The podcast discusses the progress and challenges faced by women and people of color in 2023, including the Texas abortion case and Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action. It also covers the regression in equality issues, the funding cliff in the childcare industry, and upcoming stories for 2024. The hosts provide breaking financial news, explore artificial intelligence, and promote wealth management and investment checkup services.
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Quick takeaways
O-PIL, the first FDA-approved over-the-counter birth control pill, fills a crucial gap in access to birth control for individuals without any form of contraception, especially benefiting teenagers and low-income women.
Claudia Golden's research on the motherhood penalty and the pay gap emphasizes that women's labor force participation is a historical pattern, shedding light on gender inequalities in the workplace and urging for continued efforts to address them.
Deep dives
Over-the-counter birth control pill, O-PIL, offers greater accessibility
O-PIL is the first FDA-approved over-the-counter birth control pill. While it may not attract current birth control users due to being an older pill, it fills a gap for those without access to any form of birth control. It is expected to help millions of people, especially teenagers and low-income women, who face barriers in accessing birth control.
Claudia Golden wins the Economic Nobel Prize for her work on women in the workplace
Claudia Golden, a labor economist, won the 2023 Economic Nobel Prize for her research on women in the workplace. She focused on topics related to the motherhood penalty and the pay gap, highlighting that women's labor force participation is not a recent development but rather a return to the workforce after being excluded during the transition from an agricultural-based to a factory and office-centered work model. Golden's work continues to shed light on gender inequalities in the modern workplace.
Increased hiring of people of color by US companies after Black Lives Matter protests
Data analysis of the S&P 100 companies revealed that 94% of the jobs created in 2021 went to people of color. This hiring boom extended across all ranks, including executive and managerial positions. The data challenges the narrative that the lack of diversity in companies is solely due to limited diversity in the labor pool. However, the future impact and sustainability of these diversity efforts will depend on retention and advancement opportunities for people of color.
Ongoing challenges and threats to women's reproductive rights and access to abortion
Women's reproductive rights continue to face challenges and threats. The Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action admission policies in universities has led to concerns about the future of affirmative action and diversity programs in corporate America. Additionally, the future availability of the abortion pill, Mifepristone, is uncertain due to legal challenges. The potential revocation of access to Mifepristone could have significant implications, as it is a widely used method of ending pregnancies. These developments highlight ongoing battles over gender equality and reproductive healthcare in the United States.
The past year has been relentless for news, with indictments of a former US president, wars in Europe and the Middle East, and Earth’s hottest year on record. It was a big year, too, for equality news in the US — including headlines that corporations made good on their 2020 vows to hire more people of color.
But 2023 also saw challenges to affirmative action and access to abortion medication, and there are more questions for the year ahead. Will a diverse pool of workers hired in 2021, largely to entry-level jobs, be retained and promoted? How will working parents and especially mothers, who benefited from pandemic-era flexible work, weather shrinking childcare options? Bloomberg Equality reporter Kelsey Butler and Businessweek senior writer Claire Suddath join Nancy Cook to discuss these and other stories they’re watching.