Year of the Woman, Parkland Survivors, Goop UK: Broadsheet October 30

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Labor unions have an effect on whether or not women take maternity leave, Goop earns an advertising watchdog complaint in the U.K., and we talk to the women who ran in 1992—the original Year of the Woman—about their advice for female candidates in next week’s election. Have a terrific Tuesday.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• The original 'Year of the Woman.' The 2018 midterms—now just a week away—have captured the nation's attention, in part because of who's running in elections next Tuesday: so many women. The sheer number of female candidates—23 in the Senate, 237 in the House; 200 Democrats, 60 Republicans—has earned this election cycle the "Year of the Woman" label. But students of history know that this is not the first so-called Year of the Woman. That happened in 1992, when the November election saw 28 women voted into Congress, nearly doubling the number of women in the House and tripling those in the Senate—from two to six.

Since we have the benefit of history, Coins2Day decided to tap into it. We interviewed 11 women who ran in 1992 to compile an oral history of that first "Year of the Woman." Why did those women run? What was the campaign trail like for them? What lessons can today's candidates learn from the class of '92?

The parallels between that election and this year's cycle are downright uncanny, from women's motivations to seek office to the fury stoked by the testimonies of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford in 1991 and 2018, respectively. Then there's the overarching sentiment—regardless of political experience and party allegiance—that women still don't hold enough power in politics. That was the case 26 years ago and remains so today.

As the veterans of 1992 look back on their own Year of the Woman, there's a sense of pride and hope—"I was part of the first group breaking the glass ceiling. You can see the scars on our heads," says one. Pride that they paved the way so that this year's wave cuts deeper into women's underrepresentation, and hope that, this time around, the progress achieved will grow sturdier roots. Coins2Day

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• The survivors. The cover story for New York Magazine this week is worth your time. Parkland school shooting survivor Anthony Borges is featured on the cover—with scars from being shot at his high school in full view. Parkland survivors Samantha Fuentes, Ashley Baez, and Isabel Chequer also share what it was like to survive violence at their school, as do survivors of school shootings from 1946 to 2018. New York Magazine

• All talk, no action. CEOs say they want to promote women—but they don't have concrete strategies for how. Only 40% of companies have a plan of action to do more than pay lip service to gender diversity in corporate leadership, according to a survey of top human resources professionals. Bloomberg

• Fickle Spiegel. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel reportedly promoted Kristen O'Hara to chief business officer—then, two days later, changed his mind and hired Amazon's Jeremi Gorman instead. O'Hara, who had recently joined Snap from Time Warner, told her colleagues she was leaving on Monday because of a change in "team structure." The episode, pitting two women against each other, is a bad look for Snap. Bloomberg

• Moms' union. New research shows that women represented by a union at work are 17% more likely to take maternity leave than women who are not. The study doesn't just look at whether women have paid leave available, but whether they actually take it. The theory: unions educate women workers about their benefits and help them feel secure in taking advantage. The Atlantic

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Shauna Phelan will be senior vice president of live-action scripted content for Nickelodeon.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Skimmbassadors-in-chief. The Cut has an in-depth profile of The Skimm founders Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg: "You can hate our tone, you can love our tone, but the story of the Skimm matters," Zakin says of their $100 million company. The Cut

• Nope on Goop. Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop has barely entered the London market, and it's already been reported to U.K. Advertising watchdogs. A complaint accuses the pseudo-sciencey brand of 113 violations of U.K. Advertising law over "potentially harmful" claims. Coins2Day

• Hero's welcome? This weekend, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh returned to his alma mater Georgetown Prep for an alumni weekend. At the school—which was of course at the center of Kavanaugh's and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's testimonies about his alleged assault of her during their high-school years—he was "hailed as a hero." New York Times

• Anything for love? Japan's Princess Ayako gave up her royal title on Monday when she married Kei Moriya, a non-royal. Royal Japanese women who marry commoners have to forfeit their hereditary titles and privileges, while male royals who marry women outside the aristocracy don't have to do the same. Time

Today's Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe. Share it with a friend. Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here.