Company Culture
Best Buy will now partner with Care.com to offer up to 10 hours of subsidized childcare for 10 days a year for employees with a $10 copay for each day. Find out how employee Lanette Johnson helped bring about this company-wide change. Washington Post
In his year-end message, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon announced the company’s pledge to dedicate $500 million dollars to woman-led venture capital firms. Bloomberg
In December, Patreon—the crowdfunding website for content creators—began to ban users for anti-feminist or racist hate speech. The decision drew plenty of ire from opponents of “PC culture,” with some users choosing to leave the site in protest. Patreon’s hate speech model is a bit different from sites like Facebook or Twitter. Unlike those, Patreon uses human moderators to decide what hate speech is, not algorithms. If hate speech is detected, the moderator reaches out to the user not only to give a warning, but also to offer resources that educate and inform the user, and to develop a plan for the user to make up for their offense. NY Times
Quick Hits
A study from New York University found that in both adults and children, females are less likely than males to be considered for tasks requiring high intelligence. For the adult experiment, half of the participants were instructed to select candidates for a job that required “consistent effort” and the other half to select candidates for a job that required “brains.” The selections were about equal for the job requiring effort, but fewer women were selected for the job that required brains. Makes you rethink your job searches, huh? The Guardian
Sandra Oh made history at this year’s Golden Globes Awards by being the first person of Asian descent to host the ceremony, the first Asian woman to win a Golden Globe in 39 years for Best Actress in a TV drama (for her work on the second season of Killing Eve), and the first Asian woman to win multiple Golden Globes (her first Golden Globe was for her role as Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy as Best supporting Actress in a TV drama). Vox
After a 181-year-long ban on any kind of headwear in Congress, newly elected Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) became the first member of Congress to wear a hijab on the House floor. The Guardian
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, there’s been a lot of discussion about the ultimate fates of those found to be abusers. When do they deserve forgiveness—if at all? Comedian Louis C.K., who was accused of masturbating in front of women without their consent, returned to the stage this year and—surprise surprise—behaved, well, poorly to put it lightly. In a recent set, he cruelly mocked survivors of the Parkland school shooting, people who use they/them pronouns, and opponents of the r-word, among others. Maybe other abusers will take the time to reflect and learn from their behavior, but it seems to me that Mr. C.K. is officially out of chances. The Atlantic
Around the World
When India’s Supreme Court ruled in October that women could not be banned from temples, many tried to enter a Hindu shrine in Kerala. But none were permitted to enter—until last week. When it came out that two women had entered the temple, it immediately shut down for “purification.” To protest the temple’s closing, organizers formed a human chain that stretched for over 300 miles. NY Times
Three years ago, Colombia passed legislation that imposed harsh sentences for hate crimes against women. Awesome! Unfortunately, these laws didn’t recognized hate crimes against transgender women—until now. For the first time ever in the nation’s history, the murder of a trans woman—Anyela Ramos Claros, a salon owner—has been deemed femicide. NY Times
For centuries, women in conservative West African communities didn’t have much of a choice when it came to marriage. No choice to abstain, no choice to leave. But women in West Africa today are filing for divorce in greater numbers than ever before as they refuse to be pushed into enduring unhealthy or unfulfilling relationships. NY Times
