IKEA Takes Women Out of Saudi Arabian Ad

IKEA is under fire after it removed images of women from its Saudi catalogue. That's right: IKEA deleted the women from its furniture ads altogether. In previous editions, it included women but only those whose skin was covered. Sweden's trade minister Ewa Bjorling and others noticed the different versions of the catalogues, noting that you can't delete women from society. IKEA's statement of regret says, "We should have reacted and realized that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the IKEA Group values."

Check out the difference between the Swedish and Saudi versions here.  

"Awkward Black Girl" and Shonda Rhimes Team Up

Issa Rae, creator of the webs series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, and Shonda Rhimes, producer of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, are teaming up to create two new television series. 

Read more here.

White Educator Says She Was Fired From HBCU Because of Race

Shira Hedgepeth, a white woman who served as the director of academic technology at Winston-Salem State University, is claiming that she was fired from the HBCU because of her race. More specifically, Hedgepeth is alleging that the North Carolina university administrators fired her a few months ago because she is white. She had worked there for about four years and was promoted in 2010. She says her performance was above satisfactory and she never received complaints from supervisors.

Hedgepeth said she saw the University terminate white employees for no reason and then regularly fill those positions with minorities. She says this took place over a period of time.

Hedgepeth filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission two days after she was terminated. Now, the EEOC agrees with her claims. Read more here.