Good morning! Netflix is scaling back its parental leave policy, the White House held its first conference on women's health research, and executive safety is a concern post-UHC shooting—especially for women.
- Safety first. Since the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, companies have started reevaluating their security policies. The targeting of a relatively low-profile CEO in an industry now understood as more controversial than ever has led businesses to post new job openings for executive security specialists and scrub their websites of executives' headshots. Some rising corporate stars are reconsidering whether they want the CEO job, while current CEOs had a range of reactions—from reevaluating why the public is so angry to trying to keep employees engaged.
There is of course an added layer to personal safety for women, from front-line workers to female CEOs.
"It's very reasonable for female leaders to conclude [the need] to have an additional layer of safety concern," says Scott Berkowitz, the president and founder of RAINN, the anti-sexual violence organization. That includes concern about sexual assault and stalking and harassment, which women are already more likely to experience; 30% of women experience stalking and stalking-related fear compared to 12% of men.
Berkowitz says that threats against other high-profile women—like celebrities or politicians—can serve as examples of potential danger that businesses should heed. "It's not a big jump to think that there's some risk for female corporate leaders as well," he says. As a minority of company leaders, female CEOs already stand out.
Employees who interface with the public should be protected too, Berkowitz adds—from a claims adjuster at an insurer to a bank loan provider who are the ones to convey bad news.
The most salient lesson for businesses is that as they reevaluate security measures in this moment, they should consider the unique concerns of women in their workforces—and listen when those women report feeling unsafe.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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