This article is part of the Lily Lines newsletter. You can sign up here to get it delivered twice a week to your inbox.
Dear Lily Lines readers:
It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of my departure from The Lily and The Washington Post.
Since we launched in June 2017, I’ve been asked the same two questions several times:
“What was it like to start The Lily inside The Washington Post? Was it hard?”
It was incredible. And yes, it was hard. It took an entire year of meetings and mockups, on top of our other jobs, before we could launch.
“Did you receive internal pushback? Certainly you did.”
And I proudly answer: No. From the first time we told every single one of our (mostly male) bosses at The Washington Post, all the way up to our publisher Fred Ryan, they agreed that sharing more stories by and about women was a worthy endeavor. And then they gave us the resources we needed.
That type of support is tough to walk away from.
What’s even harder to walk away from are the people who make up Team Lily. Neema. Rachel. Amy. Maya. Nneka. Lena. Ross. Caroline. Maria.
I want you to know a few things about them.
They care about you. A lot. They have brainstorm meetings where they talk for hours about the kinds of stories they think you will find useful or interesting. They brought you a menopause guide for women of all ages and a gift guide where all the products are made by women. They contemplate for days how to bring you unique angles on topics like climate change and the pay gap. They make a space for your voices, and share with all of us what you remember about the moon landing and what it’s like to have a female body in workplaces built for men.
They read the notes you send. They are encouraged by the kind thoughts we receive from so many of you each week. And the notes with suggestions or corrections or an alternate perspective — they like those ones, too. Your words are passed back and forth over emails and Slack messages and sincerely taken into consideration.
They are open-minded, with big hearts and an unwavering passion for their profession. They were an honor to lead. And they are stupidly hard to say goodbye to.
As are you. Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. For showing our leaders that they were right to support our mission. If you’re a fan of what we do here at The Lily, I ask you to consider subscribing to The Washington Post, if you don’t already do so.
As for me, I’m headed to California to be with my partner. I’m taking a job at The Los Angeles Times, where I hope to cultivate another community as urgent and lovely as this one.
I started this job six and a half years ago, as an art director for the Arts & Style section of the print paper. I was 26 and terrified. I will be forever grateful that I, somehow, got to grow up at The Washington Post.
All my love,
Amy
Quick hits
Today’s featured news
Why female rivalries in the workplace are a ‘myth’
The popular trope that women bully and backstab each other in high-pressure offices has nothing to do with one’s sex, according to researchers writing in the Harvard Business Review. Instead, the researchers posit, fraught work relationships between women are caused by affinity bias — in which male managers are more likely to include other men in their networks — and gender bias, which is the assumption that women are less competent, ambitious or competitive than men. These factors make women’s same-gender work relationships more difficult, as they’re vying for fewer spots in direct competition with one another.
India wracked with high-profile rape cases
Over the weekend, a 23-year-old woman died of her injuries after being set on fire on her way to testify against her alleged rapists in Unnao, India, last week. That was just the latest tragedy in a string of similar cases, including one in the southern city of Hyderabad, where a 26-year-old veterinarian was raped and killed on her way home from work. The four men suspected of the crime were killed by police Friday, after the men attacked officers while in custody. That case ignited protests throughout the country earlier in the week, with many calling for harsher sentencing for rape in a country that is considered one of the world’s most dangerous places for women.
Men are finding it hard to balance work and family, reports suggest
Men in the United States are as likely as women to say they need to have time off work to care for babies, aging parents or sick family members, according to two new reports. But they’re less likely to take leave if it’s not paid, and still take shorter leaves when it is, the New York Times reports. The biggest hurdle, according to the data, seems to be financial, although gender role expectations — that men are responsible for financially supporting families — also play a role. As reporter Claire Cain Miller writes:
Stat check
News by the numbers
In a highly anticipated safety report, the first of its kind, ride-hailing company Uber disclosed that 3,000 sexual assaults were reported on its U.S. rides last year, including 235 recorded rapes and thousands of other assaults that could involve unwanted touching, kissing or attempted rape. The reports involved drivers and passengers.
Separately, more than 30 women in San Francisco are suing Lyft, another popular ride-hailing app. They allege they were raped or sexually assaulted while using Lyft after the company let “known sexual predators” transport passengers in locations across the country.
Looking toward 2020
The latest from the campaign trail
Last week, amid tensions within her campaign and dwindling funds, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (Calif.) dropped out of the presidential race. In a note to supporters, she wrote, “My campaign for president simply doesn’t have the financial resources we need to continue.”
As many people have pointed out, with Harris’s exit, the Dec. 19 debate may now have an all-white stage. Two women have qualified for that debate: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.).
Meanwhile, in Washington, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday that Democrats will begin drafting articles of impeachment against President Trump.
ICYMI
Five need-to-know stories in 100 words or less
1. A ProPublica investigation found that Match Group — the company behind several dating platforms — hasn’t extended Match’s practice of screening customers against government sex offender registries to its other platforms, including Tinder, which has 5.2 million subscribers, OkCupid and PlentyofFish. “There are definitely registered sex offenders on our free products,” a representative said.
2. For the first time, New York City Ballet has cast a black Marie, the character at the center of “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” (which dates to 1954). Charlotte Nebres, an 11-year-old student at the School of American Ballet, will perform as the young heroine.
3. Pinterest and the Knot Worldwide, online platforms used by millions to plan their weddings, announced they would stop promoting wedding venues and content that glamorize former slave plantations. As BuzzFeed News reports, that includes de-indexing searches for plantation weddings on Pinterest as well as flagging specific language on the Knot and WeddingWire.
4. In an opinion piece for the New York Times, former Rep. Katie Hill (D-Calif.) wrote about her decision to resign from Congress after naked photos were posted online without her consent and her relationship with a campaign staffer was exposed. She said that, in the aftermath, she contemplated suicide — but thought about her family and her young female supporters. “And I realized I couldn’t do it. … I have to keep going forward, and be part of the fight to create the change that those young girls are counting on,” she wrote.
5. After countless Internet jokes were made comparing a Peloton ad — in which a wife is gifted the stationary bike — to a “hostage” and “dystopian” situation, the actress, Monica Ruiz, appeared in an ad for Aviation Gin spoofing her Peloton one. Meanwhile, the actor who played her husband, Sean Hunter, told “Good Morning America” that his image is being “associated with sexism, with the patriarchy, with abuse,” and that’s “not” who he is.
Exercise bike not included. #AviationGin pic.twitter.com/jYHW74h81l
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) December 7, 2019
What we’ve bookmarked from The Post
A dispatch from Argentina by reporter Samantha Schmidt
In classrooms and daily conversations in Argentina, teenagers are rewriting the rules of Spanish to eliminate gender. They are replacing the masculine “o” or the feminine “a” with the gender-neutral “e” in certain words — and some academic institutions are beginning to recognize this new “inclusive” Spanish. Read the full story here.
A quick Q&A
This week, we hear from director Lauren Greenfield
You have probably heard of director Lauren Greenfield’s documentaries, such as “The Queen of Versailles,” which charts a billionaire family and its financial challenges during the economic crisis of 2008. “The Kingmaker,” which hit theaters last month, follows the reemergence of Imelda Marcos, who was the first lady of the Philippines for two decades — during which she is suspected of illegally amassing a fortune worth billions. Greenfield also directed “Like a Girl,” an advertisement for Always, which led her to start her production company, Girl Culture Films.
What drew Greenfield to Marcos’s story: “I was really interested in seeing how she was a power broker, how she wielded her power, which was kind of unprecedented at the time. At least it was very, very, very unusual at the time for a female first lady to be going around the world doing diplomacy. And she wielded her power through the men in her life.”
The most surprising aspect of filming Marcos: “With her, she would hand out money and you would get to see that and film it. Her candor with saying things and showing things that we would generally take as proof of guilt or proof of things you might not want to be open about as a politician, she would show off proudly.”
Why she started her production company: “In my life, the documentary film scene had come much closer to parity. In commercials, it was not. We decided to launch a production company with all female directors, and really try to give voice to women in advertising. We’re really moved and shocked that less than 8 percent of directors in advertising are women and yet 80 percent of consumer decisions are made by women.”
Lily Likes
Things we love but weren’t paid to promote
Lily T-shirt
My last ever Lily Like is my Lily T-shirt. I wear it because I’m proud of my team and what they accomplish every day. I wear it because I want people to ask me what “The Lily” is so I can tell them about our mission and urge them to read the stories we tell. I also wear it because it’s very soft and comfortable. And now, I’ll wear it when I miss my time in D.C. There are two styles — the classic logo option and the healthy skeptic option.
—Amy King, Lily editor and creative director
Baiku
[bye-koo] Saying goodbye with a haiku
This newsletter was made while listening to:
“Yah / Element - Medley” by Joy Crookes and “These Days” by Nico
Listen to everything we’ve recommended here.
P.S. …
A quick, curated list of Team Lily’s go-to content this week
