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Debates weren’t enough, so Fortune and Time’s Up asked the 2020 candidates about gender equality

Emma Hinchliffe
By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
Most Powerful Women Editor
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Emma Hinchliffe
By
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma Hinchliffe
Most Powerful Women Editor
Down Arrow Button Icon
January 29, 2020, 7:50 AM ET

This is the web version of the Broadsheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! J. Crew and the Match Group choose new CEOs, caucusing can be hard for Iowa parents, and Fortune and Time’s Up ask the 2020 candidates the questions you want answered. Have a wonderful Wednesday. 

– Time’s Up and the 2020 questions we care about. As you watched the Democratic primary debates last year, did you wonder: When will these politicians answer questions about women’s working lives?

So did we. Only eight out of the 4,000 presidential debate questions asked from 1996 to 2016 addressed the core economic and workplace issues of sexual harassment, childcare, equal pay, or paid family leave, according to a Time’s Up analysis. This cycle, it took until the fifth debate for most of those issues to come up at all.

That’s why Fortune partnered with the Time’s Up Now, the nonprofit dedicated to promoting safe working conditions for women, to ask all 2020 candidates—not just the Democrats—the questions we wanted answered. Four of the 15 remaining candidates for President joined us for video interviews. Another eight answered our questions via email or recorded their own videos. Two—Republican primary challengers Bill Weld, former governor of Massachusetts, and Joe Walsh, former Illinois congressman—did not participate in any form, while President Trump answered select questions through a White House spokesperson. We’ve also published four video interviews with candidates who have since dropped out of the presidential race, but remain part of the political conversation.

This project has been months in the making, and—with the first primary less than a week away—we hope that it helps inform voters’ views on candidates. Read and watch our interviews here, and keep an eye out for those videos on Time’s Up’s social media as well.

From Pete Buttigieg’s Women’s Agenda to Elizabeth Warren’s plan for universal childcare, these are issues that are central to candidates’ visions for the country. Let’s give them the airtime they deserve.

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- J. Crew picks Jan. J. Crew has a new CEO: Jan Singer, the former Victoria's Secret lingerie chief. Singer is tasked with turning around the struggling fashion brand. Read Fortune's Phil Wahba here: Fortune

- Match Group's new match. Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg is stepping down  after what she describes as a "personally trying" four months—a period that included a surgery. Her deputy and current president Shar Dubey will take over and lead the company through its planned spinoff from IAC. Bloomberg

- Caucus childcare. With the Iowa primary around the corner, let's talk about caucusing. The famed voting system can be incredibly inconvenient and inaccessible for parents with young children. Writer Lyz Lenz talks to moms in Iowa who can't leave their kids at home for the scheduled 7 p.m. vote: The Gazette

- Trading expertise. As part of Fortune's quarterly investment guide, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Sheila Patel shared her expectations for 2020 and her advice for aspiring traders. Early in her career, a more senior woman advised her to move from investment banking to trading to take advantage of her people skills. "I remember, as a young person, being insulted," Patel recalls. "I thought my quant skills were the most important thing. But no one should underestimate how important relationships are." Fortune

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Former Tableau CMO Elissa Fink joined the board of directors at Pantheon. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

- Challenge accepted? Rep. Doug Collins made it official: he will challenge Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler for her newly appointed seat in 2020. Collins, a strong supporter of President Trump, had been the administration's choice for the open seat, but Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp picked Loeffler, a GOP businesswoman, for the spot instead. The challenge will likely set off a fight within the Republican Party. Washington Post

- Pocket change. Emily W. Murphy, the administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration, writes for Fortune about the $6 billion that is spent every year on the government's equivalent of odds and ends. The federal government isn't required to document via contracts spending under $10,000 that qualifies as "small purchases." Murphy argues that the government should use her administration's new technology to provide more transparency into those billions of dollars. Fortune

- What Kiwis want. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will next face voters' verdict on her leadership in September. She announced the date of the country's next general election yesterday. "I will be asking New Zealanders to continue to support my leadership and the current direction of the government, which is grounded in stability, a strong economy and progress on the long-term challenges facing New Zealand," Ardern said. She has been lauded for her leadership through crises like the Christchurch terrorist attack, but faces some domestic political challenges. Guardian

- Moms wanted. Do you need a Momcation? Hotels are starting to market vacation packages designed for moms looking for a break from their spouses and kids. From the "remote you won’t have to share" and "Mom juice" (aka wine) in the rooms, these packages are quite something: New York Times

ON MY RADAR

The Wall Streeter turned sleep whisperer Ozy

State Department denies NPR reporter a spot on Pompeo's plane after heated interview NBC News

The Washington Post’s misguided suspension of Felicia Sonmez over Kobe Bryant tweets Washington Post

PARTING WORDS

"Once they got over the fact that I was a woman, and they learned they could make money with the items I was selling, I had no problems."

-Frieda Caplan, a food distributor who introduced American consumers to jicama, kiwi, and other fruits and vegetables, on the male-dominated grocery industry. She died at 96 this month. 

About the Author
Emma Hinchliffe
By Emma HinchliffeMost Powerful Women Editor
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Emma Hinchliffe is Fortune’s Most Powerful Women editor, overseeing editorial for the longstanding franchise. As a senior writer at Fortune, Emma has covered women in business and gender-lens news across business, politics, and culture. She is the lead author of the Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter (formerly the Broadsheet), Fortune’s daily missive for and about the women leading the business world.

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