Saudi Arabia’s first female director and other top gender stories

Welcome to your weekly digest of stories about how the gender gap plays out around the world – in business, health, education and politics.

The trials of a female film-maker in Saudi Arabia. Including directing actors from inside a van via walkie-talkie. (World Economic Forum)

Why Reddit has cut money talk from its hiring process. Women are damned if they do negotiate, damned if they don’t. (Mashable)

Silicon Valley showers its workers with perks. But parents still struggle. (New York Times)

Quotas do not improve board diversity. They may get women in, but they won’t keep them there. (New York Times)

Cracking the boys club. Jenny Lee on what it means to be the top woman in venture capital. (Forbes)

Women now hold a majority of management positions in the US. But they still make less money. (Fusion)

The Lagarde consensus. The IMF chief on why women are better leaders than men. (The Atlantic)

Why Clinton is putting women’s issues at the heart of her campaign. “The culture has changed on these issues. Hillary has not.” (Vox)

Spain forced its political parties to nominate more women. Those that did, won more votes. (Quartz)

Iran partially lifts ban on women attending sports matches. But not all matches or stadiums will allow women in. (Haaretz)

Child brides bring legal challenge in Zimbabwe. They want to make child marriage illegal. (Al Jazeera)

India’s boards are crying out for more women. Organisations need creativity, which is blind to gender. (World Economic Forum)

Nobody expects Muslim women to be funny. The young Pakistani-American comedians breaking the mould. (Guardian)

Pakistan gets first women-only rickshaw. Fed up with being groped, a woman launched her own service. (Reuters)

China’s young feminists go into hiding. The imprisonment of five core members has spooked them. (New York Times)

The Philippines is streets ahead of its neighbours on gender equality. Cambodia, take note. (World Economic Forum)

One woman’s mission to free Laos of unexploded bombs. “This is one [problem] that can be fixed.” (New York Times)

Meet the Catholic nun who codes. She develops apps, she tweets, all from her rural monastery. (Telegraph)

Statistic of the Week

A woman’s chances of landing one of a company’s five highest-paid executive jobs drop by 51% if there’s already a woman on the team.

Quote of the Week

“These young women risked everything to get an education that most of us take for granted. We cannot forget them. We must demand their freedom until they are reunited with the families and back in school, getting the education they so desperately desire.”
Malala Yousafzai urges the world to remember the 276 girls kidnapped by Boko Haram one year ago.

Author: Saadia Zahidi is a Senior Director, Head of Gender Parity and Human Capital and Constituents at the World Economic Forum.

Image: A woman takes pictures in Croatia’s UNESCO protected medieval town of Dubrovnik August 28, 2012. REUTERS/Marko Djurica