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Greetings, 19th friends!
We are thrilled today to announce another new hire: Beatriz Rosen, The 19th's first-ever office manager. Beatriz is a native Texan who comes to The 19th from a top 100 U.S. law firm, where she helped multiple attorneys keep their practices humming. She attended The University of Texas at Austin and developed a deep fascination with news and politics while living in Washington, D.C., after college.
As office manager, Beatriz will be helping us keep all our plates spinning as we staff up, prepare for our big launch, and grow a strong and vibrant news organization.
Are you new to The 19th? Subscribe here to receive our twice-weekly newsletter.
Thanks for joining us this week!
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Press Association via AP Images
PREGNANCY PROBLEMS
Pregnancy during the coronavirus pandemic has turned an already-stressful situation into one where patients have to navigate additional risks and worries.
For some, it was the concern of laboring alone:
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo overturned those policies Saturday when he issued an executive order that pregnant patients will be allowed one “support person” with them in the delivery room, so long as that person doesn’t have a fever.
There’s also a dearth of information about the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women and babies:
- Two papers published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that in a small study, newborns had COVID-19 antibodies, suggesting possible exposure to the virus.
- Another paper, published in JAMA Pediatrics, found that 3 of 33 babies born to Wuhan women infected with the coronavirus also had the disease. The babies were tested two days after birth, so it is unclear if they contracted COVID-19 after delivery.
- All of the babies studied in the reports survived.
As STAT reported, "an editorial in the journal in which two of the reports were published cautioned against putting too much weight on the findings yet."
The Centers for Disease Control website says it is unknown “if COVID-19 would cause problems during pregnancy or affect the health of the baby after birth.”
WOMEN’S WORK
Macy’s announced Monday it will furlough the majority of its 125,000 employees, a reaction to a decline in sales after the retailer, the country's largest department chain, closed its stores on March 18 to keep staff safe and stop the spread of coronavirus. According to company materials:
- “Women represent 75 percent of the workforce across Macy’s, Inc., and more than 65 percent of manager-level and above associates.”
- “Racial minorities represent more than 61 percent of our associate team and represent more than 38 percent of our management team.”
The company said it would continue to cover the health benefits of furloughed employees at least through May.
— Andrea Valdez
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Lilly Ledbetter, pay equity advocate, endorses Joe Biden
By Errin Haines
Lilly Ledbetter, whose name became synonymous with the fight for equal pay, is endorsing Joe Biden on Tuesday as the country marks Equal Pay Day. She cited the former vice president’s decades of Washington experience, including his sponsorship of the Violence Against Women Act as a senator and his work in the Obama administration to promote women’s equality.
Ledbetter, 81, said she supported Biden’s bid for president before he became a candidate, telling him in 2018 when he campaigned for Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama that she would back him if he ever ran.
“He has so much experience, and that means a lot, because the president, that’s not a learning job,” said Ledbetter. “The country has seen that these last three years now. We need someone that knows how Congress and the presidency works.”
Ledbetter said she was courted by multiple candidates during the 2020 campaign but turned them down, privately citing her commitment to Biden. She declined to name names, but mentioned Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota as someone who “knows how the government is supposed to work,” adding that she “wouldn’t be upset” if Biden named the senator as his running mate, though she didn’t go so far as to suggest he should.
“I feel like women are still behind. We did not start getting better jobs and pay until we started fighting for them.”
“I do not want to influence the vice president,” Ledbetter said, adding “it would be exciting” to see a woman make history as the first female vice president in 2020. Biden recently pledged to select a woman as his running mate.
“I feel like women are still behind,” Ledbetter said. “We did not start getting better jobs and pay until we started fighting for them.”
Ledbetter said too many employers today “still have the perception, ‘If it’s a woman, pay her less. She’s not worth what a man is. He’s got a family’ — like she doesn’t. If [paycheck fairness] had been the law back in my day, I could have found out exactly how I stood.”
Read the full story: Lilly Ledbetter, pay equity advocate, endorses Joe Biden (March 31, 2020)
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HER STORY
In 1987, Congress passed a joint resolution designating every March “Women’s History Month.” Since then, people across the nation spend March celebrating the contributions of women to America.
Forage for stories in the Smithsonian Institute’s American Women’s History Initiative, a comprehensive collection featuring information on women both famous and unsung. Also, it’s worth reading the full language of the 1987 resolution.
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 What we're reading
Federal judge blocks Texas from enforcing coronavirus-related abortion ban. In a ruling, U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel wrote, “Regarding a woman's right to a pre-fetal-viability abortion, the Supreme Court has spoken clearly. There can be no outright ban on such a procedure.” (Austin-American Statesman, March 30)
AOC breaks with Bernie on how to lead the left. “After her disruptive, burn-it-down early months in Congress, [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez, who colleagues say is often conflict-averse in person, has increasingly been trying to work more within the system. She is building coalitions with fellow Democratic members and picking her fights more selectively.” (Politico, March 30)
A Leading Voice On Coronavirus Task Force, Deborah Birx Draws Praise And Criticism. Since the coronavirus pandemic began slinking into America, Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House’s coronavirus task force, has become a major fixture at near-daily press briefings. Long respected by her colleagues for her work as the U.S. global AIDS coordinator, she is now under the scrutiny that comes with the public eye. (NPR, March 27)
They Survived the Spanish Flu, the Depression and the Holocaust. Naomi Replansky, age 101, and her 95-year-old wife, Eva Kollisch, provide perspective for living through tumultuous times. (The New York Times, March 28)
🎧 Listen: In a six-part series titled “When Women Run,” editors and writers at FiveThirtyEight interviewed 97 elected officials across the political spectrum about their experiences in politics. In their own words, hear women talk about everything from how they experienced sexism and gendered pushback to how much their appearance did, or didn’t, matter. (FiveThirtyEight, March 2020)
Also, The 19th's editor at large, Errin Haines, talks about the virtual primary on The Electables.
📺 Watch: The 19th CEO Emily Ramshaw spent Friday morning talking about politics and the COVID-19 pandemic with her mom, longtime journalist Mary Leonard Ramshaw, to find out what we can learn from our mothers in a time of crisis.
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