In the first penalty of its kind, Paris authorities have received a historic €90,000 fine for recruiting too many women to executive roles. In 2018, contrary to French law mandating “gender parity” in public appointments, authorities awarded almost 70% of roles to women.
After failing to hit gender diversity targets for 2020, global law firm HFW has announced the launch of a new strategy, supported by a series of ambitious targets.
BAME appointments to the boards of some of the largest UK companies have stalled in 2020, while board gender parity has significantly progressed.
Recent research undertaken by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) shows that minority ethnic women are the lowest-earning barristers in the profession.
Alexandra Wilson, a criminal and family law barrister at 5 St Andrew’s Hill and the author of “In Black and White”, took to Twitter last month to voice her concerns and anguish over being mistaken for a defendant three times in one day.
Airbnb is banning under-25s from booking entire properties in the UK, France and Spain. The crackdown is an effort to prevent house parties, which skirt social distancing rules amid COVID-19.
In August 2020, Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) exams will be held remotely using facial recognition software. This technology aims to ensure fairness and prevent cheating, but its rate of algorithmic bias means it is likely to disadvantage Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students.
Innvotec, a fund manager, recently launched the Female Ventures Fund (FVF). FVF will invest in small-to-medium-sized businesses founded by women and provide financial support for the first 10-12 years of the company.
Major brands, such as CocaCola, Unilever, Starbucks and Verizon have joined together to boycott advertising on Facebook, in a campaign labelled “Stop Hate for Profit”.
The American health product giant Johnson & Johnson has announced discontinuation of certain product lines sold only in Asia, advertised as dark-spot reducers, but commonly used by purchasers to lighten skin tone.