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On Monday, Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) tore into freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on the steps of the Capitol, reportedly calling her a f---ing b---- as he walked away. On Tuesday, during a private meeting, conservative male lawmakers took turns unloading on Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for criticizing President Donald Trumps handling of the coronavirus and supporting Dr. Anthony Fauci.
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The twin outbursts sent shockwaves through Congress as both parties rushed to contain, or condemn, the behavior. Two POLITICO Congress reporters are here to tell us what they saw this week on the Hill:
The Republican Party still has a long way to go -- POLITICOs Melanie Zanona writes: The GOP has been desperately trying to shake its image as the party of old, white males a problem Republicans have long struggled with, even before President Trump was elected. And, to the GOPs credit, they have recruited a record-breaking number of Republican women to run for office this year.
But between the nasty confrontation with AOC and the Cheney pile-on, this was a bad week for that effort. If the GOP is targeting Cheney in particular, the highest-ranking female Republican and just one of 13 Republican women in the House, what does that signal about how they value the women in their party?
At a press conference, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) voiced support for Cheney and said Yoho made a mistake. But he also said Yoho should be forgiven because he apologized, and questioned whether Democrats should have used an hour of floor time to continue talking about the incident comments that came off as tone-deaf to many congressional Democrats.
When pressed on whether the GOP has a woman problem, McCarthy strongly pushed back, pointing to the partys progress in recruiting female candidates. But he also acknowledged they still have a ways to go when it comes to improving their standing with women. So do we have areas to improve? Yes. But are there improvements out there? I see it each and every day, he said.
Dems use the moment to unite -- POLITICOs Sarah Ferris was there to witness the scene on Thursday as more than a dozen Democrats, mostly women, came to the defense of Ocasio-Cortez in a series of floor speeches. She writes: The speeches were delivered to a mostly empty House chamber in a mostly deserted Capitol complex but the intended audience was far beyond the building.
For an hour on the floor, Democrats from senior progressive Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to moderate freshman Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) called out Yoho for what they considered a non-apology. (He regretted his abrupt manner but denied using the vulgar insult that AOC and a reporter heard.) Many recounted their own experiences being accosted by men in their workplaces, including Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who was belittled by a senior Republican on the House floor just three years ago.
Im stunned, and yet, at the same time, I think its a pattern. Its an old pattern, Jayapal said.
AOC herself gave a forceful speech, condemning Yoho especially for referencing his wife and daughters when he denied leveling an explicative at her. In using that language in front of the press, he gave permission to use that language against his wife, his daughters, women in his community, and I am here to stand up to say that is not acceptable, she said. I want to thank him for showing the world that you can be a powerful man and accost women. You can have daughters and accost women without remorse. You can be married and accost women. ... It happens every day in this country.
It was a powerful moment for the Democratic Caucus, which touts more women than ever in its ranks and for Ocasio-Cortez personally, who has been vilified by the GOP and is a lightning bolt even in her own party. But on Thursday, it was progressives and moderates of all ranks, from Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to freshman lawmakers, who joined the show of force on the floor.
We are all keenly aware that everyone across the country is watching, Rep. Katherine Clark, one of the most senior Democratic women in Congress, said in an interview after her floor speech. If we don't speak up, then it becomes something that women and girls just accept in our lives.
-- Dems rebuke culture of sexism in defense of Ocasio-Cortez, by Caitlin Oprysko and Sarah Ferris POLITICO
Happy Friday and welcome back to Women Rule. Its great to be back with you guys. In Hollywood news, Hulu has acquired the rights to Curtis Sittenfelds alternate history Rodham, which imagines HIllary Clintons story had she never married Bill.
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PANDEMIC AFTEREFFECTS - Crashing down: How the child care crisis is magnifying racial disparities, by Eleanor Mueller: The collapse of the child care industry is hitting women of color the hardest, threatening to stoke racial and gender inequities and putting pressure on Congress to address the crisis in its new round of coronavirus aid.
Black and Latina women are suffering a double-barreled blow as coronavirus-induced shutdowns batter the industry, since they dominate the ranks of child care providers and have long struggled to gain access to the services for their own kids.
The sector, which saw 60 percent of its programs close at the height of the pandemic before rebounding slightly, is still down some 237,000 workers from last year a number thats likely to grow as states shut down again, economists say. Some projections show the industry could permanently lose half its programs. Two in 5 child care providers this month said they will shut for good without an infusion of federal funding. POLITICO
-- How the Child Care Crisis Will Distort the Economy for a Generation -- POLITICO Magazines Zack Stanton interviews economist Betsey Stevenson, a former member of President Barack Obamas Council of Economic Advisers. POLITICO Magazine
-- An eviction apocalypse is coming, experts warn. Black women will bear the brunt, via The Lily
A BETTER POST-COVID WORLD -- Check out the International Rescue Committees report on how to build back better to ensure that the post-Covid world gives women and girls more opportunities to succeed. Read the report
2020 WATCH -- Joe Biden says four African American women are under consideration as his running mate, by Sean Sullivan: Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden suggested Monday that four African American women are under consideration to be his running mate, but he stopped short of pledging to pick one of them. Although Biden did not name any of the four, the comments amounted to some of his most specific public remarks yet about a search that he has said he is aiming to conclude by early August. His words also reflected the growing pressure he is under to demonstrate that he is seriously considering adding a black woman to the ticket. WaPo
-- Georgia Democrats pick state party chair to replace Lewis on ballot, by Ally Mutnick: Nikema Williams, a state senator and chair of Georgia state Democratic Party, will replace the late Rep. John Lewis on the ballot in November. Facing a Monday afternoon deadline to select a new nominee, the state party executive committee chose Williams from a pool of 131 applicants. Lewis, a beloved icon of the Civil Rights Movement, died Friday at age 80, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. POLITICO
COVID SPOTLIGHT -- Covid Vaccine Front-Runner Is Months Ahead of Her Competition, by Stephanie Baker: [Oxford Universitys Sarah] Gilbert has been all over the British press, but she appears to regard public attention as a distraction. For more than two decades she worked anonymously, developing vaccines while also, of necessity, churning out endless grant applications. Her research was rarely discussed outside scientific circles. Now shes leading one of the most high-profile and advanced vaccine candidates against Covid-19, with Phase III, or final-stage, trials under way involving thousands of people in Brazil, South Africa, the U.K., and, soon, the U.S. Money is no longer a struggle. Bloomberg
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION -- State Department Insiders Ask: What Is Susan Pompeo Really Up To? by Daniel Lippman and Nahal Toosi: Mike Pompeo has risen to a series of increasingly influential posts in Washington: first as President Donald Trumps director of the CIA and now as secretary of State. He is widely considered a future Republican presidential candidate. In each of his recent positions, his wife has been a constant presence at his side, wielding her unofficial authority in ways that have carried through from the CIAs Langley, Va., headquarters all the way to Foggy Bottomwith fastidious attention to detail, demanding standards and a head-turning level of engagement for the spouse of a powerful political figure.
But in recent months, Susan Pompeos involvement in State Department business has drawn public attention in ways that have been uncomfortable for the Pompeos. In May, at Mike Pompeos behest, Trump fired the departments inspector general, who had been probing whether the Pompeos have improperly used office staff to perform personal and political errands. Democratic lawmakers are now investigating the circumstances of the inspector generals firing.
From speaking to roughly two dozen people and examining emails and audio recordings, a portrait emerges of a couple experiencing a rude introduction to the major leagues. In a vast Cabinet department with extensive resources, tightly bound by protocol and with close oversight, Mike and Susan Pompeo have imported a model more familiar to smaller, less scrutinized congressional offices on Capitol Hill: a blurry line between the appointed secretary and unappointed spouse, and among official, political and personal agendas. POLITICO Magazine
OP-ED WATCH -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer both published op eds in the New York Times this week. Warren wrote about her to-do list to fight the coronavirus pandemic, which includes the statement we cannot begin to have a recovery without affordable child care. Whitmer urged Trump to issue a federal mandate requiring people to wear face masks on public transport, indoors, or outdoors when a distance of six feet cannot be maintained.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaks on the House floor, Thursday, July 23. This issue is not about one incident, she said. It is cultural. It is a culture of lack of impunity, of accepting violence and violent language against women and an entire structure of power that supports that. | House Television via AP
CLASS NOTES -- The Class of RBG, by Dahlia Lithwick and Molly Olmstead: Theres a scene in a recent movie about Ruth Bader Ginsburg that stuck in my head after I saw it. Its in the biopic On the Basis of Sex, when the future justice and some of her Harvard Law classmates are gathered at Dean Erwin Griswolds house for dinner. The year is 1956, just six years after the law school started admitting women. In that scene, the dean asks each of the women in the class nine of them, including Ginsburg to stand up and explain why shes at Harvard, taking the place of a man. ...
In the movie, of course, the spotlight is on Justice Ginsburg, as she drily replies that she is at Harvard because she wants to learn more about her husbands work.
But when I watched that scene, I thought: What about those other women, giggling in the background at Ruth Bader Ginsburgs response? Those women, pioneers all, are now just extras in movie scenes about their famous classmate. But who are they? What drew them to join a class of 500-plus men to study the law, and what did they hope to do with their degrees? Slate
-- Ruth Bader Ginsburg reflects on her female classmates: Its Amazing to Me How Distinctly I Remember Each of These Women, via Slate ...
AROUND THE WORLD -- For Women in Afghan Security Forces, a Daily Battle, by Mujib Mashal: Motivated, educated and fresh from finishing police academy in Turkey, Second Lt. Zala Zazai had stellar qualifications for the job she took in eastern Afghanistan in June. It all mattered little once she started. On social media, she was called a prostitute, and men wrote that her very presence on the force would corrupt Khost Province, where she was posted. Her colleagues at Police Headquarters where she was the only female officer on a staff of nearly 500 tried to intimidate her into wearing a conservative head scarf and traditional clothes instead of her uniform, and to hide in back corners of the office away from the public, she said. Shopkeepers arrived at the stations gates with no other business but to get a look at this novelty.
Even after more than a billion dollars spent on womens empowerment projects, the daily reality for women trying to break into public roles particularly with the government and the security forces remains bleak. Women are still almost completely absent in high-level meetings where decisions of war, peace and politics are made. Work for women at routine jobs is a daily barrage of harassment, insult and abuse.
Among the police forces, which have been the focus of diversification efforts for years, women still make up only 2.8 percent of employees and that is the highest level in 18 years. Most of those 3,800 women are in hidden roles with little contact with the public, officials acknowledged. Only five of the total of about 200 military and civilian leadership positions at the Interior Ministry are occupied by women. NYT
-- The Disappeared Of Pakistan Have New Champions: Young Women, via NPR ... The COVID-19 crisis disproportionately affects women heres how Latin America is addressing it, via World Economic Forum
IN THE COURTS -- Google Women Seek Class-Action Status for Gender-Pay Lawsuit, by Malathi Nayak: Four female former employees of Alphabet Inc.s Google are trying to persuade a state court to let them represent more than 10,000 peers in a gender-pay disparity suit against the company, setting the stage for the next big battle over class-action status. Google paid women approximately $16,794 less per year than the similarly-situated man, the women said in a filing on Tuesday, citing an analysis by David Neumark, an economist at the University of California, Irvine. Google paid women less base salary, smaller bonuses, and less stock than men in the same job code and location, they said.
The women claim the pay differences violate Californias Equal Pay Act. According to the lawsuit, Google also violated the states Unfair Competition Law with a policy from 2011 to 2017 of asking job candidates for prior salaries, perpetuating lower pay and seniority for women. They want a San Francisco Superior Court judge to let them sue on behalf of all women who have worked at Google in California since Sept. 14, 2013. Bloomberg
WOMEN AT WORK -- How to Stop the Tidal Wave of Multicultural Women Fleeing Corporate America, via the Working Mother Research Institute: They start their corporate careers like everyone else, eager to show their value and hungry to learn. They actually are more ambitious than other newbies, much more likely to aim for the top jobs. But they quickly and consistently see that stretch assignments and promotions arent coming their way, and there are no seats at the table for women who look like them. So they resign.
Multicultural women are currently 39 percent of the U.S. female population and are projected to be 66 percent by 2060. But heres the growing dilemma for employers. Too many multicultural women dont want to work in corporate America, our new research shows. Fifty percent of them are considering leaving their companies within the next two years, a 10 percent higher rate than white womenand its highest for Black women (52 percent). Read the report.
-- Anti-mask customers, happy hours and BLM protests: 30 days as a grocery store worker, via The Lily
#METOO LATEST -- Hearst Employees Say Magazine Boss Led Toxic Culture, by Katie Robertson and Ben Smith: [Inside] the Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, the Hearst Magazines leader, Troy Young, has drawn complaints from people who said he had made lewd, sexist remarks at work. And in recent weeks, inspired by the civil rights movement, current and former employees at Cosmopolitan and another Hearst womens title, Marie Claire, have spoken out on social media and during staff meetings on what they describe as a toxic environment.
Mr. Young succeeded David Carey as Hearst Magazines president in 2018, winning the job over the high-profile former editor and magazine executive Joanna Coles. That promotion came after at least four employees had complained about what they described as Mr. Youngs bullying or harassing behavior to the human resources department or senior executives, according to four former Hearst employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation.
One incident involving Mr. Young occurred during a visit to the Cosmopolitan office when he was the digital head, according to two people who were present. Mr. Young picked up one of the sex toys that had been sent to the magazine and asked if he could keep it, the people said. Referring to the openings of two toys, he said he would definitely need the bigger one, the people said. NYT
-- Retired Col. Kathy Spletstoser wasnt able to stop Joint Chiefs vice chairman Gen. John Hyten from being confirmed. But shes not done with him, by Manuel Roig-Franzia: Spletstoser has accused Hyten of sexually assaulting her more than half a dozen times while she was under his command and then retaliating against her accusations that he has vigorously denied during a military investigation and in front of the Senate.
So now, she turns to a federal court in Los Angeles, where a victory in a sexual assault lawsuit she filed against Hyten, which reached a critical juncture Monday when a federal judge in Los Angeles heard arguments on Hytens attempt to dismiss the suit, would be the equivalent of a major legal earthquake that could possibly set precedent for other service members, permitting them to sue their commanders in federal court for damages. WaPo
WHEN MARKETING GOES WRONG -- Bacardi targeted women with its new reduced-alcohol vodkas. It went over as well as youd expect, by Emily Heil: It seems that everyone is pivoting these days. That includes spirits giant Bacardi Limited, which is apparently walking back the branding behind a new line of reduced-calorie and reduced-alcohol vodkas that was initially exclusively aimed at women. A Bacardi spokeswoman wrote in an email Tuesday that the Plume & Petal products, which were soundly dragged on social media last week, are not for women specifically.
A millennial-pink flag went up last week when Food & Wine restaurant editor Khushbu Shah posted an image of a message she had received from a PR representative hoping to interest her in writing about the new collection, by women, for todays modern woman, intended to be enjoyed with other women. ... The mockery came in as hot as a stone massage. Shah kicked it off, writing, ah yes just what I need in 2020! gendered drinks with half the alcohol.
This ad copy is from a Crystal Light ad from 1995, another critic wrote. Others wondered why women would want a lighter booze these stressful days. This is a pandemic, one wrote. How dare you. WaPo
IN SPORTS -- New Womens Soccer Team, Founded by Women, Will Press Equal Pay Cause, via NYT
PERSPECTIVE -- Breonna Taylor Cant Tell Her Story of Police Abuse, but Im Here to Tell Mine, via The New Yorker ... With the Women, Peace, and Security Act, Washington Could Be a Model for the World, via Foreign Policy
BOOK CLUB -- Why Is Womens Work Still Undervalued and Unacknowledged? by Heather Boushey: If there ever were a moment in the history of capitalism for the work of women to be fairly valued around the globe, that moment is now, as the coronavirus pandemic rages. In The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Womens Empowerment, Linda Scott tells powerful stories about how equal economic treatment for women would put a stop to some of the worlds costliest evils, while building prosperity for everyone.
By costly evils, Scott, a professor emeritus at Oxford and the founder of the Global Business Coalition for Womens Economic Empowerment, has in mind the cycle of poverty evident in countries that fail to keep girls in school, since girls who complete high school are not only better able to compete in the work force but tend to have their first child later and have fewer children over all, thus slowing population growth. They also are more likely to keep their children in school longer, feed them better and provide them with adequate health care. (Moreover, girls who stay in school are less likely to be victims of human trafficking.) But the pandemic and subsequent recession are crises made worse by existing impediments to womens economic participation, obstacles that have resulted in a shadow or unacknowledged system of female labor what Scott calls the double X economy. NYT
-- The Literature of the Pandemic Is Already Here, via The Atlantic ... Sisters In Hate Profiles 3 Women Who Find Bonds In White Nationalist Movement, via NPR
VIDEO:
TRANSITIONS -- Rachel Scott was promoted to White House correspondent and D.C. correspondent at ABC News. The New York Times Co. named Meredith Kopit Levien as chief executive. Maj. Gen. Jody Daniels will be the first woman to take command of the Army Reserve.
WISDOM OF THE WEEK Christina Kanmaz, Manager, Communications and Public Affairs, Global Strategy Group: Never be afraid to change careers at any age nothing is more frightening than stagnating. You'll never know what talents you hold until you explore what you're capable of. I went from an elementary school teacher to a DC lobbyist and often felt embarrassed when people asked me, "What did you do before?" But I've found that most people find my career path fascinating. It may take a while to find your true calling, but never stop searching! Connect with Christina here.
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Expletives and outbursts: The real life of a woman in U.S. politics - Politico