Sorry, not sorry
Union & solidarity
Welcome to The Chief Brief. Every Sunday, I spotlight global, diverse, and innovative female leaders, and the news influencing them to change the world. The CB breaks down the story for you, curates news from around the world, and helps you connect with the women making news! It is a small step in a passion project to build a globally connected community of women leaders.
Happy Sunday!
The Atlanta spa shooting was one more act of extreme, gruesome, and gendered act of violence this ‘Women’s History Month’. The suspect's 'bad day' defense, and America's sexualized racism problem runs so much deeper than any two lines I write can ever summarize. But Lucy Feldman explores it with aplomb in her cover story for Time magazine. It is a MUST READ.
Let’s talk about
(European) Union & solidarity
The flip flop and threats involving the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine in Europe is enough to make you wonder, what on earth are Ursula von der Leyen, and her team in Brussels thinking? This week was a flashpoint in the three-way (EU-AstraZeneca-UK) fight to get the EU’s vaccine rollout back on track. The European Commission President’s latest move to pacify disgruntled member countries? Threaten an EU wide ban of vaccine exports, aimed at AstraZeneca.
"We have the option of banning a planned export. That's the message to AstraZeneca: you fulfil your contract with Europe first before you start delivering to other countries." - Ursula Von der Leyen. Read more here.
The bone of contention is AstraZeneca’s vaccine contract with the EU, and its supply chain which is based in the U.K., Europe and India. The headlines over the past few weeks have been enough to give anyone whiplash.
The German one Vs. The English one (Pfizer BioNTech Vs. Oxford AstraZeneca).
We don’t want it.
We think the U.K has a de-facto ban on exports.
Ban it! It gives you clots and you die!
No, clots are a rare auto-immune reaction
AstraZeneca’s vaccine is safe to use.
We now want it so bad, we’ll invoke article 122 of the Lisbon Treaty for it.
In all the political furore, citizens have been left wondering if there a clear strategy from Brussels to get its actual vaccination rates up? Seemingly not.
But Ursula von der Leyen’s stance against a company with U.K. ties, and Brexit Britain have done a few things quite spectacularly. It’s given a boost to Eurosceptic Brexiteers whose only domestic win since January 1st has been the U.K’s vaccine program. It has also exposed the fault lines in the admittedly red-tape ridden EU procurement process. Most critically it has put on full display the disintegration of EU solidarity (at least when it comes to vaccines).
Over the past few weeks, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have all joined Hungary in breaking ranks with the EU’s vaccination strategy. They’re going beyond Europe's borders for doses.
Comments from national leaders in this Politico article highlight how deep the cracks really are.
“Total shitshow,” German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (reportedly said of the EU vaccine program).
“The EMA (European Medicines Agency) is too slow,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. (He is planning, to jointly develop vaccines with Denmark and Israel.)
“I’m not waiting,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (he was explaining Budapest’s decision to buy Russia and Chinese vaccines.)
Polish President Andrzej Duda even called up Chinese President Xi Jinping to express interest in purchasing Chinese vaccines.
Core to the EU’s existence and purpose is aligning 27 member states’ needs and wants. Rising above jingoism is critical to its construct. Therefore projecting solidarity is key. But the facade of togetherness is cracking a bit, and the European Commission for now doesn’t seem to be helping the matter.
The big data fight
You’d have thought that GDPR, with which the EU has proudly taken a global leadership position in the world of data would be a great example of solidarity. The work of Margrethe Vestager and Věra Jourová is purportedly one which all 27 countries sing from the same hymn sheet. But the cracks are getting wider even on this issue.
Considering Ireland is the European home of U.S. ‘Big Tech’, it isn’t surprising there would be clashes of interest. But Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon is embroiled in nothing short of a data war. Ireland is going up against not just Germany but also the European Parliament itself.
She has refused to appear at a European Parliament hearing she herself requested, accusing the Parliament of having made up its mind against the Irish agency. She has gone on record to say Germany’s Data Protection Commission’s description of Ireland’s handling of data protection by large U.S. tech companies is “inaccurate and incomplete.”
German Data Protection Commissioner Ulrich Kelber’s response? He says Helen Dixon’s perception of fellow regulators’ work ethic on data transfers “reflect her personal, one-sided view with which she often stands isolated” in EU circles. Read more here.
These are just the latest in what have been quite acrimonious exchanges. But they critically indicate a speedily deteriorating relationship between the Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, and other European law makers. Not the picture of solidarity that the EU wants to project right now. Read more here.
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Business not as usual
Sustainability & racism
Research by IMEA (the sustainability sector industry body) has released research showing sustainability professionals from ethnic minority groups (BAME) in the U.K. are subjected to “jaw dropping” levels of racism and bias in the workplace. In response, IMEA CEO Sarah Mukherjee has launched the ‘Diverse Sustainability Initiative’ which will introduce measures such as ‘reverse mentoring.’ IEMA, represents almost 17,000 sustainability professionals in 116 countries. Read more here.
Racism & Teen Vogue
27 year old Alexi McCammond was supposed to start her new gig as Editor in Chief at Teen Vogue next week. But Teen Vogue’s staff, readers and advertisers weren’t having any of it. The racist and homophobic tweets posted by Alexi when she was a teenager in 2011, forced Condé Nast, Teen Vogue’s publisher, to fire her before she even started. She would have been the third Black woman to serve as Teen Vogue’s top editor. Read more here.
Failure to promote
Women on average account for just 18% of portfolio managers at groups polled by the Financial Times. Explore the paper’s report on how big fund houses are failing to promote female portfolio managers here.
Tech stuff
Didi Listing
One of the world’s largest ride sharing companies, Didi Chuxing Technology Co. (better known as just, Didi) is speeding up its plans for an IPO. The company’s valuation could be as much as $62 billion, in an IPO that could happen as early as the next quarter.
Based on a 15% float for mega IPOs in Hong Kong (which could be one option of where it finally lists), Didi could raise about $9 billion in what will be one of the largest tech debuts in the world, this year. Didi President Jean Liu had indicated the core business was ready to go public, just last year. Read more here.
Afghan Dreamers
The now 18 year old Somaya Faruqi and her robotics team the “Afghan Dreamers” first made headlines in 2017. They were denied U.S. visas to take part in a robotics tournament. In 2020 they made headlines again. This time for being the only all-girls team in Afghanistan chosen to build ventilators during the Covid 19 pandemic. Now comes the reality of actually getting the job done, in a country with no support for women (let alone women in STEM), access to the supplies or the equipment they need. Read more here.
Policy matters
Never say sorry
Just never say sorry. Trump started a trend that NY Governor Andrew Cuomo seems to be following down to the letter. In all the revelations of misconduct, we haven’t seen the usual teary eyed press conferences we’ve come to expect from male American politicians accused of sexual harassment, affairs or anything that jeopardises their political future. It looks like those days are gone. Read more here.
Sorry, not sorry
Tirath Singh Rawat, the Chief Minister of the state of Uttarakhand in India became yet another Narendra Modi follower to declare war on women and their choice of clothing. This week he claimed the choice of wearing ripped jeans by a fellow female passenger on a flight showed a lack of “good values.” Twitter exploded with angry Indian women posting pictures of themselves in ripped jeans and the hashtag #RippedJeansTwitter. He apologised, but at the same time reiterated that women should not wear such clothes. Read more here.
Indonesia’s girls
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has published a report showing increasing religious intolerance being shown to young women in Indonesia and its schools. According to the report women and girls face increasing pressure to adhere to religious dress codes in the Muslim-majority country, regardless of their faith. Read more here.
Coup allegations
Last weekend, former interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Áñez, and several ex-ministers were arrested by Bolivian authorities. They are accused of taking part in a coup against then President Evo Morales in 2019. Mr Morales had resigned, fled Bolivia and subsequently returned, to take over leadership of the Mas Party. His colleague Luis Arce is now the elected President, giving strong basis to Ms Áñez claim that she is the victim of a political vendetta. Read more here.
Have you met
One of two: Africa’s newest female head of state
Samia Suluhu Hassan has become Tanzania's first female leader after her predecessor, John Magufuli, was pronounced dead on Wednesday. The former vice president was sworn in on Friday. President Hassan studied at Manchester University. Held in high regard in the country, the 61-year-old is affectionately known as ‘Mama Samia.’
Her predecessor President Magufuli was famously a Covid skeptic and speculation has pointed to his death being caused by the virus. Officially, the government says the former president died of a heart attack.
Samia Hassan joins a short list of women in Africa to have held their country's highest office. The only other is Ethiopia's President Sahle-Work Zewde, though the Ethiopian President’s role is largely ceremonial.
Read more here.
On the move
In the United States
Jamie Miller has been named chief financial officer at Cargill, effective June 1. Jamie most recently was senior vice president and CFO at GE from November 2017 until February 2020. Also, Pilar Cruz has been appointed by Cargill as the animal nutrition firm’s first Chief Sustainability Officer.
Jasmine Jirele has been appointed CEO and President of Allianz Life. She has been the company’s Chief Growth Officer since 2018.
Kristen Colonna has been appointed vice-president of marketing enablement at Pernod Ricard USA.
In the United Kingdom
Emma Springham has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer at TSB. She joins from the Post Office, where she was CMO for the past 5 years. She previously worked for Barclays and Allianz.
In Switzerland
Sarah Doyle has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer of the luxury division of MSC Cruises. She will be based in Geneva. Sarah was previously at Barcadi Europe, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and American Express.
In Kenya
Mwende Musunga has been appointed group CEO of Lancet Group of Laboratories East Africa. She begins on June 1. Mwende has been the CEO of Laborex Kenya Ltd. for the past four years.
In India
Swati Babel has been appointed as U.K based Fintech and trade finance provider PrimaDollar’s CEO. She was one of the company’s existing leaders from its India operations.
In China
Amrita Randhawa has been appointed Publicis Groupe’s CEO of Southeast Asia from 1 June. With Amrita's new role, Publicis Groupe is bringing its markets including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand under one leadership. She was previously Mindshare's APAC CEO and executive chair for Greater China.
Caught my eye
Who is Camille Noûs?
Camille Noûs first appeared on the research scene a year ago, as a signatory to an open letter protesting French science policy. Since then she/he has been racking up journal paper citations. But it turns out Camille is not even a real person. A French research advocacy group RogueESR dreamed up the gender ambiguous character. They say Camille personifies collective efforts in science and stands as a protest against individualism. Critics say the campaign is naïve and ethically questionable. Read more here.
Defector politics
A woman who fled North Korea, was caught, sent back and tortured is now running for public office in Britain after she escaped again. Jihyun Park became a U.K. citizen and is standing for office to represent the Conservative Party in a marginal ward in North West England called Moorside. Read more here.
Be a sport
Cheltenham races
Rachael Blackmore has made horse racing history, becoming the first female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. The 31 year old Irish rider guided unbeaten mare Honeysuckle to her 11th successive victory. Read more here.
Queen of Nurburgring
Sabine Schmitz, motor racing legend and the ‘Queen of Nurburgring’ has died aged 51. She was diagnosed with cancer in 2017. Sabine was the only woman to ever win the Nurburgring 24 Hours, the German circuit's famously difficult endurance race. She won the race in 1996 and 1997 for BMW. Read more here.
The artsy stuff
Anti-Money Laundering
Last year, Russian oligarchs under sanctions managed to buy $18 million worth of art through a shell company. In July it was leaked that $2 trillion of dodgy money with potential ties to human trafficking was moving through major banks into the antiques market. New bills and legislation in the United States and the European Union are looking to put a halt to art being used to break the law, and they’ll have serious implications for collectors. Read more here.
63rd Grammy Awards
Grammy Wins! Here’s the list. Record of the Year: Billy Eilish for “everything i wanted”. Album of the year: Taylor Swift for “Folklore”. Song of the year: H.E.R for “I can’t breathe”. Best New Artist: Megan Thee Stallion. Best pop duo: Lady Gaga with Ariana Grande for “Rain on me.” and Beyonce's daughter Blue Ivy celebrated her first Grammy at age 9 too. Get the complete list here.
Must Watch
“It is hard when the worst parts of your life have been an inspiration.”
Tina Turner is saying goodbye to her fans after decades in the spotlight, with a new documentary on HBO. Suffering from PTSD, a stroke and kidney failure, the music icon and diva is leaving public life at 81 years old. She hopes the documentary will give closure to fans who drove her to the kind of stardom, a little girl from the cotton fields of the American south could only dream of.