🏛️ Axios PM: Missing from monuments

Plus: Hollywood's favorite villain | Wednesday, March 08, 2023

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Amazon   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Mar 08, 2023 Happy International Women's Day! This day, first recognized by the UN in 1975, is celebrated in more than 100 countries. Today's PM — edited by Erica Pandey — is 549 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for the copy edit.     1 big thing: America still doesn't put women on pedestals Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios   It's easier in the United States to find a sculpture of a mermaid than of any American-born woman who actually is part of this world, Axios' Chelsea Brasted writes. That's according to Monument Lab, a nonprofit that in 2021 counted who and what Americans honor in their public art — 22 sculptures of mermaids, to 21 honoring abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Why it matters: Monuments have historically represented our values by putting concepts and people on literal pedestals. But public art in the U.S. has long presented a lopsided view. 🧮 By the numbers: No comprehensive, up-to-date ledger of American public art installations exists, but researchers agree that women and people of color are deeply underrepresented. Of the top 50 historical figures represented in Monument Lab data, only three are women, and only five are Black or Indigenous. Half are people who enslaved others. Only 6% of American monuments feature real women as their subjects, according to research by Sierra Rooney, a historian at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Share this story.     2. 🧾 Mapped: The period tax Data: Alliance for Period Supplies. Map: Madison Dong/Axios Visuals Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C., have banned taxes on menstrual items, and 12 states are considering legislation for so-called "period tax" exemptions this year. The big picture: Progress toward gender equity still lags when it comes to how much money women spend on everyday items. Only two states — New York and California — have made it illegal to have gender-based pricing, also known as the "pink tax," which is the practice of charging different (often higher) prices for goods or services marketed to women than for men. But headway in eliminating the so-called "period" or "tampon tax" on menstrual products has been an exception to the lack of progress. By the numbers: The average cost of menstrual products is about $20 per cycle and adds up to about $18,000 over the average woman's lifetime, the National Organization for Women estimated in 2021. Share this story.     A message from Amazon "In just 9 months, my salary increased 200%"     Mina discovered her interest in software while working as an Amazon warehouse associate. The story: Amazon Technical Academy helped turn this into a career, and now, after a 9-month program, Mina is a software development engineer at Amazon. Learn more.     3. Catch me up Data: Heidrick & Struggles Board, Monitor U.S. 2023. Chart: Axios Visuals The share of Black appointees to Fortune 500 boards declined last year: 34% of board appointments last year went to someone belonging to a racial or ethnic minority — down from 41% in 2021. Go deeper. The Louisville Metro Police Department has engaged in a pattern of unlawful and discriminatory conduct that violated the Constitution, the Justice Department said. The findings, announced almost three years after police shot and killed Breonna Taylor, amount to a scathing critique of Louisville's police department. Go deeper.     4. 🎬 Hollywood's new favorite villain is... Edward Norton in "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," as Miles Bron, an eccentric tech billionaire. Photo: John Wilson/Netflix ...the tech bro. Why it matters: Looking north to Silicon Valley, the movie industry has found perhaps its richest resource of big-screen antagonists since Soviet-era Russia, AP reports. Case in point: Miles Bron, played by Edward Norton in Rian Johnson's Oscar-nominated "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," is an immediately recognizable type — a visionary (or so everyone says), a social media narcissist, a self-styled disrupter who talks a lot about "breaking stuff." The big picture: The rise of movie tech villains mirrors mounting fears of technology's expanding reach into our lives — and increasing skepticism for the not-always-altruistic motives of those who control today's digital empires.     A message from Amazon Free technical training helped Francisco earn 4x more     Francisco started at Amazon in a fulfillment center. After joining the Amazon Mechatronics and Robotics Apprenticeship, he now earns 4x more as a trained technician. More info: Amazon has committed $1.2 billion to skills training so employees can learn and earn more. Learn more.   Are you a fan of this email format? 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