Newsletters: Women take the lead

Women take the lead

DELIVERING ON DIVERSITY, GENDER EQUALITY, AND INCLUSION

This month marks Intersection’s one-year anniversary—cheers! In this issue, we consider some of the women leaders who have stepped into new roles in 2021—and who are continuing to shape the United States and the world.

Movers and shakers

Rosalind Brewer took the reins at Walgreens following a year of disproportionate losses for Black Americans, and as companies, including McKinsey, came together to address systemic racism. (Now, for the first time, women lead the top three pharmacies in the United States.)

As Brewer put it in a 2018 commencement speech at her alma mater, Spelman College, “When you’re a Black woman, you get mistaken a lot. You get mistaken as someone who could actually not have that top job. Sometimes you’re mistaken for kitchen help. Sometimes people assume you’re in the wrong place. And all I can think in the back of my head is, No, you’re in the wrong place.”

Here’s more on the impact of systemic racism and sexism on employees and what allyship really looks like.

Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, became US Secretary of the Interior—and the first Native American cabinet secretary in US history. Upon taking office, she pledged to “address the climate and nature crises” and to “advance environmental justice.” Indigenous peoples in the US and worldwide face disproportionate risks from climate change, as do Black women and other people of color.

Here’s more on Indigenous peoples’ stewardship of natural lands worldwide, and what it would take to limit the most dangerous effects of climate change.

Plus: this week, the US Senate confirmed Jessica Rosenworcel as the first permanent female chair of the Federal Communications Commission. Rosenworcel is an outspoken proponent of broadband equity—a key issue for members of tribal nations.

Dr. Rachel Levine became the first out transgender person to serve in a US Senate-confirmed position. Upon her confirmation as assistant secretary for health, Levine thanked the LGBTQ+ community including “those whose names we will never know because they were forced to live and work in the shadows.” Later this year, Levine became the country’s first out transgender four-star officer.

Here’s more on how organizations can support LGBTQ+ employees and improve the experience of transgender colleagues in corporate America—and on how you can adjust your language to avoid microaggressions.

Plus: here’s a chance to hear directly from LGBTQ+ business leaders.

Jane Fraser became CEO of Citigroup, the third-largest bank in the United States. Fraser’s appointment followed a similar first in Canada: Rania Llewellyn was appointed CEO of Laurentian Bank, one of Canada’s top eight banks, in fall 2020.

Here’s more on how the North American financial-services industry stacks up when it comes to women’s representation.

The Nigerian American economist Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala became the first woman and the first African to lead the World Trade Organization. In a 2019 interview with McKinsey partner Acha Leke, the former Nigerian minister of finance reflected on Africa’s many sources of opportunity—including its young, dynamic population—and on the role of women on the continent. It would take more than 140 years for Africa to reach gender parity at the current pace—but if business leaders look carefully, Okonjo-Iweala says, they will see that women are playing critical roles throughout the economy.

Here’s more on another pathbreaking African leader and an issue affecting the health and economic opportunity of African women and girls.

Plus: the American economist Dr. Laura Tyson discusses her career in the field, global progress toward gender equality, and how jobs are evolving.

Thasunda Brown Duckett took the top job at TIAA, bringing the number of Black women leading Fortune 100 companies to two for the first time. Duckett has long spoken out about the need to accelerate financial inclusion in Black communities. She wrote in a Black History Month blog post that “financial health is a human right. Yet it has been out of reach for far too many people, particularly Black Americans.” As Duckett emphasized, a lack of access to financial services is not just a symptom of the racial wealth gap but also a cause. “The bridge to racial equity,” she wrote, “starts with financial health.”

Here’s more on what’s going on outside the US banking system, an investment in Black women led by Black women, and an initiative (in which McKinsey is taking part) aimed at eliminating the racial wealth gap through “deliberate, collective action.”

Plus: reflections from Kenneth Frazier, who this year retired as CEO of Merck, on how companies can help young Black Americans gain economic access.

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, the star of the FX drama Pose, became the first transgender performer to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy in a lead-acting category. Rodriguez earned the best lead-actress nomination for her role as Blanca Evangelista, a house mother (the head of a chosen family) in the New York ballroom scene of the ’80s and ’90s. Like her character, Rodriguez is Afro-Latina; Pose stands out for centering the experiences of LGBTQ+ people of color, and for the diversity of its cast. McKinsey research shows that while audience demand for shows with diverse casts has rapidly increased in recent years, less than 5 percent of US streaming shows have Black leads—and Black professionals face barriers and inequities throughout the film and TV industry.

Rodriguez wants to see more—and more diverse—Black and Latinx representation, both behind and in front of the camera. “I want to see some Latina, disabled, LGBTQAI members on the television screen,” she says. “Show shows that talk about stories like that.”

Here’s more on the diverse identities and experiences of Hispanic and Latinx Americans from Univision anchor Jorge Ramos.

Plus: what it means to be “American,” and what makes the Netflix series High on the Hog special.

The Associated Press (AP) announced that Daisy Veerasingham will serve as its next president and CEO—making her the first woman, the first person of color, and the first citizen of a country other than the US to lead the global news organization in its 175-year history. Come January, Veerasingham, a first-generation Briton of Sri Lankan descent, will take her place among the few women at the top of the media industry.

Here’s more on what it will take to boost the number of women in news-media C-suites and newsrooms.

Plus: Kevin Merida, the L.A. Times’s top editor, recommends a Pulitzer Prize–winning biography by a pioneering investigative journalist.

— Edited by Gwyn Herbein, an assistant managing editor in McKinsey’s Atlanta office

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Women take the lead

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