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The World’s Most Powerful Women: April 5th
Laura Cohn
Updated
Good morning, WMPW readers! At World’s Most Powerful Women, we bring you a daily round-up of women to watch across the globe. Flight crew unions at Air France are upset by the airline’s new headscarf requirement, a British newspaper editor sees a future in dead trees, and an American woman is bringing solar power to Tanzania. Got a tip? Send it my way: laura.cohn@gmail.com or @laurascohn. Have a great day!
[bs-content]A requirement that Air France flight crews wear headscarves when the airline resumes service from Paris to Tehran this month has upset flight attendants--to put it mildly. A union, the Syndicat National du Personnel Navigant Commercial, called the requirement "an attack on freedom of conscience and individual freedoms, and invasion of privacy." Air France, meanwhile, says the headscarf requirement is not new; female crew members had to don them before the airline's service to Tehran was cut in 2008 due to international sanctions tied to Iran's nuclear program. The flights are resuming thanks to the nuclear deal Iran brokered with several countries, including France. Women wear headscarves in Iran, but in France, hijabs and body veils are not allowed. Clearly, it's a touchy subject. What do you think? Email me or message me on Twitter.[/bs-content]
[bs-title]Merkel sinks[/bs-title] [bs-content]Public support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel is on the wane, according to opinion polls by Insa, Emnid, and research firm Forschungsgruppe Wahlen. Merkel has been under fire the last several months amid the on-going European refugee crisis.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.dw.com/en/survey-support-for-chancellor-merkel-and-cdu-drops/a-19161090" source="Deutsche Welle"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Web, schmeb[/bs-title] [bs-content]Alison Phillips, editor of The New Day, a dead-trees-only British media startup, says that there is still a "significant" group of people who prefer to get their news offline. Some analysts disagree, but The New Day publisher Trinity Mirror is going ahead anyway.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/04/business/media/the-new-day-a-british-upstart-casts-its-fate-to-the-newsstand.html?_r=0" source="New York Times"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Playtime pays off[/bs-title] [bs-content]Hanan Hroub, a Palestinian teacher in the West Bank, has won acclaim--and a $1 million global education prize--for the play-therapy lessons she instituted at her school. Hroub, a mother of five, says she got the idea after seeing that children needed a way to cope with violence in the region. She received the award from the Varkey Foundation at a ceremony attended by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Britain's Prince William.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/world/middleeast/a-palestinian-teachers-methods-earn-the-attention-of-more-than-her-class.html" source="New York Times"]
ASIA-PACIFIC
[bs-title]A female first in Kashmir[/bs-title] [bs-content]Mehbooba Mufti has become the first woman to be the chief minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir. Mufti, who heads a pro-India party, succeeds her father, who died in January.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/1933561/daughter-late-indian-kashmir-leader-becomes-first-woman-chief" source="South China Morning Post"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Hearsay in Hong Kong[/bs-title] [bs-content]Tech entrepreneur Clara Shih, who founded social media marketing company Hearsay Social in the U.S. and just opened an office in Hong Kong, says a key to success is to specialize. She should know. Her company, which focuses on the needs of financial firms, now has a presence in nearly two dozen markets, including New York, London, and Singapore.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1933404/yes-shih-can-hong-kong-born-entrepreneur-returns-city-set" source="South China Morning Post"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]India's obesity issue[/bs-title] [bs-content]A British medical journal says obesity is an increasing problem in India, particularly among women. In 2014, 20 million women in India were obese--that's more than twice the number of men.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/04/04/india-has-a-growing-obesity-problem-study-shows/" source="Wall Street Journal"]
THE AMERICAS
[bs-title]Hillary and Donald: equal on the economy?[/bs-title] [bs-content]When it comes to economic policy, Americans view presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump about the same, a CNBC polls finds. The poll, taken March 21 to 23, found that 24% of voters think Clinton has the best policies for the "overall U.S. economy." Trump garnered the same.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://fortune.com/2016/04/04/americans-trump-clinton-economy/?iid=leftrail" source="Fortune"] [bs-seperator]
[bs-title]Using the sun in Tanzania[/bs-title] [bs-content]Erica Mackey, a 32-year-old American, has brought solar power to Tanzania via her solar-energy business, Off Grid Electric. Last year, the company successfully raised $70 million, enabling it to reach a million customers. Talk about impact.[/bs-content] [bs-link link="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/569bf166-c455-11e5-808f-8231cd71622e.html#axzz44rD4qbRp" source="Financial Times"]
IN BRIEF
[bs-title size="small"]The British father who loved 'shared parental leave'[/bs-title] [bs-link link="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/fatherhood/the-man-who-tried-shared-parental-leave--and-loved-it/" source="Telegraph"]
[bs-title size="small"]Sleek Uppababy, created by a couple with three kids, is ahead in the stroller wars[/bs-title] [bs-link link="http://www.vogue.com/13422622/uppababy-interview-bob-lauren-monahan/?mbid=social_facebook" source="Vogue"]
[bs-title size="small"]Judi Dench sets a record.[/bs-title] [bs-link link="http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35954147" source="BBC"]
[bs-title size="small"]How Gloria Vanderbilt survived personal loss[/bs-title] [bs-link link="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/fashion/anderson-cooper-gloria-vanderbilt.html" source="New York Times"]
PARTING WORDS
[bs-quote link="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/apr/04/women-africa-stories-change" author="-- African proverb"]Until the lion can tell her own story, every tale will glorify the hunter.[/bs-quote]
