The Conundrum of Falling Participation of Women in Math and Computing Jobs

Author(s):  
Roslyn Layton

The USA and Denmark are leading information communications technologies (ICT)-enabled economies and have a variety of policies to promote women in ICT occupations, but both report that just roughly 25% of math and computing jobs in their respective countries are held by women, a number that continues to decline. The trend is odd given that the ICT industry globally notes a growing shortage of workers as well as a potential for lost revenue if positions go unfilled. Given the situation and a significant evidence that women's participation in companies is associated with greater profitability, one would assume ICT companies to be profit-maximizing and thus do more to attract and retain women. The trends are also odd given that the participation of women in scientific occupations in the life, physical, and social sciences are increasing overall. This chapter briefly reviews the situation and recommendations to address it, including increasing mentorship for women and recognizing and addressing bias in the workplace.

Author(s):  
Ruth Rubio-Marín

This chapter explores how human rights law has contributed to the shift towards participatory gender equality by legitimating the adoption of quotas and parity mechanisms to ensure women’s equal participation in decision-making. Since the adoption of CEDAW, human rights law has moved away from formal equality notions that simply affirm women’s equal political rights. Instead, we see growing endorsement of substantive equality doctrines that validate the adoption of gender quotas, initially as temporary special measures to ensure women equal opportunities, and, more recently, as permanent measures targeting the gender-balanced composition of an ever-expanding range of public and private governance bodies. The chapter explores how human rights law connects this participatory turn to issues of pluralism, calling attention to the need for public bodies to represent the full diversity of the population, and calling on state parties to increase the participation of women from ethnic minorities, indigenous groups, and religious minorities.


2021 ◽  
pp. 239448112110203
Author(s):  
Rebat Kumar Dhakal

Women representation in public institutions has been a key policy shift in Nepal in the recent decade. Despite such policy intervention as affirmative action measures to encourage women participation in public institutions and likewise increased presence of women in politics and public institutions, women’s participation at local level school decision-making processes remains limited. Through a lens of representation and theory of participation and an examination of women’s experiences, this study critically examines the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in the School Management Committee. Drawing on original ethnographic research in a secondary school in rural Kaski, Gandaki Province, Nepal, this study draws that predominant female gender images were reproduced in the initial stage of women participation which made them feel ‘othered’ and ‘excluded’; however, gradually, with the passage of time and learning, such images receded and they felt more ‘included’ and were thereby likely to demonstrate more substantive participation.


Author(s):  
T Sudalai Moni

Panchayati Raj plays a formidable role in enhancing the status of women in India during post-Independent times. In the colonial regime, women were not given adequate opportunity to involve and participate in the affairs of local bodies. However, in the 19th century, women gradually participated in the Panchayati Raj bodies when they were formally included in the electoral roll. During post-independent Era, due to the implementation of the Ashok Mehta Committee (1978) recommendation, National Perspective Plan, and 30 percent reservations seats for women in panchayats, there has been a substantial increase in women’s participation at all the levels of the Panchayati Raj bodies. Subsequently, the 72nd Amendment Bill and the 73rd amendment introduced in our parliament recommended 33 percent quotas for women. Encouraged by this, women have come forward in an ever-increasing number to join hands with the activities of Panchayat Raj Institution.Consequently, Central and State Governments encouraged women by implementing the 73rd constitutional amendment in 1993 (adding Article 243D and 243T), which also extended the privilege of seat reservation for SC/ST women in the local bodies. Due to this positive impetus, there has been a perceptible improvement in women’s participation in the last two decades. Due to unrestrained encouragement, the participation of women in Panchayati Raj is highly effective; thus, across India, more than 26 lakhs of women representatives got elected in PRI. This paper attempts to delineate the gradual growth of women’s participation in the Panchayati Raj Institution in various states in India.


Author(s):  
Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz

Orthodox Jewish women are increasingly seeking new ways to express themselves religiously, and important changes have occurred in consequence in their self-definition and the part they play in the religious life of their communities. Drawing on surveys and interviews across different Orthodox groups in London, as well as on the author's own experience of active participation over many years, this is a study that analyses its findings in the context of related developments in Israel and the USA. Sympathetic attention is given to women's creativity and sophistication as they struggle to develop new modes of expression that will let their voices be heard; at the same time, the inevitable points of conflict with the male-dominated religious establishment are examined and explained. There is a focus, too, on the impact of innovations in ritual: these include not only the creation of women-only spaces and women's participation in public practices traditionally reserved for men, but also new personal practices often acquired on study visits to Israel which are replacing traditions learned from family members. The book is a study of how new norms of lived religion have emerged in London, influenced by both the rise of feminism and the backlash against it, and also by women's new understanding of their religious roles.


2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 909-921
Author(s):  
SAM KLUG

The rise of the social sciences in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America has been an especially fruitful topic for intellectual historians over the past four decades. An early, prominent explanation of the new levels of institutional power and intellectual authority achieved by the social sciences stressed the sense of interdependence created by the expansion of the market and the rise of new communications technologies. Others have emphasized intellectual struggles for authority among religious, popular, and scientific approaches to knowledge. Still others have laid the credit, or blame, for the ascension of the social sciences on liberal elites’ consolidation of their power after the collapse of monarchical authority and the successful repression of Marxist challenges. Two celebrated accounts have argued that ideological conditions, whether pervasive beliefs in American exceptionalism or visions of “scientific democracy,” shaped the development of the social sciences and their claims to intellectual authority. In the case of specific disciplines, like sociology and political science, the most supple histories have shown how broad changes in the structure of American capitalism created the conditions of possibility for new forms of knowledge about the social world, while more subtle intellectual shifts created openings for particular practices.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 86-118
Author(s):  
RATA B KENEA

Though the participation of women in economic development and community work usually realized low as a whole due to various reasons, the contribution of gender in creating the difference in terms of their status even among the participatory women is untouched area. For instance, the research conducted by Atinafu Diga (2013) on assessment of economic empowerment of women the related studies entitled Assessment of economic empowerment of Women in Kolobo kebele, Abay chomman Woreda dealt with only inadequate economic empowerment problems and low participation of Women in educational leadership areas respectively as their overall findings. As a result, this study is undertaken to assess the status of women disparity to participate in community work in case of kolobo kebele, Ambo town, Oromia Regional State; Ethiopia.This study is descriptive in nature. For this particular study, both quantitative and qualitative research approach were employed. In doing this research paper, of the total population,79 samples were selected from the town selected using simple random and purposive sampling techniques. Here, 79 were responded for the 20 close-ended questions of the questionnaire and another 10 were responded for open-ended questions of the interview. To analyses the quantitative data, techniques such as tabulation, percentages, and numerical figures were employed to. On the other hand, Narration and comparative discussion were covered to analyse the qualitatively collected data.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Luiz Severo Bem Junior ◽  
Nilson Batista Lemos ◽  
Júlia de Araújo Vianna ◽  
Juliana Garcia Silva ◽  
Luana Moury Fernandes Sanchez ◽  
...  

Background: Utilizing the Brazilian Medical Demography analysis and a literature review, we evaluated how women choose to become neurosurgeons in Brazil and around the world, specifically citing the Europe, the USA, India, and Japan. Methods: We utilized the Brazilian Medical Demography prepared by the Federal Council of Medicine and the Regional Council of Medicine of the State of São Paulo (2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018). We also included an evaluation of 20 articles from PubMed, the Scientific Electronic Library Online, and National Health Library databases (e.g., using descriptors “Women in neurosurgery” and “Career”). Results: In Brazil in 2017, women comprised 45.6% of active doctors, but only 8.6% of all neurosurgeons. Of 20 articles identified in the literature, 50% analyzed the factors that influenced how women choose neurosurgery, 40% dealt with gender differences, while just 10% included an analysis of what it is like to be a female neurosurgeon in different countries/continents. Conclusion: The participation of women in neurosurgery has increased in recent years despite the persistence of gender inequality and prejudice. More women need to be enabled to become neurosurgeons as their capabilities, manual dexterity, and judgment should be valued to improve the quality of neurosurgical health-care delivery.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 205316801878684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloe Lim

Fact-checking has gained prominence as a movement for revitalizing truth-seeking ideals in journalism. While fact-checkers are often assumed to code facts accurately, few studies have formally assessed fact-checkers’ overall performance. I evaluated the performance of two major fact-checkers in the USA, Fact Checker and Politifact, comparing their inter-rater reliability using a method that is regularly employed across the social sciences. Surprisingly, only one in 10 statements was found to be fact-checked by both fact-checkers. Regarding claims evaluated by both organizations, the fact-checkers performed fairly well on outright falsehoods or obvious truths; however, the agreement rate was much lower for statements in the more ambiguous scoring range (that is, “Half True” or “Mostly False”). The results suggest that fact-checking is difficult, and that validation is challenging. Fact-checkers rarely evaluate statements that are exactly the same, and disagree more often than one might suppose, particularly when politicians craft language to be ambiguous. At least in some cases, the strategic ambiguity of politicians may impede the fact-checking movement’s goals.


This chapter provides an overview of some aspects of the convergence context and concepts presented in previous chapters. The media sector and the main characteristics of the entertainment industry are described. Several elements are underlined: access, user-generated content, and a higher number of physical supports and electronic platforms. Key trends and developments in ICT industry are explored and main aspects of convergence are described: definitions of convergence, industry impact of convergence, and implications for firms' strategies. Indeed, technological and industrial convergence made possible by digitalization has changed the strategy of ICT companies and has accelerated the erosion of the existing frontiers between the media industries leading to the emergence of new actors (web giants, technology enablers, telecommunications operators, etc.). These compete directly with the “traditional” media players. These ICT groups have adopted different relational strategies to strengthen their activities in the field of entertainment and to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.


Author(s):  
Fardaus Ara

Empowerment of women is a universal slogan. Worldwide, several strategies are carried on by international organizations to ensure active participation of women in decision-making. Active participation at all level of politics is necessary in this regard. Likewise, the government of Bangladesh has adopted various programs and policies to ensure gender equality in all sectors of life. Relevant laws and ordinances are revised, and new provisions are incorporated in the laws where necessary. One-third seats are kept reserved for women to be elected at the urban local government. However, gender disparity is evident at this level. Women are mostly seen as reserved seat councilors. They are almost absent in the leadership positions. In Bangladesh, women's participation in local government politics is hampered due to multi-faceted factors ranging from socio-cultural to political. The male-dominating political parties can play a major role to bring gender parity in politics by nominating and supporting more women in the local government election.


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