tackling the pay gap dissipated in the face of the virus, and the general sense that society at large did not seem to care enough about any of these problems to fix—or even sufficiently acknowledge—them.
That brings us to the rage part. Women tell Lewis how angry they are to see bars and restaurants open, even while schools stay closed. They’re mad that their co-workers and bosses don’t get how much they’re struggling (one woman says she “has been advised to stop mentioning my children as an excuse impacting my work”). They’re furious that they’ve had to pass up career opportunities or even quit their jobs completely to keep their families running.
So, how will that anger manifest? So far, many women have been too overwhelmed with coping with the crisis to tap into their rage, yet Lewis wonders:
“But could this heightened awareness of the modern economy’s unfair load shape politics over the next decade? In the United States, where ‘age moms’ and ‘wine moms’ were credited with influencing the results of the presidential election, having children is held up as the pinnacle of female achievement. And yet the pandemic has shown us how little support the country gives parents—the lack of federally mandated maternity leave, for example, makes the U.S. an outlier among rich countries.”
COVID has forced many of us (both moms and not) to confront the ways women’s careers remain insecure and undervalued, and the reality that an outsized share of parenting that continues to fall on mothers’ shoulders. That knowledge will not fade with the virus. So, I hope Lewis is right when she predicts: “The pandemic will have a long tail in which anger can turn into action.”
Kristen Bellstrom
kristen.bellstrom@fortune.com
@kayelbee
The Broadsheet, Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women, is coauthored by Kristen Bellstrom, Emma Hinchliffe, and Claire Zillman. Today’s edition was curated by Claire Zillman.
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- History at HUD. The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Rep. Marcia Fudge (D–Ohio) as secretary of housing and urban development, making her the first Black woman to lead the agency in more than four decades. One of her first tasks will be to rebuild morale among the civil servants working at the embattled agency. Washington Post
- Another accusation. A female aide to Andrew Cuomo has accused the New York governor of groping her in a sexually charged manner in the Executive Mansion late last year after she was summoned to help him with his cell phone. The woman, who has not been identified, is the sixth woman to accuse Cuomo of inappropriate behavior. Cuomo has denied the allegations as he faces calls to resign. Times Union of Albany
- Playing the field. In its first earnings release since going public, Bumble Inc. said revenue surged 31% in the fourth quarter, beating analysts' expectations, as people continued to spend more time online because of the pandemic. Total paying users increased 33% to 2.7 million. “The entire globe has gone through an incredibly lonely period,” founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said. “We believe that that digital-first approach lives on in a post-pandemic world." Wall Street Journal
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: The Bank of Japan has nominated Nomura Asset Management Chief Executive Officer Junko Nakagawa for its board. She'll replace the only woman currently serving on the nine-member board. Organic baby food subscription company Yumi said has hired Goldman Sachs investment banker Sarah-Marie Martin to be its CFO. Procore Technologies has appointed Sandy Hoffman VP of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
Holding ourselves accountable to progress The first step to diversity and inclusion progress is accountability. And accountability requires transparency. It grounds everything, shines a light on where we can improve and makes tough challenges impossible to ignore. While it may be uncomfortable at first, vulnerability is a necessity to lead effectively on diversity. See why now is the time to embrace transparency and how we’re doing it.
- Taking a stand. The Chinese government on Tuesday summoned British Ambassador to China Caroline Wilson for a dressing-down after she published an article on Chinese social media that defended the free press's role as a watchdog. China's foreign ministry said the article included "ideological bias." Wilson responded by reposting the piece. "I stand by my article," she said. Times of London
- Old school Oprah. Everyone's still talking about Oprah Winfrey's blockbuster interview with Harry and Meghan, but viewers will only be able to watch it for 30 more days on CBS's website and app. The broadcast will not land on a streaming service since, from start to finish, it was a production of Winfrey's company, Harpo Productions. Winfrey's deal with Apple and Harry and Meghan's deal with Netflix also complicated chances of finding the special a forever home. New York Times
- Parting ways. Beth Moore, a popular evangelical Christian and Bible teacher whose speeches have attracted thousands, says she's no longer a Southern Baptist and is parting ways with the denomination's publishing arm. Her departure follows her criticism of evangelicals' support of former President Donald Trump. CNN
What went wrong at Gimlet? Vulture
Banker, princess, warlord: the many lives of Asma Assad 1843 Magazine
Sallie Krawcheck: Why teaming up will work to our financial advantage Fortune
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