Welcome to Axis ProRata, a podcast that takes just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

I'm Dan Pramak. On today's show, the online privacy battle heats up in D.C. and why gig economy workers like Uber drivers and Airbnb hosts might soon get a valuable new benefit. But first, the most powerful women in business.

So 2018 has been a kind of contradictory year for women in the U.S. workplace.

On the one hand, the unemployment rate for them is at an 18-year low, and the Times Up and

Me Too movements have helped empower women, at least in certain industries, to stand up against

sexual harassment

and other sorts of illegal workplace discrimination. And there's also been a slight increase

into female decision makers at venture capital firms, which hopefully will make it at least

somewhat easier for women entrepreneurs to fund and start new companies. But on the other hand,

the number of female leaders at America's top companies is on the decline. So far other hand, the number of female leaders at America's top

companies is on the decline. So far this year, the number of women CEOs leading Fortune 500

companies fell from an already pathetic 32 to a downright depressing 24. Yeah, just 24 out of 500,

which only gets to 5% if you round up, and don't even try to do the math on female CEOs of color.

Each year, Fortune Magazine publishes a list of what it calls the most powerful women in business,

the most recent of which came out this week.

And as the magazine's editors put it, progress still comes with a caveat.

In 15 seconds, we'll go deeper on this with Fortune Assistant Managing

Editor Lee Gallagher. But first, this. Axios chief technology correspondent, Enah Freed, shares

breaking news and analysis on the most consequential companies and players in tech, from the Valley to

D.C. Subscribe to get smarter faster at signup.axios.com. And now back to the pro rata podcast.

We're joined by Lee Gallagher, Fortune Assistant Managing Editor. There seems to be this broad

realization in the business world that more female CEOs are needed, particularly at top

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