Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Melinda French Gates discusses her new era, the childcare crisis may be holding back working women, and the first "gender-equal" Olympics only tells part of the story. Have a mindful Monday.
- Equality in Paris. The Paris 2024 Olympics kicked off on Friday with France's opening ceremony, Coco Gauff and LeBron James as the United States' flag-bearers, Celine Dion's return to performing—and a historic milestone. This year's competition has been touted as the first "gender-equal" Games, with a 50/50 split between male and female athletes competing in Paris.
In total, 5,630 male athletes and 5,416 female athletes are set to compete over the course of the Games—just shy of 50/50. It's a statistic of note a century after women staged their own competition after being excluded from the 1924 Olympics in Paris, 12 years after the International Olympic Committee first allowed women to compete in all sports, and a decade after the IOC set this 2024 target. Yet it's far from the whole story.
