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Workflow
1.‘Leaders are crying on the job. Maybe that’s a good thing.’
Crying at work has polarizing effects, and it’s largely due to gender stereotypes and sexism. While emoting can convey warmth and understanding, in women it’s often framed as helplessness and hysteria, and it can undercut her career opportunities. Ugh. Yet as coronavirus rages on, we’re seeing more and more public officials, women and men, tear up. Says leadership coach Pam Sherman, “The days when a politician cried and it was over for them—that’s over. Things like empathy, vulnerability, emotional connectedness—these are the things that define today’s leaders.” Let’s hope that’s true. NY Times
2.‘The pandemic has revealed the weakness of strongmen’
There’s been a lot of talk about how well women politicians are leading us through the pandemic, and while that might be true, Helen Lewis of The Atlantic says that assertion needs clarifying. Women aren’t better leaders now because they’re women; strongmen are just doing worse, and “A country that elects a strongman—or where a strongman can hold on to power, once elections become a sham—is an already troubled country.” Ooo, the shade. The Atlantic
Women we love
3.‘Nikole Hannah-Jones wins Pulitzer Prize for 1619 Project’
Pulitzer Prizes were awarded last week, and a much-deserved recipient was Nikole Hannah-Jones, the investigative journalist behind The New York Times Magazine’s ongoing 1619 Project, which marked the 400th anniversary of the first Africans arriving in Virginia with a thoughtful reexamination of slavery’s lasting affects on the United States. The project is phenomenal. And if that isn’t enough, Ida B. Wells, the trailblazing civil rights–era journalist whose work inspired Hannah-Jones, also received a posthumous Pulitzer Prize citation. Pulitzer Center
Total distractions
4.‘Becoming review – tantalising tour of Michelle Obama's life’
Do you need to read this article about Michelle Obama’s new documentary to know you want to watch it? No, not really. All you need to know is that Becoming debuted on Netflix on May 6, and this trailer is a good indicator of how often you might cry while watching the full show. The Guardian
5.‘Smash a coronavirus piñata. You’ll feel better.’
As more people celebrate socially distant birthdays, a strange and adorable trend is emerging: revelers smashing “coroñatas,” or coronavirus piñatas, to commemorate the day. Sure, the practice has positive mental health benefits—hitting things can help us work through negative emotions —but right now, we’re still focused on the fact that most of us haven’t had nearly enough piñatas in our lives up until now. NY Times
Plus: one fantastic article we missed last week
‘This state says it has a‘feminist economic recovery plan.’ Here’s what that looks like.’
During coronavirus, women are wedged between two unfathomably unequal scenarios: They fill the majority of our world’s paid and unpaid caretaking roles, which makes them vital to our survival, yet they’re also the most likely to be negatively impacted by the economic fallout of COVID-19 because of systemic sexism. In Hawaii, a feminist proposal aims to address inequity as the state’s economy recovers. Here’s a nugget to chew on: “A care economy will become even more important with automation and companies racing toward labor reduction, because you can’t automate or outsource care.” The Washington Post
