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This week has marked the 79th United Nations General Assembly high-level debate, and as has (unfortunately) been the case in prior years’ meetings, women account for very few of the speakers on the main floor. On Tuesday—the day President Biden addressed the gathering—just two of the 35 leaders who spoke were women (Switzerland’s president, Viola Amherd, and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni); yesterday (where the headline event was Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s address), the number ticked up to four.
ForbesWomen contributor Stéphanie Fillion points out in her coverage of the disparity that UNGA’s speakers reflect the world’s leadership landscape: Just 27 of the UN’s member states have heads of state/government that are female. Gender equality in these high positions of power will not be reached for another 130 years, according to UN Women.
As I’ve been meeting with my own sources this week, they’ve been telling me that the real work is getting done in the side meetings. And here, women are well-represented: At one such side meeting, Oscar award-winning actress and activist Meryl Streep addressed the dire situation of women and girls in Afghanistan, saying, “Today in Kabul a female cat has more freedom than a woman.” At another, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced, in conjunction with the European Investment Bank, five years’ worth of new financing for global contraceptive access.
“People in the world believe that a lot is happening [for gender equality],” Anita Zaidi, the president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Gender Equality Division told me during an event yesterday. But the issue with big gatherings like UNGA is that they often contain a lot of words, and very little action or accountability after. “I’m interested in action,” Zaidi says.
Cheers to that!
P.S. Speaking of big gatherings, the 11th annual Forbes Under 30 Summit also took place this week, in Cincinnati. If you missed the livestream or attending IRL, you can catch a written recap here! Of particular interest to those of you who read this newsletter: I interviewed Honey Pot cofounder and CEO Bea Dixon, who sold a majority stake of her company for $380 million earlier this year. It was one of the largest exits for a Black female founder, and she told us that she hopes she can be an example to other Black founders. “If you see me, and you see that it’s something I can do,” Dixon said, “then I believe it’s something you can do.”
Exclusive Forbes Investigation: Inside Facebook’s Scammy Abortion Access Network
In hundreds of groups across Facebook, women with unwanted pregnancies turn to one another for pills and herbal remedies. Many say they are getting scammed instead, according to a new investigation from Forbes senior writer Emily Baker-White. But as Baker-White tells ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath in this “Forbes Talks” segment, this story is less about Facebook and more about human rights—and what happens when stigma and restrictive health policies interfere with women’s access to the care they need.
ICYMI: News Of The Week
Shares of Summit Therapeutics, whose cancer drug candidate turned heads after it outperformed a blockbuster drug from Merck, have been on fire. That has in turn made its co-CEO, Maky Zanganeh, a new billionaire—worth an estimated $1.1 billion. An Iranian immigrant, Zanganeh is one of just 34 self-made U.S. women billionaires, and one of three American women to have made a billion-dollar fortune in the healthcare sector.
Former crypto bigwig Caroline Ellison received a jail sentence Tuesday for the financial crimes committed alongside her ex-boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried, landing time behind bars despite some legal experts suggesting Ellison may skirt jail time for her extensive cooperation against Bankman-Fried, the former billionaire head of the $32 billion cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
A recurring sentiment stands out among undecided voters who’ve been polled in recent weeks: Many remain unsure about Kamala Harris, citing a need for more information in spite of her performance in the debate against Donald Trump and her media appearances. But according to research on female leadership, their hesitation could be more about her gender than her policies.
Neha Kumar is the cofounder and COO of Full Glass Wine Co., a direct-to-consumer wine retailer that owns brands like Winc and Splash Wines. Kumar recently sat down with ForbesWomen editor Maggie McGrath, to talk about her company’s two newest acquisitions and how—despite not having a background in wine—she came to run a digital wine seller that’s projected to bring in $125 million in revenue this year.
In continued coverage from our Forbes Sustainability Leaders list, check out this profile on U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The former Michigan governor has tried to turn the Department of Energy, flush with billions of dollars from energy and infrastructure legislation, into a catalyst for America’s clean energy future and new jobs.
The Checklist
1. Build bridges. Christine Cox, the cofounder and executive director of contemporary ballet company BalletX, recently spoke to me about how she pivoted her career as a dancer to one of entrepreneurship: “The people around you are your roadway to the things you want to do,” she says. Catch our full interview—which also touches on how to make ballet more accessible to more people—here!
2. Think twice before judging someone’s ability by their age. According to the new McKinsey/Lean In Women in the Workplace report, early-career women—meaning those who are 30 and younger—experience ageism in the workplace at higher levels than their more mature counterparts.
3. Be strategically humble. We all want to own our successes, but new organizational behavioral research sheds some interesting light on how we should frame those wins: Expressing pride can unintentionally signal that you’ve reached your limit, while remaining humble can make you seem like you have untapped potential. The study’s authors therefore have this advice: “When you get to the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.”