thirteen. a staggering drop in chinese exports and a soft jobs report from the u.s. new signs of a global slowdown we'll take a look at how investors are sizing up the latest indicators. also on the show it's twenty nineteen and women are still vastly under-represented in company boardrooms worldwide one of the few women c.e.o.'s in the auto industry tells us what it's like being in her position. i'm stephen beard slumberland thanks for joining us u.s. employers added just twenty thousand jobs in february the smallest gain in nearly a year and a half unseasonably cold weather slowing global growth a trade dispute with china and increased caution among consumers weighed on job creation but the labor department said the unemployment rate fell to three point

eight percent average hourly pay surged three point four percent from a year earlier as employees stepped up their competition competition rather for workers. chinese exports took a nosedive in february sending asian markets down earlier friday beijing reported that exports tumbled more than twenty percent from your earlier that's well below forecasts investors see the figure as another sign of a global economic slowdown analysts however caution that the timing of the lunar new year holiday makes that interpretation difficult this year but the overall trend remains significant in tokyo the nikkei index lost more than two percent in hong kong the main index there the hong song fell one point five percent. and let's talk more about these economic indicators with our financial correspondent new york jose luis de haro jose this u.s. jobs report what does it really tell us about the u.s. economy. basically stephen that the us is entering into

a delayed is the stages of the economic cycle one of the longest in history and it's doing it so with the tell you tight labor market has provided falling unemployment rate and increasing our lead salaries but now we need to wait and see to conclude if ever recent week payroll numbers are just an unexploded or a trend goes who believe the labor market is still a strong point out for example factory seasonality or defect that the unemployment rate that includes those who have been looking for a job more than six months old those with a temporary one but the one thousand are full time job is the lowest since two thousand and that's a six month average number of jobs created is the weakest in eight years so nothing has drastically change but there are seem to slow down we justify more and more the patients approach of the federal reserve ok so we talk about the approach of the federal reserve and obviously among these economic signals was yesterday the european central bank also signaling its concern of the global economy how are

investors taking all business. they realize that the global slowdown that we've been talking about over the last months materializing and he's going to have some consequences even if it does not turn into a recession for now it is a spectator for example and p. five hundred companies with more global exposure could see double digit earnings decline in the current quarter for the index in general could experience their first drop since the early two thousand and sixteen now the reasons to hold for a turn round it sends a chinese implementing some fiscal stimulus as you mentioned changing directions and taking a more a commodity of approach while the fed doesn't seem ready to increase rates and policing affairs this year also another cut earliest will be a trade agreement between the u.s. and china but for that we'll still have to wait as always we have to wait to see if that trade deal actually comes out who's in the east or horo there for us in new york thanks for say. women are still under-represented in global boardrooms

a situation that has changed very little in the past three decades that's according to a new report by the united nations international labor organization published for today's international women's day the report says that while a future in which women will no longer lag behind men is within reach it's going to take a lot of work to get there. women still have a harder time than men when it comes to finding a job a worldwide phenomenon with very few exceptions and they don't only face hardship when it comes to getting ahead in technical professions or management a major hurdle for women is motherhood an international labor organization study says women with very young children have the worst chances of finding a job. if we look at the motherhood employment penalty so the difference between women with children with out children how often they're getting into employment what their employment rate is that gap is actually

increasing and over the past ten years has increased by almost forty percent globally and this should really concern us so if we don't want to reproduce the inequalities of the past and we want a future of work that is truly gender equal we will have to make major changes and will have to make them now. the ilo figures show that worldwide women are only in a quarter of top management positions and that those who are are usually younger and better educated than their male colleagues improvement is unlikely without stricter legislation against workplace discrimination and for more equality. linda jackson is one of the few women to make it to the top of the auto industry my colleague caught up with the c.e.o. of central at the geneva motor show to ask her what it's like being a leader in an industry dominated by men the stocks and you're one of the few women c.e.o.'s in the automotive industry now i was reading an anecdote about you where

you related that very often you would go to a meeting of the delegates would not would want to wait for the boss before starting the meeting oh only for you to have to tell them that you are the boss is that something that still happens to you it doesn't happen anymore i have to say but it did happen happened very sort of early on in my career but now it doesn't happen anymore i think people probably know me but he didn't bother me because at the end of the day when she say you're the boss and then you very credible you can make you make your impression so but yes it did happen but not anybody. now would you say there are certain advantages to being a woman executive in a very male dominated industry but i suppose the obvious advantage is that because there aren't very many of you people remember you so if you make a good impression that all goes well because if you make a mistake that starts not sickness but i think it's some i think you could say it's a positive one in that there are many women but personally i would actually prefer that the world more women because you know this business is you know fifty percent

of my customers are women and there was a survey done oh about couple of years back which said that behind the decision to buy a car eighty percent of those decisions was made by a woman so they chose the interior eccentric cetera so it's very important that we get more women into the industry and i you know i want to try and encourage more people you know even within might see. you know my communications director is a female the lady that decides the design of that decides what the material in the colors are of my vehicles insight is a woman so why can't we have more women making a point about what we should have with our cars we don't want to make female cars but we want to make cars for everybody and i think women have. really important part to play. and how do we get women to playing more of those parts do you believe in quotas for management but i don't really believe in quotas i believe in encouraging more women and i do my utmost to talk at summits and encourage people in telling about my experience but the problem with quotes is is that if you are that you must many people it's so to senior level if you're

a woman if you want to be recognized that you got to that level because of your ability to do the job and if somebody said oh linda you got to that role because we wanted to fill a quota that sort of denigrates a little bit my my standing so this is why i'm against quotas but obviously i'm really really encouraging more women to be in there in the industry and to be able to have more women and to make it more obvious i think this big perceptions that the automotive industry is just about engineers and of course that's very important but there's a whole other range now because you know when you build an automotive brand it's not just about the projects it's about the whole experience of the customers why should women have a part to play in the. my colleagues there in geneva so from a flesh and blood role model for women to a plastic and at times controversial one barbie is now sixty years old the iconic fashion doll debuting at the new york toy fair on march ninth one thousand nine hundred fifty nine she's been fiercely criticized as an unrealistic model for girls

but she's an undisputed favorite for playtime despite fierce competition in the toy industry fifty eight million barbies or so each year and more than one hundred fifty countries. or. the first barbie commercial aired in one nine hundred fifty nine creator ruth handler named the toy after her daughter and for a fashion dog in contrast to old fashioned baby dolls she didn't imagine that her idea would be such a hit. i thought that. would always be successful i thought it would be a great success it's the degree to success and length of time it is amazing it's no longer amazing to me i think hopefully. forever reflecting society as it changes forever. but six decades after her birth barbie remains

a lightning rod for the status of women and girls critics say barbie silhouette has conveyed an unrealistic body image that can affect the way girl see themselves and impact their self-esteem to fans the iconic daw is an enduring symbol that is evolved to keep up with the times barbie has undergone many make overs with different skin colors body types and a wide range of careers in one nine hundred sixty five she became an astronaut for years before new armstrong walked on the moon later she broke through the glass ceiling. in the eighty's late eighty's bridging into the ninety's she was a c.e.o. and this was a time when there were a lot of movies about women breaking through the glass ceiling and it was very popular culture and obviously women themselves were becoming c.e.o.'s and gracing the covers of business times etc and so to have barbie c.e.o. with another proud moment. in an effort to reflect diversity in the summer mattel

plans to debut a dog that uses a wheelchair and won with a prosthetic leg so far over a billion barbies have been sold and she's likely to remain a favorite among girls for decades to come. and that's up from in the business seemed i'm sitting there is in berlin thanks for watching.

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