Of all the stupid questions!
Edition 77
Happy Sunday,
This seems to have been the week for stupid and offensive questions being fielded by women, at the most unlikely of places, and asked by the most unlikely of interviewers.
Why PM’s meet?
I think Jacinda Arden and Sanna Marin (Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Finland) are all of us - hit by the strangest and sexist questions we are sometimes asked, without any thought to how stupid the person asking the question ends up sounding!
Why would two Prime Ministers meet, unless it was to have a girls night with some wine, PJs and a natter about their kids and maybe their favourite recipe books?
If you haven’t seen the cringeworthy presser that’s gone viral - please do. It is a masterclass in how to handle misogyny at every level. (Jacinda’s ‘mom head tilt’ gets me every time!)
Royal Race Rows
Then there is the Royal lady-in-waiting race row and debate. An 83-year-old Lady Susan Hussey, Queen Elizabeth’s right hand and close friend, who also happens to be Prince William's godmother had to apologise and resign this week.
At a royal event, the Lady kept asking a second generation Brit Ngozi Fulani, who heads a charity for victims of domestic violence, where she was “really from.” Ngozi took offence and social media went wild. Was it the ‘she’s from another generation, let it go’ side of the debate that would win? Or was the ‘Meghan Markle was right, the whole institution is racist’ camp going to be proven right?
I’m thankfully not in the same boat as Ngozi or others like her, who are second generationers/down the generational tree in their countries. Their entire identity is ingrained with the country of their birth, and rightly so. As a first-generation immigrant to a whole lot of countries, I’m a little harder to offend. I’ve been asked that question a million times. My accent makes the guessing game even more fun (for me!) But then again, while my identity maybe split (I’m Indian born and brought up, and a naturalised Brit) it is crystal clear. And that identity split was my personal choice. I wasn’t born in the country of my nationality, and I know, I will forever be the ‘other.’
So, in the Lady Hussey debate I’ll ask a totally different set of questions. As the Queen’s right hand for more than half a decade, whatever was she thinking? How can you have been at the Queen’s side (forever) and not learnt to make small talk with diverse people? Most importantly, if you are that lost for conversation, you’d think the woman, regardless of her age might have turned to the age-old English back up plan — talk about the weather? It has worked a charm for centuries. It definitely worked for Her Majesty.
$100 million Limited Series
Speaking about the Royals. Looks like the latest high profile reality TV show is about to hit our Netflix accounts. If you are done watching Wednesday (which I’m just about to start), Netflix’s mega $100 million limited series ‘Harry & Megan’ is about to launch on our TV sets. Caveat: none knows if Netflix actually agreed to $100 million, or if it was more/less. But a few little birdies say the release is on December 8th?
Will you send me an email and let me know if you plan to watch? I’m still deciding if I want that kind of time commitment.
Here’s their teaser (released the day William & Kate kicked off their US tour. Just a coincidence of course!)
Kyiv Calling
A few days ago, I hopped on the Eurostar to Brussels clutching some painkillers and a sense of duty towards my friends in Ukraine. Impact Force and the Kyiv Investment Forum had brought together investors, policymakers and critically Europe’s most powerful and effective Mayors to help Kyiv not just survive this winter, but build it back better, more resilient and smarter for tomorrow!
My job? To make sure the first KIF not being held in its namesake city but hosted by Brussels - was impactful! That it wasn’t full of the usual banalities we’ve all tired of hearing. That instead, participants walked the talk!
And boy did they! It helped that some of Europe’s most impactful Mayors just so happen to be women!
The city of Kyiv, the city of Brussels, and eleven European cities signed a joint declaration of understanding to support the recovery and sustainable development of the Ukrainian capital and its surrounding territories.
Mayors that can do!
Anne Hidalgo laid down the earliest gauntlet. She might not be too popular amongst Parisians right now, but she is known for her push to make Paris a leading example of a resilient and sustainable city. To be impactful and avoid the overlap that comes from individual city to city deals, the Mayor of Paris asked Europe’s gathered Mayors to create a joint task force for Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine. A task force that can pool resources, expertise and help not just future proof Ukrainian cities, but critically help it with its electricity, heating and water challenges of today. Every Mayor agreed. Having invited the Ukrainians to his city, the Brussels’ mayor even agreed to head up the efforts to make it a reality. Read more about Anne Hidalgo.
Benjamina Karić become Sarajevo’s Mayor last year on her 30th birthday, but she knows war and its long-term impact all too well. She was a year old when the Balkan wars started. Her first memories of the Sarajevo’s siege are from the age of four. The subsequent fallout, corruption and nationalist politics that have followed in Bosnia are the realities potentially facing Ukraine. Her clear call to action was to help preserve Kyiv’s human capital and social cohesion — From sharing mental health expertise to reconciliation and cultural preservation. Benjamina made that commitment concrete by officially establishing “friendship relations” between the cities of Kyiv and Sarajevo. Read more about Benjamina.
Caroline Conroy, in full Mayoral regalia, signed a “Twinning Agreement between the cities of Kyiv and Dublin”. The Lord Mayor of Dublin will be pushing not just for development and cooperation in a wide range of economic, cultural, tourism and other areas of mutual benefit. The agreement she has signed will also help provide mutual support in emergency situations by providing humanitarian assistance and political support. Read more about Caroline.
Some of the other amazing women I met, that you need to know about are:
Federica Mogherini. It was lovely to see Federica again, this time in her new role as Rector of the College of Europe, which she has led since September 2020. She was previously, essentially the EU’s foreign minister in her role as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, from 2014 to 2019. Federica also co-chaired the United Nations High Level Panel on Internal Displacement from January 2020 until September 2021.
Ana-Maria Trăsnea. She’s another young gun driving a city toward its future. She immigrated to Germany from Romania at age 13 and at 27 she was appointed (last year) as the Berlin Delegate to the German Federation where she is also leading its international relations and push for democracy as Permanent Secretary.
Lamia Kamal-Chaoui. The frank and direct Director of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities is a key member of the OECD Executive Leadership team. She supports the organisation’s Secretary-General in achieving the OECD’s mission to advance economic growth and social progress as well as contributing to other global agendas such as the G20 and G7, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Maive Rute. The Deputy Director-General & Chief Standardisation Officer, DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW) at the European Commission. Over the summer, that second title was added to her repertoire making her the bloc’s first ever Chief Standardisation Officer. What do the titles mean for the actual job at hand? Well, Maive focusses on green transition of European industries, resilience of supply chains, promotion of investments, standardisation and IP rights within the bloc.
Katarina Mathernova. She is the Deputy Director General of the Directorate General for Neighbourhood & Enlargement Negotiations at the European Commission. That means as Deputy DG and Head of Support Group for Ukraine, she leads on the engagement with Eastern bloc countries and in particular Ukraine.
Yevgeniya Piddubna. The Corporate Affairs Director, and Member of the Board of Directors, Farmak JSC leading Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturer in Ukraine. She also doubles up as Head of the Healthcare Committee at the Union of Ukrainian Entrepreneurs. Farmak has been operational through the war. It has also been investing significantly in ensuring a non-stop supply of medicines, despite its labs and factories being under continuous bombings.
Put these women together in a room with their driven male counterparts and strong agreements get done. Some of the other commitments that got signed at KIF 2022 pushed home the fact — sometimes conferences are more than just a gathering to network or promote oneself!
A memorandum of understanding was signed between the cities of Kyiv and smart city icon Helsinki.
Kyiv and The European Investment Bank signed a memorandum of understanding to coordinate further cooperation on financing and preparing priority investment projects for Ukraine's capital, that will be key to its post-war reconstruction.
And a new EU-IFC grant program was also announced to help restore homes damaged by war.
If you live in any of the cities that signed up, give your mayors all the support they need to make things happen! All in all - if you ask me if it was all worth dragging myself out of last week’s sick bed? As I told my friend, powerhouse and co-founder of Impact Force (and United for Ukraine), Nina Levchuk — Hell yeah!
Some other news of political note this past month:
The city of Los Angeles just elected its first female Mayor. Read more on CNN.
The U.S. state of Colorado elected a majority-women legislature. Read more here.
Football & breaking stereotypes
I’m not that into football (soccer for you Americans out there!). But I do feel the whole Qatar World Cup drama has been a bit overdone. It’s been corruptly obvious for a decade the Qatari bid winning in 2010 was strange.
It isn’t a country with a great football team or the expertise/existing infrastructure in the game. There isn’t even a large population to justify its positioning as football’s next asset. Let’s also be really honest - all those worker death stories. They’ve been in the news for years but the twitterati or gramming celebrities never paid attention. Well, didn’t till it was on the 24-hour news/outrage channels, a month before the start of the competition.
Anyone who says they had no idea that Qatar’s culture did not gel or reflect the West’s - women’s rights, LGBTQ or media freedoms has probably lived under a rock their entire life.
Leaving that eye-rolling bit aside, I’m choosing to focus on what’s made me smile this World Cup - When a woman shows a man, how it is really done, son!
Meet football freestyler Maymi Asgari - The 24-year-old Dutch Iranian native already has a massive TikTok following. She has gone viral in Doha. That’s where she’s been showing male footie fans what football freestyling really looks like. Her life’s ambition. To normalise Hijab-wearing players, with the hope she can inspire girls from all backgrounds to know - they can play football too!