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ON OUR MINDS
Brought to you this week by Canadian-based Account Director Devinder Lamsar who is feeling rejuvenated after a three-day retreat with the McPherson team in New York’s Catskills.
Fighting for reproductive freedom
In 2018, during the hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, then Senator Kamala Harris asked, “can you think of any laws that give the government the power to make decisions about the male body?” Kavanaugh stumbled several times and ultimately failed to answer the question. Now Vice President, Harris has emerged as the voice of abortion rights in the Biden administration, and at a recent gala hosted by Emily's List, an organization committed to electing pro-choice candidates, she accused Republicans of waging war on women’s rights, stating “how dare they tell a woman what she can do and cannot do with her own body. How dare they!” As lifelong women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem says, “we either have decision-making power over our own bodies – women and men – or there is no democracy.” The court’s final ruling, which could give states the power to ban abortion despite the majority of Americans who believe abortion should be legal in the first trimester, is expected in late June or early July.
Let’s get fired up
In the absence of Roe, some states in the U.S. could have even more restrictive abortion laws than several countries in the Middle East. Americans need to get fired up to fight for this issue – and it may shake Canadians out of their complacency to join the fight too. This issue affects all women, but not all women equally. The wealthy have the luxury to drive further, pay more, and skip work to get an abortion, but marginalized groups do not. If you care about women, you need to speak up – we need both bras and boxers burning in this movement. And while corporate America’s response has been abysmal, access to abortion, and all reproductive care, is absolutely a workplace issue. If having illegal abortions kills more women, that comes at an economic cost to the nation. The U.S. is on the precipice of going backwards so we need to fight with the same fury women did in the 60s and 70s to ensure we continue to have the right to choose.
Don’t take food from babies’ mouths
As a mother, I know all too well the desperation and anxiety one faces in consoling a hungry baby. Since February – due to a perfect storm of supply chain woes, government bureaucracy and a monopolized formula industry – parents who rely on formula as a lifeline have been scrambling. Hideously, several pro-life Republicans claim the solution to the formula crisis is to take food from undocumented immigrants babies’ mouths . They must not know federal law requires the government to provide food and other basic human rights to the people (including babies!) it detains. Mothers face overwhelming pressure to breastfeed, a task that is nearly equivalent to working a full-time job, and the stigma associated with giving your baby formula, as abhorrent as it is, will only be further exacerbated by these shortages. The good news is a new $28 million bill introduced by House Democrats will help solve some of the issues driving the crisis – so long as it doesn’t get quashed in the narrowly-divided Senate.
America needs to unite against racism
America is a country that “started with ‘all men are created equal,’ and the same people who wrote that, many of them owned slaves,” says Professor of Pan-African Studies Ricky L. Jones. He argues, it’s easy to blame one political party or news organization, but the reality is racism is so deeply entrenched into our nation’s DNA that most people live in denial that America was founded by and for whites. How else do we explain how an 18-year old writes a manifesto inspired by a racist theory? The suspect in a recent Buffalo shooting painted the N-word on the barrel of the gun he used to kill 10 people – nearly all of them Black – that is absolutely pure evil. Sadly, this will happen again. Mass shootings in America have doubled in frequency since 2010, compared to the previous 40 years. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. The U.S. has long been a beacon of hope, freedom and democracy, it now needs to show the rest of the world how it can unite against institutionalized racism.
ON OUR RADAR
Read:
- If you’re a manager wondering how to address abortion rights with your team, fret not! Fortune has several great tips in this article. Psst, Susan is quoted as well.
- Business leaders need to stick to their values and support their people, argues author Paul Polman in this Fortune article.
- Yelp’s CEO argues why companies need to take a stand on reproductive rights.
- Every organization with a stake in women’s issues should be speaking out in support of reproductive rights. As Fast Company reports, Americans want to hear what brands have to say according to a new Harris Poll.
- Patrick McGinnis, steering group member of McP client Leadership Now Project, recently penned a POLITICO op-ed titled, “The Easiest Way Republicans Could Stop Madison Cawthorn from Winning.”
- McP client and carbon accounting company Persefoni commissioned a study released this week revealing the actual costs of climate change disclosure on the heels of the SEC proposal.
Follow:
- Amy Shoenthal, New York City-based marketing industry executive and frequent contributor to ForbesWomen, is launching a newsletter titled Amy’s Antidote. Learn more here.
- Peptoc is a two-part public art project that was created during the height of the pandemic to celebrate the power of children and creativity by artists Jessica Martin and Asherah Weiss, along with the students of West Side Elementary in rural Healdsburg, California.
- A fashion editor admits she used to be ashamed of shopping at the Dump, but now she’s ready to come clean. Luxury brands used to burn unsold merchandise, now they are reinventing it.
Attend:
- Be part of a live conversation with McP client Tulaine Montgomery and Farai Chideya, creator and host of “Our Body Politic,” to dig in about the conversations a country in crisis should be having, and how we can have them. Join on Instagram Live next Thursday, May 26 at 7pm ET.
- The Brennan Center for Justice is hosting a free virtual panel titled, “Who Gets to Be an American: Race, Fear, and Surveillance in Domestic Policy” on Wednesday, June 8 at 1pm ET. Click here to register.
- Terawatt and Erica Keswin, a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, is hosting a mental health roundtable with premier coaches and experts to discuss how you can support your employees. Register here.
Cheer:
- McP client Kendra Sdcott recently gave $13.25 million to the University of Texas at Austin College of Fine Arts in support of women entrepreneurs – learn more here.
- Mark Dyce-Ryan is a Seattle-area volunteer who helps dogs displaced by war in Ukraine and recently returned home with one. Read more here.
Apply:
- McP client Leadership Now Project is looking for a Director of Membership & Growth to help the organization grow its strategic impact. Learn more about the opportunity here.
- The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley (GGSC) is looking for a Development Director (DD). Learn more about the role here.
- Save the Children is hiring for a newly-created role of Senior Managing Director, Food and Agriculture. Learn more about the position here.
- Google is hiring for positions on their sustainability team, including Vice President and General Manager of Geo Sustainability and Program Manager, Sustainability Reporting.
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