Pixar Needs More LGBTQ Characters: Equality Summit Update

(Bloomberg) -- Two years after the dual shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and global Black Lives Matter protests led to greater calls for economic and racial equality, leaders across business and government are convening at Bloomberg’s Equality Summit to take stock of what’s changed and how to measure progress. 

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said some of the $65 billion in broadband funding will be used to train and hire women and minorities into relevant jobs. Natasha Cazenave, executive director at the European Securities and Markets Authority, pledged her support for quotas. First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Nadia Calviño also said she’s “very supportive” of quotas. 

* See a full lineup here. Catch up on yesterday’s panels here, and click here to read daily coverage from Bloomberg Equality.

‘Blindspots’ in Coverage of Ukraine, says Peabody Winner (1:56 p.m. NY)

Peabody Award winner George Mpanga says that Western media’s coverage of Ukraine reveals unconscious bias. “A blind spot is a very good phrase,” he said, “because it’s not always a question of overt discrimination or intentional racism.”

And yet the emphasis placed on documenting the travails of Ukrainian refugees stands in stark contrast to coverage of Syrians and Afghans in a similar position. “You just don’t know what you don’t know,” says Mpanga, also known as George the Poet. “You don’t see yourself outside of your own experience, and a lot of the coverage around refugees from Ukraine has revealed that.”

The counterweight to this bias, Mpanga said, can come from non-traditional narrative forms like podcasts and social media. “Democracy won’t work if the masses aren’t given the opportunity to tell their stories in engaging ways that share real information, and the detail and the lived experience that formal journalism often misses.”

Pixar Movies Need More LGBTQ Characters (1:06 p.m. NY)

Jessica Heidt, who led a push to catalog the lack of diversity among characters at Pixar, said the animation studio needs to focus on increasing LGBTQ representation next. 

Since she started her project in 2016, the studio has put out more films made by and featuring female characters, including the recently released “Turning Red.”

“With gender, race, sexual orientation — there’s a lot of evolution happening,” she said. “Sexual orientation might be a place where I’d like to see a little more work done.” 

Charise Castro Smith, who co-directed “Encanto,” said Disney has become more proactive in hiring women and people of color in recent years, too. “I think things are moving along,” she says. “I just wish it was a little quicker.”

Projects focused on people of color often tell tales of trauma or overcoming adversity, Smith said. “Those are stories that are definitely a part of our community and need to be told,” she says. “But I'm actually trying to focus on normal people.” 

NFL Rooney Rule Doesn't Address Root Causes of Bias (12:33 p.m.)

The National Football League’s Rooney Rule and other affirmative action policies don’t place enough emphasis on tackling the root cause of people’s biases, said John Barnes, a former Liverpool football player and author of “The Uncomfortable Truth About Racism.”

The Rooney Rule, a policy established by the NFL in 2003 that stipulates at least one Black or ethnic minority candidate must be interviewed for head coaching jobs, hasn’t led to more Black coaches, said Barnes.

To effectively combat racism, industries “have to change peoples’ perceptions because there are always ways around laws,” he said.

While there is an urgent need for more diverse representation in positions of power, Barnes also noted that such inclusion doesn’t automatically lead to material improvements for other members of their communities.

“Things are much worse for the average Black person, and that’s who we should be speaking for,” said Barnes.

‘Everything on the Table’ to Control Inflation in the U.S., San Francisco Fed President Says (11:41 a.m. NY)

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said she has “everything on the table” for the next policy meeting in May, as both a 50 basis-point interest-rate hike and a decision to shrink the balance sheet could be warranted depending on economic data in coming weeks.

“If we need to do 50, that is what we’ll do,” Daly said Wednesday in an interview with Michael McKee during the Bloomberg Equality Summit. She said she could also potentially support a 25 basis-point hike.

Investors have increased bets on a half-percentage point hike at the Fed’s May 3-4 meeting after Chair Jerome Powell said on Monday the central bank was prepared to take such a step if necessary to get price pressures under control.

When asked how she’s balancing those decisions with an inclusive recovery, she said, “we have to be nimble in our policy. Right now inflation is top of mind because inflation is a regressive tax.” She added: “The very people we care a lot about in terms of equitable inclusion in the labor market, are the very people who are being most affected by the rapid rise in prices.”

Norway Pushes Full-Time Hours to Tackle Gender Inequality (11:20 a.m. NY)

Norway is preparing a new law aimed creating more full-time jobs to promote gender equality, according to Equality Minister Anette Trettebergstuen.

The government wants to make full-time employment “the norm in working life,” she said, adding that the country’s “work force is really gender segregated.”

The proposal, unveiled in January, would require companies to offer staff a full-time contract or justify the need for a part-time one. Part-time positions are particularly prevalent in hospitality and health-care industries, with predominantly female staff.

Some of the initiatives the government has already passed include requiring companies to disclose wage levels, so employees can check they are in the “right wage category,” the minister said. The option for fathers to take 15 weeks of parental leave also contributes to a more equal split in duties that can persist as the children grow older, she said.

“Many of the keys to a more equal society lie in the labor force,” Trettebergstuen said.

Transgender Women in Ukraine Face Male-Only Conscription (11:01 a.m. NY) 

Some transgender women in Ukraine who have been unable to change their gender on identity cards are being obliged to stay in the country, said Maria Sjodin, acting executive director of OutRight Action International

After Russia invaded Ukraine last month, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy banned Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 from leaving so that they can assist with the war effort at home.

Sjodin said that some countries in Eastern Europe have historically been unwelcoming toward the LGBTQ community, which means some refugees may want to travel even further to more gay- and trans-friendly locations.

“I think many of them will want to move on to other countries,” she said.

 Concrete Steps Employers Can Take to Support Women Experiencing Menopause (10:56 a.m. NY) 

Women in the age group most likely to experience menopause — those between 45 and 55 — account for 11% of the workforce in the Group of Seven nations, according to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. Yet, most don’t get support from employers while experiencing symptoms. 

Dame Lesley Regan said raising awareness about the strain menopause puts on working women and the economy is the first step to getting people the support they need. “The vast majority of men and employers, their usual response is, ‘I didn't realize, what can I do?’ They are very willing to join the cause,” she said. 

She suggests they sign the Menopause Workplace Pledge, which calls on employers to acknowledge the issue and offer support to those going through menopause. Some employers, often led by women, are also offering menopause leave. 

“I think it is so important that we break down the stigma and taboo,” said Chair of Women Equalities Select Committee member of Parliament Caroline Nokes. “We encourage people to become allies — to have open conversations with their female colleagues.”

Companies Face More Pressure on Social Issues from Individual Investors (10:06 a.m. NY)

Individual investors are likely to press companies to address topics such as labor and human rights issues, compared with institutional investors who are inconsistent in their efforts, according to Catherine Howarth, chief executive officer of ShareAction, a U.K. nonprofit focused on sustainable investing.

“Ordinary people are very committed and interested in companies treating their stakeholders well,” she said.

While the quality of social data is patchy and companies often cherry pick information they disclose, efforts by European regulators to press companies to reveal such data and real-world impacts will set a standard for other nations globally, Howarth added.

Biden Administration to Use Broadband Funds to Hire Women, Minorities (9:56 a.m. NY)

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the Biden administration will use a swathe of the billions of dollars of funding enacted for broadband construction and money from a proposed semiconductor support package to hire women and minorities.

The $65 billion initiative to provide universal broadband, enacted as part of the infrastructure bill in November, will create some 150,000 jobs, Raimondo said. “I am determined to make sure that those jobs go to women, go to people of color, go to people who don’t have a college degree,’’ she said. 

“We’re going to use some of the $65 billion on highly effective apprenticeship and technical-training initiatives,’’ she said. Some of that will involve providing “wrap-around services’’ like child care and transportation, which are essential to helping boost the participation of women, she said.

The template will also be applied to a $52 billion initiative for chip production that’s embedded in legislation under consideration in Congress to boost U.S. competitiveness, Raimondo said. Only 10% of workers in the semiconductor industry are women, and 4% are Black, according to the Commerce Secretary. “Everyone deserves a shot’’ at those high-paying jobs, she said. The new bill is a “massive opportunity.” 

ESMA Executive Director Also Supportive of Quotas, ‘Structured’ Policies for Women (8:53 a.m. NY) 

Initiatives by European authorities to have more women on corporate boards show that quotas do have an impact, according to Natasha Cazenave, executive director at the European Securities and Markets Authority.

At her own employer, which is Europe's markets cop, women account for 54% of managers, yet “a more structured, conscious policy” could help sustain that, she said.

First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Is ‘Very Supportive’ of Quotas (8:16 a.m. NY) 

As the European Union weighs requiring quotas for women on boards, First Deputy Prime Minister of Spain Nadia Calviño said she is “very supportive” of them. 

The economist said her thinking evolved on the issue. “One day I realized that there are biases, that there are glass ceilings, and not so much glass ceilings, but very hard ceilings to break,” she said. “We can’t wait 125 years to reach equality, we need to do something now. Quotas are game changers, they are a shock to a system.” 

Quotas have been shown to increase gender and racial diversity on boards both in the U.S. and E.U. 

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