Good morning, WMPW readers! The former speaker of Greece’s parliament is starting her own political party, a girl in Afghanistan is braving the odds to lead an orchestra, and corporate boards in India are getting more women, albeit gradually. Want to share some news on a powerful woman? Get in touch, at: laura.cohn@gmail.com or @laurascohn. Have a fabulous Wednesday!
[bs-content]Zoe Konstantopoulou, the former speaker of Greece's parliament, has launched her own political party. Dubbed "Sailing for Freedom," the new party will work to free Greece of "the shackles of the memorandum," a reference to the country's bailout agreement with international creditors. Konstantopoulou recently told Greek network Skai TV that she wants to oust Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' leftist-led coalition. She broke away from his SYRIZA party last year when it signed onto a new bailout with tough economic reform measures attached.[/bs-content][bs-link link="http://www.ekathimerini.com/207949/article/ekathimerini/news/ex-parliamentary-speaker-constantopoulou-to-start-own-party-sailing-for-freedom" source="ekathimerini"]
[bs-share text="Setting sail in Greece via @FortuneMagazine's World's Most Powerful Women newsletter" link="http://www.ekathimerini.com/207949/article/ekathimerini/news/ex-parliamentary-speaker-constantopoulou-to-start-own-party-sailing-for-freedom"]
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
[bs-title]Unpopular prosecution[/bs-title] [bs-content]The popularity ratings of German Chancellor Angela Merkel are sinking now that she's allowed authorities to prosecute a German satirist for insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/2016-04/jan-boehmermann-recep-tayyip-erdogan-satire-umfrage-angela-merkel" source="Zeit"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Finding freedom in music[/bs-title] [bs-content]Negin Ekhpulwak, an Afghan teenager, is fearlessly leading the Zohra orchestra, a group of 35 women at the Afghanistan National Institute for Music. Ekhpulwak, who faces family hostility and threats for performing, says she will never "accept defeat." Playing music was banned when the Taliban ruled the country, and some still frown on it. Talk about girl power.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/afghanistan-female-orchestra_us_571508c0e4b06f35cb7019aa" source="Huffington Post"]
ASIA-PACIFIC
[bs-title]Middle Kingdom Makeup[/bs-title] [bs-content]Kate Morris, owner of online beauty retailer Adore Beauty of Australia, is taking her business to China. Morris started her business with a $9,000 loan from her boyfriend's father and has recently received a cash infusion from the Australian supermarket Woolworths.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://mashable.com/2016/04/19/beauty-company-australia-china/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#MuXGBC6PPZqK" source="Mashable"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Inroads in India[/bs-title] [bs-content]A new study shows that female representation on the boards of India's top 100 listed companies is rising, albeit gradually. Last year, an estimated 12% of corporate board seats were held by women. The figure is up from just 5.8% in 2012. Behind the jump: the country's "Company Act," which requires boards to have a least one woman.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/women-representation-on-company-boards-rise-in-india-study-116041900346_1.html" source="Business Standard"]
THE AMERICAS
[bs-title]Overcoming obstacles[/bs-title] [bs-content]How Teliana Pereira overcame humble beginnings to become Brazil's highest-ranked female tennis player.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/18/sports/tennis/brazilian-tennis-players-success-follows-a-childhood-of-obstacles.html" source="New York Times"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Sales fizzle[/bs-title] [bs-content]PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, whose company just reported another drop in quarterly revenue, said most developed countries outside the U.S. are "grappling with slow growth." Nooyi, one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women, also said certain parts of the world were suffering from high inflation, which crimps consumption.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://fortune.com/2016/04/18/pepsi-ceo-tough-global-economy/" source="Fortune"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Yes to Yahoo[/bs-title] [bs-content]The bidding deadline has passed and it looks like Yahoo, whose CEO Marissa Mayer has been working on turning around the company, has a number of suitors. Interested parties include Verizon, private equity firm TPG, and YP Holdings. Mayer is another one of Fortune's Most Powerful Women.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-19/yahoo-to-weigh-bids-from-verizon-tpg-yp-as-first-round-closes" source="Bloomberg"]
IN BRIEF
[bs-title size="small"]Hillary Clinton trumps Bernie Sanders in New York's primary election[/bs-title][bs-link link="http://fortune.com/2016/04/19/hillary-clinton-new-york/" source="Fortune"]
[bs-title size="small"]Nearly none of the CEOs hired last year were women[/bs-title][bs-link link="http://time.com/money/4298948/women-ceos-discrimination/" source="Money"]
[bs-title size="small"]A generation after Anita Hill, Fortune interviews Jenny Yang, head of the U.S.'s workplace watchdog[/bs-title][bs-link link="http://fortune.com/2016/04/19/anita-hill-sexual-harassment-eeoc/" source="Fortune"]
[bs-title size="small"]U.S. Treasury had planned to put Susan B. Anthony on $10 bill[/bs-title][bs-link link="http://www.wsj.com/articles/lew-planned-to-put-susan-b-anthony-on-10-bill-1461083466" source="Wall Street Journal"]
[bs-title size="small"]Africa's GTBank launches program to give Nigerian female entrepreneurs $15,000 prize[/bs-title] [bs-link link="http://www.financialwatchngr.com/2016/04/15/gtbank-empowers-female-entrepreneurs/" source="Financial Watch"]
[bs-title size="small"]Women in Japan and the U.S. work longer hours than their counterparts in Europe[/bs-title] [bs-link link="http://uk.businessinsider.com/oecd-data-us-women-work-more-than-european-women-2016-4?r=US&IR=T" source="Business Insider UK"]
[bs-title size="small"]Queen Rania of Jordan to visit refugee camp in Greece[/bs-title] [bs-link link="http://www.ekathimerini.com/208056/article/ekathimerini/news/jordanian-queen-to-visit-refugee-camp-on-greek-island" source="ekathimerini"]
PARTING WORDS
[bs-quote link="http://www.storypick.com/dipa-karmakar-2/" author="--Dipa Karmakar, who just became the first female Indian gymnast to qualify for the Olympics"]The 'Produnova' is the most difficult vault in female gymnastics. Only five women in the world have ever landed it. And I am one of them.[/bs-quote]
