#the number has been decreasing steadily over the years

[hirazuki]

Between my dog (two gates, one for either entry of the kitchen), my cat (a gate around a fake plant she was obsessed with chewing bits off of and swallowing), my sister's dog (one gate for my sister's room where he hung out when no one was home because there was nothing there that he could jump up on, one gate for each of our bathrooms because he liked eating cat poop, and one gate around the couch because even when supervised he'd try to take running jumps onto it), and my sister's cat (a gate around a majesty palm that she would just not leave alone), we had eight gates in our 1000 sq ft. apartment. That's one gate more than Gondolin.

As of today, we have none, and it feels so weird.

[reasonandempathy]

A brief summary of how Education fails Boys

I saw people sincerely questioning and minimizing the current struggles boys face in education.

So, I wanted to collect some relevant information, with sources. All of these are from the past couple of years, from 2021 onward.

Girls have more difficulty accessing education and are more likely than boys to be out of school at primary level. However, boys are at greater risk of repeating grades, failing to progress and complete their education, and not learning while in school. Globally, 128 million boys are out of school. That’s more than half of the global out-of-school youth population and more than the 122 million girls who are also out of school. The Leave no child behind: Global report on boys’ disengagement from education shows that boys are increasingly left behind in education. They are at greater risk of repeating grades, failing to progress and complete their education, and not learning while in school. While previously boys’ disengagement and dropout were concerns mainly in high-income countries, several low- and middle-income countries have seen a reversal in gender gaps, with boys now lagging behind girls in enrolment, completion and learning outcomes. Boys are more likely than girls to repeat primary grades in 130 countries, and more likely to not have an upper secondary education in 73 countries. At tertiary level, globally only 88 men are enrolled for every 100 women. 

In 1970, women only made up 42 percent of the college population. Today, the roles have essentially reversed. The U.S. Department of Education estimates men to make up 43 percent of enrolled individuals in college. And this crisis impacts minority populations even more: only 36 percent of Black and 40 percent of Hispanic bachelor degree recipients are male. 

This is not an issue of colleges neglecting to admit men at an equal rate. Rather, colleges are receiving fewer applications from men than women. In 2010, only 44 percent of college applications were from men and that number has been steadily declining since. The decrease in male applicants is a sign that men are discouraged from pursuing higher education at a disproportionately high rate. 

These statistics point to a larger, systemic problem. The American education system perpetuates a series of gender norms that cause significant harm to children; boys are impacted by these expectations in a way that tends to be overlooked. The stereotype that boys have a higher propensity to misbehave has led to the over-punishment of boys in the classroom.        

Boys are facing key challenges in school. Inside the effort to support their success

An APA task force is spotlighting the specific issues and recommending evidence-based ways to enact swift change At school, by almost every metric, boys of all ages are doing worse than girls. They are disciplined and diagnosed with learning disabilities at higher rates, their grades and test scores are lower, and they’re less likely to graduate from high school (Owens, J., Sociology of Education, Vol. 89, No. 3, 2016; Voyer, D., & Voyer, S. D., Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 140, No. 4, 2014; “The unreported gender gap in high school graduation rates,” Brookings, 2021). These disparities persist at the university level, where female enrollment now outpaces male enrollment by 16% (Undergraduate Enrollment, National Center for Education Statistics, 2022). “The gap between boys and girls is apparent from very early on,” said developmental psychologist Ioakim Boutakidis, PhD, a professor of child and adolescent studies at California State University, Fullerton. “The disparities not only exist across the board—from kindergarten all the way to college—but they are growing over time.” For boys of color, that gap is even larger. They face suspension and expulsion from school at almost five times the rate of their White male classmates and are even less likely to finish high school or college (“Exploring Boys’ (Mis)Behavior,” Society for the Psychological Study of Men and Masculinities, 2022 [PDF, 261KB]). The implications of these disparities are huge. Doing poorly at school is strongly associated with major challenges later in life, including addiction, mental and physical health problems, and involvement with the criminal justice system—problems that also have ripple effects on society at large. In the United States, getting at least a college degree may be the one remaining, relatively stable ticket to a decent life, Boutakidis said.

In a recent New York Times essay, “It’s Become Increasingly Hard for Them to Feel Good About Themselves,” Thomas Edsall reviews a variety of research studies highlighting the plight of young men in the United States. As a front-line educator who has worked in boys’ schools for 30 years and served as the head of a boys’ school for the past 20 years, I’ve been an unhappy witness to this dilemma. Data supports the claim that boys are falling behind, and dramatically so. For example, there is a growing gender gap in high school graduation rates. According to the Brooking Institution, in 2018, about 88% of girls graduated on time, compared with 82% of boys. For college enrollment, the gender gap is even more striking, with men now trailing women in higher education at record levels. Last year, women made up 60% of college students while men accounted for only 40%, according to statistics from the National Student Clearinghouse. College enrollment in the United States has declined by 1.5 million students over the past five years, with men accounting for 71% of that drop.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Lisa Britton

Published: Jun 25, 2024

On May 28, 2024, Melinda French Gates made a groundbreaking announcement in a New York Times opinion guest essay, revealing her commitment to investing in gender equality and women's empowerment. French Gates has been advocating on these issues for some time. As part of her initiative, French Gates established grantmaking funds, offering 12 individuals whose work she admires their own $20 million grant-making fund to distribute as they see fit.

The majority of these funds will support women working on various issues related to female and LGBTQ issues, both domestically and internationally. What caught many by surprise, however, was French Gates' decision to allocate resources toward addressing the challenges faced by boys and men.

My friend and renowned advocate Richard Reeves of the American Institute for Boys and Men and the Brookings Institute, along with Gary Barker of Equimundo, a gender equality organization focusing on boys and men, are two of the individuals who have been entrusted to direct these funds.

For six years, I have advocated for greater attention and resources to be directed towards the struggles of boys and men. I am encouraged by French Gates' new investment in this area. While the support for girls and women remains substantial, this step toward addressing the unique needs of boys and men is significant progress.

Reeves is the perfect choice to lead this effort. His unwavering dedication to raising awareness about the challenges faced by boys and men has been both inspiring and transformative. He has succeeded in changing the narrative and approach to addressing these critical issues on a global scale.

As someone who has devoted her life to advocating for the well-being of boys, men, and fathers, I urge our problem-solvers to prioritize the urgent issue of the health of our boys and men. The suffering and mortality rates among them demand immediate attention and action. It is an issue that cannot be ignored any longer. Areas such as education need to be addressed, but the mental, physical, and metaphysical health of our boys and men should be the top priority. Here's how we can help.

Boys and Men Need Our Help

The average life expectancy for men has been steadily decreasing over the years, resulting in a widening gender gap. On average, women now live six years longer than men. Yet, this concerning trend is often met with jokes rather than a genuine effort to find solutions and support.

It’s widely acknowledged that America is facing a significant mental health crisis, and finding effective solutions remains a challenge. Men, in particular, require our urgent attention and support. Numerous factors have contributed to this crisis. The most alarming evidence of our failure to address men's mental health is the disproportionately high number of men succumbing to deaths of despair. 70% of accidental drug overdoses and alcohol-related deaths are men. Boys and men are four times more likely to die by suicide compared to girls and women.

Boys and men today face challenges in their metaphysical health due to distractions, external influences, addictive behaviors, and a lack of a greater calling. These factors hinder their growth and prevent them from finding purpose and fulfillment in life. Prioritizing your metaphysical well-being is crucial for a more balanced and meaningful life, however in today’s fast-paced world, it’s often overlooked or underestimated. So many are lost.

Men and the Mental Health System

We must act, but the question remains: where do we begin?

First and foremost, we must humble ourselves and acknowledge the shortcomings in our approach to men's health. We have not been effectively addressing this issue, and while governments allocate initiatives, resources, and funding to address the health needs of women and girls, the struggles faced by men and boys are often overlooked. It’s time that we bring attention to this undeniable reality: Our boys and men are in need of our support, and we are letting them down.

In recent decades, there has been a societal focus on addressing men's mental health. We should question whether the approach taken has been truly beneficial though. Instead of empowering men, the prevailing narrative has often placed blame on them, suggesting that they are inherently problematic because of their biology. This perspective implies that men need to conform to a mental health system that primarily caters to the needs of girls and women. Perhaps it’s time to reflect on whether shaming men who need help into changing is the way to go or whether it’s the mental health system itself that needs to adapt in order to effectively support men. We need innovation within our mental health system along the lines of alternative male-led and male-focused support for boys and men. Rather than just telling men to change for our mental health system, how about we change up our mental health system to better address their needs?

Men and women are inherently different. When addressing the critical matter of mental health, we must recognize this biological reality. Lives are at stake. Broadly speaking, men have distinct approaches to processing emotions and confronting challenges, which differ from those of women. Instead of admonishing men for their methods and demanding change, it’s essential to acknowledge the existence of these inherent sex differences, which are not solely products of societal constructs. We must develop tailored approaches to address mental health concerns that specifically cater to the needs of boys and men with understanding and compassion, not blame and shame.

For example, a family member of mine needed mental support and guidance but was hesitant to seek help through traditional means. He felt discouraged and unsure about the typical therapist-patient dynamic, but he realized that delaying his journey to recovery could have detrimental effects on his family. Motivated by this realization, he took the initiative to find a male therapist who offered a unique approach to treatment. Instead of the conventional office setting, this therapist took his male patients on therapeutic hikes. This alternative method of care has had a profound positive impact on both my family member and his loved ones. We could greatly benefit from more innovative approaches to mental health support like this.

Male representation in the field of psychology has significantly decreased from 70% to 20% in the past 50 years. To successfully address men's mental health, it’s crucial to have more male psychologists available for support. Achieving equitable representation in fields like psychology is paramount. Funding should be allocated to programs in schools that promote and prepare young boys for careers in psychology, mirroring the initiatives seen in STEM programs for girls and young women.

Male Suicide Rate

If the suicide rates for males and females were reversed, society would undoubtedly be in an uproar. Closing the gender gap in suicide rates would become our top priority. However, because the current rates are as they are, we tend to ignore this alarming disparity. But the statistics should shake every mother and father to their core. We need to do more for our boys.

More funding is needed to establish comprehensive support programs specifically tailored to assist men navigating the difficult experience of divorce and family court, where men face a significantly higher risk of suicide. The family court system has been criticized for its biases against men, and this issue is being actively addressed by various advocacy groups, including some feminist organizations. It’s important to ensure that men and fathers are treated fairly and equally in court. This alone would save lives.

To reduce the rate of male suicide, it’s important for us to be honest, humble, and acknowledge that collectively, we have not been adequately supporting our boys and men. It’s time to embrace and love them, and we must demonstrate compassion and provide them with the resources and care they need. 

“Toxic Masculinity”

In today's social climate, boys and men are bombarded with conflicting messages. On one hand, we encourage them to express their emotions and "open up!” On the other hand, we tell them to “shut up!” and "act like a man." This contradictory messaging has contributed to the significant mental health crisis among boys and men today. The prevailing anti-male sentiment in society has played a detrimental role in exacerbating the issues. We must recognize and address the systemic and normalized discrimination against men in society, which is unjust and has a detrimental impact on them. We need to approach this issue with humility and actively work towards creating positive change with an inclusive environment that nurtures and supports everyone, including our boys and men.

The concept of "toxic masculinity" has largely had negative consequences rather than positive. While some may argue that it simply refers to harmful behavior, the term has been misused and manipulated to serve various agendas, creating the perception that masculinity itself is inherently toxic. This has unfairly stigmatized men and created the false narrative that they’re inherently toxic and are in need of change. Ironically, a term that was supposedly intended to support men's mental health has actually contributed to their declining mental well-being.

Fortunately, there is a growing awareness and a shift in mindset. It’s encouraging to see that almost everyone is now aligned in recognizing the need to discard the term "toxic masculinity." However, the harm caused by this concept has already taken its toll. There is a lot of damage control to be done.

A recent groundbreaking study published in the prestigious International Journal of Health Sciences revealed some fascinating findings. According to the study, viewing masculinity positively has a profoundly positive impact on the mental well-being of young men. The researchers found that messages like mine, "We love our men!" have the power to uplift and empower young men, promoting their mental health and overall well-being.

On the other hand, the study also shed light on the detrimental effects of messaging using the term “toxic masculinity.” The researchers discovered messages that perpetuate the notion of "Toxic masculinity! Men are inherently bad!" can have a significantly negative impact on the mental health of young men. Needless to say, I don’t think we needed a study to confirm this.

The Drug Epidemic

The United States is facing a devastating drug epidemic, with an average of 295 drug-related deaths per day. These losses are primarily attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Tragically, the year 2022 witnessed a staggering increase in drug overdose deaths, with 107,941 Americans losing their lives. This represented the highest annual total ever recorded.

But there is an alarming truth that often goes unnoticed. Opioids are disproportionately claiming the lives of our men. In fact, American men are more than twice as likely as women to succumb to overdose, and it’s men between the ages of 24 and 34 who face the highest risk of dying from drug-related causes.

Reports indicate that the recent surge in overdose deaths has disproportionately affected black men. In fact, black men have now surpassed American Indian or Alaska Native men and white men as the demographic group most at risk of dying from overdoses.

Funding is needed for the development of more programs dedicated to aiding men who are battling addiction. These programs would not only provide support to those in need, but also work to raise awareness about the heightened vulnerability of men to these tragic outcomes. The programs can help family members and friends become educated on the signs to watch for and know where they can seek assistance when needed.

Physical Health

But the decline in life expectancy and deteriorating health among men cannot be solely attributed to deaths of despair. Studies indicate that men generally have poorer health compared to women, and many suggest this is primarily due to their tendency to neglect self-care. 

If we collectively care more for men and their health, perhaps they will care more for their health in turn. We need our men to care about themselves as much as we care about them! They are our partners, fathers, sons, nephews, and our friends. 

Surprisingly, there are no federal offices of health dedicated to men in the United States, while there are seven federal offices of women’s health and numerous initiatives and ample funding for women's health. Does that seem like balance, fairness, and equality?

We must prioritize men's health as well as women’s health and establish initiatives to address their unique healthcare needs. It's disheartening to witness the lack of global support for men's health, and it should prompt us to reflect on who this world truly serves most.

Metaphysical Health

Boys and men today are not only facing significant challenges in terms of their physical health and mental health, but also their metaphysical health.

In today's fast-paced world, men often find themselves easily swayed and distracted by various external factors. The allure of social media, technology, porn, and other forms of entertainment can divert their attention away from personal development. The overwhelming influx of information and opinions from the media, influencers, peers, and society at large can make it increasingly difficult for them to stay true to their own beliefs and values. This susceptibility to external influences can impede their growth and hinder their ability to seek inner wisdom and knowledge.

Another significant concern is the excessive reliance on instant gratification and the growing influence of video game culture and AI. The desire for immediate satisfaction can hinder individuals, particularly men, from dedicating their time and energy to engaging with nature, exploring spiritual practices, engaging with the opposite sex, and delving into literature for deeper understanding. Rather than seeking fulfillment through meaningful experiences and genuine connections, they may resort to temporary solutions and virtual realms.

Boys and men greatly benefit from exploring and immersing themselves in nature for their well-being and personal development. Venturing out into nature seems to be a thing of the past in our modern world. Nature provides a unique and rejuvenating environment that allows individuals to disconnect from the pressures of daily life and reconnect with their inner selves. Spending time in nature offers numerous physical and mental health benefits, like reducing stress, improving mood, and increasing overall happiness. It also encourages a sense of adventure, curiosity, and exploration, which are essential for personal growth and development. Nature provides a space for boys and men to challenge themselves, develop resilience, ponder universal connection, and gain a deeper understanding of their own capabilities. Whether it's hiking through forests, camping, or taking a walk in a park, the beauty and tranquility of nature have a profound impact on the well-being and development of boys and men, as well as girls and women.

There seems to be a lack of a calling for something greater than themselves among many young men today. The pursuit of material success and individualism often takes precedence over seeking a higher purpose or contributing to the well-being of others. This absence of a greater calling can leave men feeling unfulfilled and disconnected. Even the concept of inner work has been distorted by our materialistic society, where the emphasis is now often placed on acquiring possessions and fulfilling personal desires. This obsession with status and abundance has infiltrated the realm of meditation and personal growth, overshadowing the true purpose of inner work.

It is of the utmost importance to address these issues and to empower men to prioritize their metaphysical well-being. By doing so, they can lead more harmonious and meaningful lives, which will have a positive impact on society as a whole.

Male Spaces As a Solution

One of the most effective ways to address all three areas of men’s health is by embracing the concept of male spaces. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, male spaces have been dismantled for various reasons, such as promoting inclusivity and addressing negative behavior. However, this approach has proven to be misguided. As a result, men today are experiencing increased loneliness and isolation, with many reporting that they lack meaningful friendships.

To rectify this, we should actively encourage the creation of male spaces and foster friend groups in every possible way, both as individuals and as a society. It is crucial to support the men in your life and encourage them to spend quality time with other men. I believe society should endorse, promote, and even provide funding for male spaces and programs. This would be a great place to start with the funding provided by Melinda French Gates.

The interconnectedness of mental health, physical health, and metaphysical health cannot be overlooked. When one aspect is disturbed, it has a ripple effect on the others. It’s important to address all three dimensions simultaneously, as neglecting men's declining health will not lead to self-correction.

For far too long, we have overlooked the challenges they face, and we are now witnessing the consequences of this neglect. It’s our responsibility to prioritize the health and happiness of men, ensuring that they are valued, loved, nurtured, and empowered to live fulfilling lives. We must promote a culture of support and inclusivity, where every individual, regardless of gender, receives the love and assistance they need to thrive and enjoy a long, happy, and healthy life.

Closing Thoughts

I am thrilled to hear that someone as influential and powerful as Melinda French Gates has recognized the importance of supporting boys and men in addition to girls and women. I have long stated that our well-being is interconnected and that neglecting one group will ultimately harm us all. This is a significant step forward, and I hope to see more leaders follow suit. By investing more love and resources in our boys, we have the potential to address a wide range of societal issues, from crime and addiction to violence and homelessness.

[mariacallous]

In the 1990s, London built the Ring of Steel—a network of concrete barriers, checkpoints, and thousands of video cameras around the historic City of London—after bombings by the Irish Republican Army. The idea was to monitor everyone entering and leaving the Square Mile, what the The New York Times later called “fortress urbanism.”

After the September 11, 2001, attacks, city planners looking to defend New York from terrorism turned to London and fortress urbanism for inspiration. Fusion centers, where US law enforcement agencies share intelligence at a federal level to be analyzed and build a bigger picture of crime, had been around for a few years. But officials began asking, what if fusion centers could be localized? What if local law enforcement could analyze and gather masses of intelligence from one city?

In 2005, they answered with the first “real-time crime center” (RTCC), a sprawling network of CCTV and automatic license plate readers (ALPR) linked to a central hub in the New York Police Department headquarters costing $11 million. Since then, from Miami to Seattle, RTCCs have steadily expanded across the US. The Atlas of Surveillance, a project from the digital rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which monitors police surveillance technology, has counted 123 RTCCs nationwide—and that number is rising.

Each RTCC is slightly different, but their function is the same: gather surveillance data across a city and use that to build a live picture of crime in the city. Police departments have an array of technologies available to them that span from CCTV, gunshot sensors, and social media monitoring to drones and body cameras. In Ogden, Utah, police even floated the idea of a 30-foot “crime blimp.” In many cases, images that police systems collect are run through facial recognition technology, and the data gathered is often used in predictive policing. In Pasco County, Florida, which operates an RTCC, the sheriff’s office’s predictive policing system encouraged officers to continuously monitor and harass residents for minor code violations such as missing mailbox numbers and overgrown grass.

Erik Lavigne is a detective at the Fort Worth Police Department in Texas and communications director at the National RTCC Association. He says there has been a boom in RTCCs over the past year because officers believe they help with more precise policing. He likens the scattered approach to policing in previous years to throwing out a fishnet and hoping to catch something. “For what we had at the time, that worked. But what inevitably happens is, you end up alienating the community because you're not just stopping the bad guys, you're also stopping innocent people that are just trying to live their lives,” he says. “A real-time crime center is a scalpel. We aren't catching the wrong people anymore.”

Lavigne says RTCCs are also a cheaper alternative to hiring more boots on the ground because each camera becomes, in effect, a stationary officer keeping watch over an area. Lavigne says this has proved so effective that analysts at RTCCs have been recording more crime than they can deal with, and  the Fort Worth RTCC has significantly helped decrease vehicle thefts.

Most evidence for RTCC effectiveness, however, is anecdotal, and there is a real lack of studies into how effective they really are. In Detroit, a National Institute of Justice study concluded that Project Green Light—a part of the Detroit Police Department RTCC that established cameras at more than 550 locations, including schools, churches, private businesses, and health centers—helped decrease property violence in some areas but did nothing to prevent violent and other crimes. But police departments argue they do work.

Few people know RTCCs even exist, let alone the extent of the surveillance they entail, so they can receive little public scrutiny and often operate without much oversight. There have long been concerns around how surveillance technologies could affect First and Fourth Amendment rights in the US, but Beryl Lipton, an investigative researcher at the EFF, says RTCCs “hyper-charge” these worries by collating all this data in one place.

“It’s perpetuating this mass collection of people's private information from a whole bunch of different video streams,” Lipton says. “They're really lowering the bar on the ways police can access that information … When there are these types of large databases without proper audit and oversight mechanisms, law enforcement officials and individuals can use them for their own purposes, which can be very scary.”

Regulations around the storage and usage of this data are patchy at best. For example, RTCC-collected data may be shared across jurisdictions because third parties contracted for the hardware or software will also collect data and share it, Lipton says. “Some of these companies will, in good faith, delete data in accordance with retention schedules, but we've seen them not do that,” she says. “With large databases like license plate reader databases, that information is sometimes shared without police departments realizing it and in violation of jurisdictional rules.”

While companies will argue this data is being stored securely, this is no guarantee. In 2020, hackers stole internal memos, financial records, and more from over 200 local, state, and federal agencies from web development firm Netsential, which provided data storage for fusion centers across the US. The trove of leaked data later became known as #BlueLeaks.

“There are real concerns around having this amount of information stored somewhere,” says Lipton, “I have no reason to believe these are somehow more secure systems than we have in other situations. And we know that those get breached all the time, law enforcement agencies in this country get hacked all the time.”

Lipton’s biggest worry is that this ability to follow people remotely and share that data across state lines could instead be used to target people involved in protests and political organizing, which has already happened, or those accessing reproductive health care. “Those issues become compounded because there’s the frightening ‘real time’ element to it,” she says. “That means that if you leave your house, there’s a very good chance that law enforcement could jump into a feed that is just following you around.”

In addition to police setting up their own technology, RTCCs draw on wider existing surveillance networks. Cooperation of public institutions like schools and colleges and privately owned cameras have been crucial to developing RTCCs by giving officers access to cameras that might otherwise need a warrant. In Atlanta, which has seen the number of cameras integrated into their RTCC treble to 15,329 in the past year, four higher-education institutions—Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine—installed $700,000 worth of cameras, including five ALPRs, that were linked to the Atlanta RTCC.

Fusus, which claims to be “the most widely used & trusted Real-Time Crime Center platform in U.S. Public Safety,” sells hardware that can be connected to private CCTV cameras and linked up to the local RTCC. Fusus sells a solution that brings all the various technologies under “a single pane of glass,” as the company describes it. Through partnerships with companies that provide surveillance technology, including a $21 million investment from Axon, which produces Tasers and body cams, Fusus promises to integrate these technologies into one RTCC platform for analysts.

Police departments that use Fusus, like the Memphis Police Department, have been encouraging homeowners and local businesses to purchase fususCORE bundles—hardware that connects cameras to an RTCC—ranging from $350 to $7,300, plus an annual $150 subscription. Fusus has even gone as far as developing technology that allows Amazon’s Ring doorbells to livestream to an RTCC.

Amid a push for policing to harness new technologies and become “smarter,” Lipton is quick to point out that more technology doesn’t necessarily equal smarter. “It almost always just means that they're going to keep heavily policing poor and minority areas,” she says. Despite Lavigne’s claims that RTCCs mean the wrong people aren’t getting arrested anymore, in a recent lawsuit, the New Orleans Police Department was sued for arresting a Black man after watching him for 15 minutes through their RTCC and wrongly concluding he had a gun. The department ultimately settled for $10,000 in damages.

Lipton believes relentless surveillance is an infringement of citizens rights and would like to see the use of these technologies limited—aside from facial recognition, which she says should be banned. “There are certain elements we just shouldn't be using at all,” she says. “We should never be applying facial recognition to almost anything … As soon as you apply any really individualizing technology like that, I mean, it's kind of over for people's privacy.” Communities and organizations like EFF and ACLU have been arguing for Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) laws that bring surveillance technologies under the control of elected officials and communities. Cities like Oakland have found success with this, but without nationwide restrictions, the rise of RTCCs will likely continue on the periphery of the public eye.

[canonicallyobserving911]

9-1-1’s IMDB ratings comparison for seasons 2-6

When season 6 began, all the main cast members were finally present again which means IMDB episode star ratings should have increased; however they remained relatively unchanged.  In season 5, due to missing main cast members and recurring cast members who got too much screen time, users’ comments on IMDB were mostly negative for a lot of the episodes; therefore comments posted for season 6 should have been more positive when compared against season 5 but unfortunately that was not the case.  Even though the per episode star ratings didn’t change much, the number of users that rated each episode did change.  Those numbers declined by more than 50% and some episodes had an even higher decline percentage.

IMDB

IMDB is an acronym for Internet Movie Database and according to the site’s creators, it’s the most popular source for information about movies, television shows, actors/actresses and video games.  For television shows, each episode includes a star rating, the number of users who rated it along with comments (if any).  Registered users of the site can rate episodes from 1-10 stars and they have the option to add a comment if they choose.  Visitors of the site can view the star ratings and read comments while remaining anonymous but since they aren’t registered, they typically don’t have the option to rate or comment on episodes.

This post will focus on the final episode ratings for seasons 2-6 and compare them with the number of users who rated those episodes. Findings should illustrate how the star ratings have practically remained unchanged while the number of users who rated 9-1-1 episodes has drastically declined.   Its purpose is to provide a visual representation of the decline to further illustrate how audience engagement and interest in the show decreased for season 6 when it’s compared against previous seasons.

The information included was obtained from IMDB’s website.  The first 9 episodes of seasons 2-6 were used for comparison but season 1 was omitted because the season only had 10 episodes.

Episode Ratings

Table

When episode ratings are viewed in a table, it’s easy to see how they remained constant over the seasons.  The average number of stars each episode received ranged from 7.2 to more than 8.4 stars for most episodes with only a few outliers (the cells that include extreme outliers were highlighted).

Line graph

The line graph shows how episodes in the Tsunami arc (3x2 “Sink or Swim” and 3x3 “The Searchers”) had the highest star ratings of 9.1 and 9.0 respectively. The lowest rated episode was 5x7 “Ghost Stories” with a star rating of 6.6 respectively. Overall the show’s ratings appear to be good but when the number of users who rated them is considered, the decline is noticeable.  Therefore the question becomes, what caused viewers to lose interest in rating 9-1-1 episodes during season 6?

User Ratings

Table

The table above shows how the number of users who rated each episode steadily declined over the years and it also shows the drastic decline in those numbers for season 6.  (Cells that include extreme outliers were highlighted.)  What caused the decline? Could it be related to lowered audience engagement and interest in the show?  In previous seasons, the number of users who rated episodes typically exceeded 600 and in seasons 2 and 3, on average there were 800 users rating each episode. Season 4 is when the steady decline started but the numbers remained constant through most of season 5.  The number of users who rated episodes during season 6 is very telling because only one episode, 6x3 “The Devil You Know”, had more than 400 users rate it while the other episodes ranged between the low 200s to the high 300s.  The final episode that aired before the hiatus, 6x9 “Red Flag”, had the lowest number of users rate it to date with 180. That’s more than a drastic decline and it’s very telling because it appears users who rated the show in the past haven’t been interested enough in season 6 to offer their opinions about it.

Line graph

The line graph shows the steady decline that’s happened over the years with the largest drop in users who rated 9-1-1 episodes happening in season 6.  It’s the clear outlier and the show should question why the audience they’ve spent years building simply became uninterested.

When the information listed on IMDB is compared against the weekly TV ratings that are posted, it’s easy to see how those ratings and demo numbers don’t provide an adequate representation of who is watching and how long they stay engaged in the show.  While the number of viewers for 6A ranged from 4.5 to 7.0 million each week, those numbers don’t provide any details on viewer engagement and/or interest for the show’s storylines and its main cast members. While it’s true that views from streaming services are being added to the final weekly TV ratings, it still doesn’t capture all the necessary data that’s needed to determine if the 9-1-1 audience cares or even likes the direction the show is taking.  Why is this important?  It’s important because if viewers watched 6A but they didn’t like the storylines or the direction the show has taken, why would they tune in for 6B?

It appears there’s could be a larger issue that is either (1) being ignored by the showrunner(s), (2) the showrunner(s) don’t care as long as they hit their demo numbers to get enough advertising dollars to get renewed or (3) they haven’t realized how low interest in season 6 became right before the hiatus. The show being on hiatus along with the Christmas and New Year’s holidays can’t be the only contributing factors to the lowered engagement and interest from the audience because IMDB users typically rate episodes right after they air. The comments that were also posted on IMDB further illustrate the way viewers weren’t particularly interested in the episodes during season 6 due to the direction some of the main characters’ storylines and plots have taken.  

Since all the main cast members are back, there’s obviously something else happening with the show that’s not being addressed. That’s why TV ratings and demo numbers shouldn’t be the only source of information that’s used to determine if a show is successful.  Will things get better in 6B?  Hopefully they will but with several weeks to go before 6B episodes start airing, audience engagement and interest continues to remain uncertain.

[strongerwu]

Korean Film Industry

SOUTH KOREAN FILM INDUSTRY & TOP BEST KOREAN FILMS

One salient feature over the past decade has been the increasing success of Korean films on the screens, where they have proved capable of attracting new spectators - a phenomenon similar to that witnessed in some European countries, according to what emerged during MEDIA Salles' Focus on Europe event at Cinema Expo International 2002, in Amsterdam.

Considering all these points, the following two reflections on the Korean film industry, especially from the 90s up to the present, may be offered to European movie concerns.

Increasing market share of Korean movies

From 15.9% to 45.2% within 9 years, the Korean film market share increased..Until 1993, the Korean movie had a very small market share, because of its low quality, due to the limited budget for production and the lack of a well-developed system compared to the mighty Hollywood majors, which had been present on the Korean market since 1988. Accordingly, the market share of Korean movies had been steadily decreasing for the above mentioned period, finally dropping to 15% and threatening its very existence.

However, in 1999 the film Shiri brought a positive turning. It was the first Korean blockbuster movie, recording around 5 million spectators: it catapulted to the top of the South Korean box office and ended up toppling the record previously held by Titanic. This exceptional event was enough to initiate large-scale fund-raising and the creation of a production system by SEG (Samsung Entertainment Group). Shiri's success, representing the opportunity for the market share to soar to 39.7%, inspired many Korean film-makers and convinced them that Korean productions could be successful if they were based on a good financial support and a selected, quality background.

Subsequently other Korean movies, like Joint Security Area and Friend were of great impact in the Korean film market, so that in 2002 the market share settled at 45.2% in terms of admissions and at a higher 46.7% in terms of box office. It should be remembered that, at the end of the nineties, the number of foreign movies released in Korea was six times higher than for domestic movies.

Apart from the development of the Korean movie in itself, the spread of multiplexes, mainly belonging to the Orion Group and CJ, and the legislation on the "five-day working week" have tempted the Korean people to visit theatres more during their longer weekends. As a result the Korean film market has continued to expand by 17% to 18% each year and total audiences in 2002 amounted to over 100 million.

In addition, major distributors of Hollywood movies, such as Warner Brothers, MGM, and Dreamworks began to obtain the copyright for remakes of several movies that had been big hits on the Korean market. Fox, Walt Disney and other direct-distribution companies also started to take Korean movies on board their global distribution runs. Most recently, Columbia signed a contract on world distribution and investment with a local production company.

[pearlescent-soda]

✨️//A Third Helping of My Headcanons on the Dragon Daddies (Magic Crafters Edition):

Eldrid:

A well intentioned elder who won't let boundaries such as, morals, laws, or any other silly social constructs stop him from pursuing his goals. This man has broken many laws in his potion making career, if that seems a bit too implausible than ask his cellmate Boldar. Although, unlike his lifelong friend, he knows how to take precautions before working with magic.

The texture of his potions can best be described as 'gello-like' as a lot of his products are salves meant for external use only. The number of customers sending complaints for stomach pains after ingestion has been steadily decreasing as the years go by. 'One gent came in with a purple tongue, and, ancestors forgive me, I laughed in his face'. The instructions are on the back, but, hey, the customers always right, except when they're wrong, then they come back and complain.

Spyro can hardly keep his eyes open during Eldrid's 'enthralling' lectures. He holds out for his favorite part of the visit, the 'taste test', Eldrid dips his spoon in the cauldron and hands it to Spyro. If he guesses the right flavor, he gets to take a prize from his 'prize box', which is basically a box of junk he hasn't thrown out yet, but if the boy wants necklace carved from a unicorn horn, he can take it.

He's got severe back pain, if his horrible posture didn't give it away, and it's been getting worse year after year. He'll wear a back brace every now and then, when he feels like it, but most the time he'll take medicine for the pain and move on with his day. He'll make one of the boys put some homemade numbing ointment on his back and that stuff smells like stale mint and rotten eggs.

Him and Boldar go way back, he's got both of their mugshots hanging in his shop from the 'good the good ol' days'. That can't be good for business, but look at how happy they look, aw. He made copies for Boldar to carry with him during his travels and he wrote on them, 'To my dearest, and most wondrous, friend, Boulder'. That's no error, that's legitimately how he believes his lifelong friend's name is spelled.

Only twenty-five percent of his scribbles are illegible, the rest are complex recipes for whatever experiment he's working on. His terrible penmanship is a result of Eldrid trying to write with his tail, behind his back where he can't see, instead of just using his hands. 'It makes perfect sense to me. Hmm, maybe you need bifocals, young one'.

The horns are his head are actually sprinklers connected to his goggles. There's a fire in his laboratory daily, so to combat such a regular occurrence Lucas gifted the geezer a pair of safety goggles. 'Ah, Lu-Lu was always the generous type'. Yes, bottles still explode, except, this time, the kitchen is still functional afterward. Soggy, but functional.

Kelvin:

A know-it-all drama queen who thinks he's got the answers to all of life's mysteries. While his temperament is nowhere near as bad as Cosmos', he can be just as haughty and standoffish. Surprisingly, he's much easier to befriend than his leader. His insults are unintentional, he hates to sugarcoat his words, so when he gives advice, wanted or otherwise, it's blunt and to the point. Never EVER argue with him on anything, it doesn't matter who's right, he'll drag it out till he feels like the conversation is over.

He's NOT the 'Master of Wind', that is a title he despises with a passion. 'I'm the 'Master of Air', Lord Kelvin. The 'Master of Wind' was my father, and he was a dirty, treacherous, THIEF!!!' Never mention this to him, but he possesses the exact same abilities as his father such as creating sizeable storms, whirlwinds, and increasing windspeeds, something he very much likes to do to dispose of Thieves.

Spyro nearly died on his way to the library, and it wasn't due to the windspeeds, but a famished Beast who blocked his path. That was an interesting day to say the least, he met a Peace Keeper he'd never seen before, and Kelvin was actually nice to him for once. Spyro and Sparx took note of the usual Magic Crafter dislike for the Peace Keepers, but the way that Kelvin spoke to the dragon was as if his very presence was a bad omen.

His 'Vortex of Doom' surrounding the Alpine Ridge library was implemented after an incident regarding a Druid break-in. That's why Magic Crafters use alternate routes and 'short cuts' to reach the building, because the windspeeds near the eye are well over one hundred miles per hour, and no, he can't control it anymore. 'It's out of my hands now. My advice to you is never cast an angry spell, they're impossible to reason with'.

The key hanging off his neck is for 'travel'. To where? 'Wherever I please, so stop pestering me'. A key for every door? Sounds kind of intrusive, but he's not the type to pry into other people's lives. It's just one of the many, many, many ways that Magic Crafters are able to travel around the world. Don't be surprised if there's a keyhole in the wall, all that means is that Kelvin has arrived... So, bring earplugs.

The orb often pondered about by passersby is the remedy to a nasty cursed inflicted by a Cat Witch rumored to have been a 'close friend' of his prior to their falling out. 'Samantha was a heartless wench, if you ever plan on settling dow- I mean acquiring a roommate, make sure they're truly loyal to you.' What happens when the orb is removed, er... It's too embarrassing to share. Just know that it includes endless singing and lots of feathers.

He's read every book in Magic Crafters and Artisans, right now he's focusing his energy on getting Dream Weaver literature, which was easy... At first. Dream Weavers don't exactly share information through the written word, and any literary works found don't go over two thousand words. 'Ugh, it's all bedtime stories, lullabies, and dream journals. It's so juvenile, I swear, I'm never getting those precious hours back!!-' He continues on like that for a while before finally giving in to attend to his duties or whenever his listener decides they've had enough and bails.

Zander:

Within the Alpine Ridge quartet, he could be identified as a stand in for the 'straight man'. For starters, he's the most 'normal' one there, he's polite and open, but he's not above cutting corners to get the desired results. He's definitely business oriented, anytime he senses a potential sale, he starts pushing his wares like his life depends in it.

Enchanted items, enchanted items galore! He's the 'Master of Transmogrification and Magic Infusion' for good reason. Peace Keepers wanting enhanced weapons, Beast Makers wanting a perfectly balanced pot, or even Artisans needing a permanently sharpened pencil are all welcome in his shop.

He shows the boys secret tunnels and passages used by the Magic Crafters. There was one tunnel that wasn't in the Dragon Realms, it was chilly there, the leaves were a stunning red orange, but the portals lead to unfamiliar realms. Zander was oddly nervous at his little 'slip up' and quickly tried to usher them back home. Anytime Spyro tried to inquire about what they'd just seen; Zander would change the subject and try to distract him with something else. 'I don't want dumb book, uncle!! I want to know what Zephyr'

He had normal wings in his youth, when asked why or how they became crystalline, he'll reply with 'I wouldn't try anything on a customer if I didn't try it on myself'. It's true, he is more than capable of altering physical appearances, but he likes to avoid talking about his own appearance, especially if too many people are present.

The late Peace Keeper General would frequent his store for upgrades to his axe, increased durability, a lightweight grip, and his personal favorite, a blade sharp enough to cut through stone. 'He was gallant knight and a lovely friend. His passing was a great loss for us all'.

He was going to be a travelling merchant, but he wasn't able to tame a Beast and get it to pull his wagon. 'The domestic life suits me better anyway. But, if you want to look at some of my wares, I'd be more than happy to share'. He figured that the business would be good for Alpine Ridge as a whole if he stayed, so now all the wagon does is collect dust in the backroom.

'Dark Gems?... Aw, yes... Did I ever tell you about the time I was evil for a day?' He got an order from a robed figure long ago to make a staff adorned with Dark Gems, but when the staff was completed, the figure turned his own creation against him and embedded a shard into his chest. Zander became a malevolent creature with grotesque features, but as previously stated, the 'day' he's referring to was actually a month because the Magic Crafters had to wait for Cosmos to arrive back from Peace Keepers. Upon his arrival, he was greeted with frantic pleas for him to go to Alpine Ridge and save Zander from himself. Their leader was able to remove a majority of the shards, but some fused with Zander, and that's how he obtained his crystalline appearance.

Zane:

The worrywart bookworm, he's very shy around those he doesn't know, and he won't talk to people he's unfamiliar with. He prefers to watch someone from afar for weeks prior to actually speaking with them, and, no, it's not a healthy thing to do, but he can't help it. Speaking with strangers takes a lot of energy and leaves him utterly defeated if he feels he's done it wrong the 'wrong' way. It doesn't help that his speaking voice is low with a noticeable stutter, so it's no surprise that he prefers not to speak at all. 

His ability, aptly named 'mimic', allows him to learn spells and magics through 'absorption' which means all he requires is one demonstration and he quietly conjures up a page for it. He's learned so many spells that he needs a one hundred- and fifteen-pound book to hold them all. He's become a powerful mage thanks to this ability with the only limitations being that the book must be close to him, and he has to open it to cast his spells.

He admires Spyro's unbreakable spirit and doesn't mind at all when he tags along with him during errands. But he has a terrible habit of spoiling Spyro and Sparx with whatever they want. 'I-I can't deny them anything, look at t-them, they're adorable, Kelvin. Aw, I'm going to give them one more piece of candy, I'll be right b-back.' He lets them read the table of contents of his spell book; he may let them cast a few before bed if no one's around.

The spell book was originally his journal, his name is engraved on the cover in swirling gold. There's one actual entry followed by a million different spells, hexes and incantations; jarring would be putting it lightly.  'You want t-to read it? It's very boring, I wrote about the weather, m-mind you this was before my ability manifested'. Wow, it's his first entry... And it's about a... Heavy snowstorm.  He was right, that was kind of boring.

The first time he had to interact with anyone outside his realm, he froze up, which still haunts him to this day. He was a teenager then, so it's not hard to see why he cringes at the memory, oh, and this interaction just had to occur with Jarvis and Lucas, the liveliest dragons in the known realms. Lucas is polite enough to not bring it up, but it's the first topic Jarvis brings up when he sees Zane.

Indecisive when making decisions for himself, but if it's to aid others, he'll jump right in to help. 'Jumping right in', means maybe casting a spell from afar or doing most, if not all, the work in their place. Yes, he's an ABSOLUTE pushover and a people pleaser, he doesn't want to upset anyone, but he isn't completely spineless either. He won't give up the hood and he won't, will not, under any circumstances, lend the book to anyone without his guidance.

He can't fly due to an injury sustained during his adolescent, one reason he wears the hood is to cover a star-shaped scar on his head. He got caught spying on a coven of Armored Druids while casting 'mimic', and he's been unable to raise or lower his wings properly ever since. Kelvin was kind enough to share 'levitation' with him, and now it's hard to keep his feet planted on the ground for more than a millisecond.

[usamazahid]

Social Gaming and Covid-19 pandemic

A new virus dubbed Corona Virus Disease, which had its roots in Wuhan, China, shocked the world in the early years of 2020. (COVID-19). The virus outbreak has resulted in numerous losses and inequities in many facets of life, particularly about the global economy. Regardless of their size, a lot of businesses must shut down since it is impossible to predict when they will reopen. The gaming sector, on the other hand, has not only been the least harmed by this pandemic but thrives in it. This is due to a decrease in outside activities and an increase in inside activities. Social gaming is becoming a substitute for traditional social involvement and interaction.

As a result, playing video games continues to draw more and more individuals every day out of all the conceivable things to do during the lock-down. Video games have become a very prevalent and well-liked pastime because of the coronavirus lock-down, as people have begun to rediscover their old favorites or enjoy trying out new ones to pass the time. There has been an astonishing increase in players from around the world's online activity, according to the gaming industry.

The COVID-19 outbreak has produced peaks and valleys for the larger gaming sector. Over the years, the gaming market in Indonesia has grown steadily. Even years before the COVID-19 pandemic occurs, the development is astounding. More than 70 million people worldwide played video games in 2017, and 90 million people played them in 2018. The number of video game users in Indonesia has topped 100 million in 2019, demonstrating the country's youth's interest for video games and eSports. Additionally, Indonesia, one of the top 10 countries in the world for mobile video game income generation, achieved 40 million mobile video game users in 2019 and is anticipated to produce US$712 million in revenue in 2020.

Finally, the epidemic might cause esports to become more commonplace. Due to the unusual (and unintentional) adoption of esports by broadcasters, leagues, and sportsmen looking to attract viewers, analysts have referred to esports as being "popularized and legitimized in an unforeseen and deep way." "Among younger age groups, a protracted suspension of traditional sports leagues may encourage more fans to regularly participate in esports, adding tens of millions of additional customers to the sector globally."

[citynewsglobe]

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[tutor-helpdesk]

Gender Role Reversal in Workplace: Sociology Case Study for Students

 

Introduction: Women Redefining Workspaces

In the modern-day business environment, women are not bound to conventional roles and responsibilities only. They are overcoming traditional mindsets, getting promoted to managerial posts, and occupying positions of leadership across sectors hitherto believed to be reserved for men – engineering, technology, and finance, to mention but a few. Women are swapping men and taking their rightful place in various industries as CEOs, top executives, and even construction labor and mechanics. The latest trend of gender-role reversal in organizations does not just represent the myriad manifestations of the sociological transformation of the work environment; it symbolizes the breakdown of the conventional portrayal of gender and work.

Traditionally, the composition of the workforce has often been influenced by gender stereotypes. Men were previously viewed, primarily as breadwinners, being expected to dominate leadership roles and undertake demanding physical work. On the other hand, women continued being confined to the roles of caregivers and nurturers or simply being housewives. However, with the feminist liberation movements of the twentieth century, women began to take jobs in large numbers, gradually rise through corporate hierarchies, and redesign success in their ways.

Over the past few decades, however, this transition has steadily advanced at a rather impressive rate. Women are becoming the sole breadwinners and more so, they are preferred for higher roles by firms. Women in America engage in paid work in greater numbers than ever before and comprise 50.7% of the workforce in the United States. There is a growing number of organizations that aim to decrease the gender diversity gap at the top management level. Currently, the percentage representation of women in senior management has stood at 29% in the global market and has been rising over the years .

But why is the shift happening, and why, too, this Gender Role Reversal in Corporate Culture is being taught in sociology courses? By looking at the society these changes occur, students can understand questions of power, privilege, inequality, and the fluidity attached to social roles. Sociology students involved in gender role reversals at the workplace are probing highly integrative social constructs that have traditionally shaped their labor markets, leadership models, and gender expectations. In this light, students may seek help from our sociology assignment help experts extending academic support to write insightful and evidence-based papers. By availing of our service, students get access to academic resources, databases, and expert views that should give them the understanding to contextualize the evolution of gender roles within the broader context of sociology.

A Historical Analysis of gender role reversals in corporate culture

Gender role reversal began at the relatively early stage of the Industrial Revolution when women for the first time appeared at factories and industrial occupations in small numbers. This was supported more by the two world wars where men were called to join the military while women had to go to the industries to carry out production jobs.

However, the most vital events that contributed to reforms were the women’s movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Women’s ability and right to work equally with men and get promotions became a topical issue which led to enacting or changing many laws regarding the workplace. In the 60s in the U.S., there was the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned discrimination in employment on grounds to gender, race or color, and ethnic origin. Women started to enroll themselves in higher education and other professional fields in great numbers in the 1970s.

Fast forward to the 21st century, women seem to have risen to the top of the corporate hierarchy. For example, In 2023 women received 10.4 percent of all CEO opportunities in Fortune 500 companies, rising from 8.2 percent in 2020, and it has been the highest in history. While the numbers are still skewed in favor of men, the trend is clear: Women are gaining popularity in the employment sector, and cultural barriers are gradually being reversed.

Why Study Gender Role Reversals in Sociology? 

In sociology learning about gender role reversal is important because it encompasses some of the sociological perspectives including socialization, social control, inequality, and social change. By studying how some of the roles are assigned to males and females, the learners understand how societal structures determine the flow of power and access to resources. This is particularly important in making sense of further or larger societal patterns of inequality and progress.

Sociology courses that analyze gender in the workplace allow the learner to understand why some professional roles were gendered, and what happens when the genders are reversed. Students learn about how gender is constructed and how it co-constitutes with other axes of differentiation including race and class, and how it shapes individual opportunities and identities in a professional context.

Also learning gender role reversal enables students to understand how managerial cultures are responding to these changes. Given the fact that more and more businesses care about the problem of gender and diversity these days, knowing the sociological implications of gender dynamics is vital for future sociologists, human resource managers, and policymakers.

Students who are studying such topics may require sociology assignment help online which would offer writing case study solutions, peer-reviewed articles, and expert assistance. These resources are useful for constructing more profound papers and when trying to analyze a number of sociological concepts and tenets.

Why Corporate Employers Are Given Preferences to Women

The traditional patriarchal model is challenged and altered does not merely mean filling quotas or being progressive. Most management gurus are advocating for hiring women workforce as they indeed bring out different perspectives that can boost organizational performance.

1. Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Style

Research findings have consistently shown that females tend to score higher on EI when compared with men. Emotional intelligence is crucial in leadership for team management, building quality relationships, and a positive working environment. Studies indicate that women tend to adopt a transformational leadership style: that is, those that emphasize collaboration, mentorship, and empathy, all of which are very important in today's workplace. This gives rise to the preference for appointing women in leadership positions, for these are positions in which qualities such as nurturing talent and team management are of utmost importance.

2. Improved fit to diversity and inclusion initiatives

D&I strategies are a hot topic for many organizations globally, demonstrating that increasing diversity and inclusion is vital for the success of a business. This is perhaps why women leaders are among the best in creating and supporting diversity in the workplace as they bear the brunt of discrimination at the workplace. Their firsthand experiences help them to lead D&I initiatives, so many companies are trying to find women to lead such transformations.

3. Work-Life Balance and Flexibility 

In today’s diverse corporate world where most firms are adopting new organizational cultures, which include flexible employment, women are valued due to their love for multitasking more so in the current and post-COVID reality. Largely, women are more capable of balancing different tasks and duties along with personal commitments which makes them a valuable asset to a company. Research also points to the fact that firms with female top executives pay more attention to work-life balance policies than those without women in top management .

4. Higher Education Attainment Rates Among Women 

In general, women have become more educated than men with references to the increases in university education most especially in business courses, law, and medical courses. It gives women the educational background to go for and succeed in top jobs in corporate settings. Presently, for college graduates as of 2022, females represent 57% of the whole and this has seen female representation increase in the professional workforce .

Struggling with Sociology Assignments? Get Expert Help for Strong, Unique Papers 

Sociology can be quite an arduous course of study, with the student having to think beyond the surface of societal constructs and theories in trying to understand how the roots of those theories translate into the world today. For the majority of learners, it is challenging to compose argumentative and analytical sociology papers or theses working on different topics like gender, power, or social injustice. Understanding sociological theories, conducting research, and presenting unique perspectives demands profound understanding and good arguments.

Sociology assignment help serve the purpose of students seeking the best professionals in sociology assignment writing. Sociology requires the formulation of proper arguments, critical thinking, or development of unique perspectives and many students encounter challenges in these areas. These issues are handled by our service by providing the student with original and informative writing, which complies with the university requirements while providing a deeper understanding of complex sociological issues.

Topics We Cover

We offer assistance across a wide range of sociology topics, including:

Gender studies

Social stratification and inequality

Globalization and its social impacts

Power and authority in society

Social institutions (family, education, religion)

The sociology of race and ethnicity

Urbanization and social change

Social theories and their application

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Conclusion: Implications of Reversal of Gender in Workplaces: Sociology

The reversal of gender roles in corporate culture as portrayed in business media is arguably a significant sociological transition veritably disrupting gender, power, and work. Scholars who learn sociology can also use such changes and understand how and why social roles can change and affect the culture of workplaces. With the correct source of information and the help of the best sociology assignment help services, such topics can be widely researched and analyzed to give the best results as seen above.

Just as it’s important not to take any course for a ride, do not stress up your sociology assignments. The best academic writing assistance online will help you create an outstanding paper along with guidance on understanding the topic better to succeed in the course!

Useful Resources for Sociology Learners

For students studying gender role reversals in corporate culture, several resources and textbooks can provide valuable insights:

1. "The Second Sex" by Simone de Beauvoir – A review of the works of Simone de Beauvoir categorizing women as the Second sex.

2. “Gender Trouble" by Judith Butler -Butler's work on gender performativity is essential for understanding how gender roles are constructed and maintained in society. 

[the-library-alcove]

Here's the deal with this graph. It's basically two bar graphs set on their sides, one for males, sorted by age, and one for females, sorted by age. They're fairly simple to read. From this, we can see that the Gazan population has an annual birth rate of about 70,000 babies born per year, with approximately 280,000 children between 0 and 4 years old, and similar numbers between 5 and 9, and 10 and 14, and about 250,000 between 15-19*, and the adult population steadily decreases from there, due to lower birth rates when they were born, plus normal adult mortality rates.

The thing is, the adults are a smooth and steady decrease; there's no significant surplus of either gender in any age bracket, nor are there "dents" that signify a major mass death event or other event that inhibits births.

Compare that to Russia's population pyramid, or Ukraine's, where you can clearly see the effects of WWII even 80 years later due to the loss of so many men on the battlefield, and in the case of Ukraine, the Holodomor.

You can see that both Russia and Ukraine lost a lot of people, especially men, during the period between 1920 and 1950, and that had knock-on effects further downstream (like that dip around the 1960s), where the decreased cohort of new parents, as they came of age, had resultingly smaller families than their predecessors or followers.

Rwanda has a distinct dent in its pyramid due to the Rwandan Genocide in 1994, both due to people being killed (with babies being the most vulnerable) and people not exactly having children in the middle of a war and genocide.

But Gaza, and the Palestinian population more generally?

No dents, no major losses of cohorts, just steadily large families, with a marked increase in their population growth in the 1980s. This is not the population pyramid that shows any effects of genocide or really any major fatalities--so the claim that they've been under the effect of genocide since 1948 isn't supported by the facts in any way, shape or form.

~~~

*It is worth highlighting that this fairly clearly means that the high birth rate dates from nearly exactly when Hamas took over the Gaza Strip--and remember that they're fundamentalists who basically view women as being breeding stock and that any form of birth control or family planning is sinful and verboten. These two points are correlated.

You know, for a population that has, ostensibly, been under continuous genocide for 75 years...

It's pretty impressive that the Gaza Strip has the 40th highest population growth rate in the world, and the 6th highest in the Middle East, with 70,000+ births per year, and no visible "dents" in their population pyramid that would be expected if they'd, yanno, suffered a mass death event over generations:

It's almost as if, instead of "Israelis are the New Nazis", instead, it's closer to "The amount of effort Nazis spent on hunting down and killing Jews is equal to the effort Israelis are expending to keep Gazans alive."

[terrorismvictimsday]

Trends in Terrorism.

Deaths from terrorism are now at their highest level since 2017. However, they are still almost 25 per cent lower than at their peak in 2015. The largest falls in terrorism since 2007 have occurred in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Nigeria. In Iraq, total deaths from terrorism have fallen 99 per cent since 2007. The epicentre of terrorism has shifted from the Middle East and North Africa into sub-Saharan Africa, concentrated largely in the Sahel region. This region now accounts for almost half of all deaths from terrorism globally. Terrorism has become more concentrated over the past decade. The number of countries recording at least one death from terrorism fell to 41 in 2023, down from 44 in 2022 and 57 in 2015. In the West, terrorist incidents dropped to their lowest level since 2007, down by 55 per cent from 2022, with 23 attacks and 21 deaths recorded in 2023. Attacks in the west peaked in 2017 with 176 attacks recorded in that year. South Asia has the highest regional average impact from terrorism, although it improved over the past year. Over the past decade the average impact of terrorism has only increased in two regions: North America and sub-Saharan Africa. Every other region has recorded a decrease in the average impact since 2013. Total deaths from terrorism are now considerably higher in sub-Saharan Africa than any other region. Sub-Saharan Africa has recorded the most deaths from terrorism for the past seven years. Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia have far more deaths from terrorism than any other regions. Collectively they accounted for just under 94 per cent of deaths from terrorism in 2023. In 2023, 98 per cent of terrorism deaths occurred in countries experiencing some level of conflict. Most of these occurred in countries at war, but the number of deaths in countries involved in minor conflicts has been steadily rising. In the US since 2007, there have been 60 politically motivated attacks compared to 14 religiously motivated attacks. Five out of seven attacks in 2023 were linked to people with far-right sympathies or connections.

[industryinsightsandanalysis]

Li-Ion Battery Recycling Market: Current Analysis and Forecast (2022-2028)

According to a new report published by UnivDatos Markets Insights, the Li-ion Battery Recycling Market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 20% from 2022-2028. The analysis has been segmented into Battery Chemistry (Lithium-Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminum Oxide, Lithium-Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt, Lithium-Titanate Oxide, Lithium-Manganese Oxide, and Lithium-Iron Phosphate); Recycling Process (Pyrometallurgy Process, Hydrometallurgical Process, and Physical/mechanical Process); End-Users (Automotive and Non-Automotive); Region/Country.

The li-ion battery recycling market report has been aggregated by collecting informative data on various dynamics such as market drivers, restraints, and opportunities. This innovative report makes use of several analyses to get a closer outlook on the li-ion battery recycling market. The li-ion battery recycling market report offers a detailed analysis of the latest industry developments and trending factors in the market that are influencing the market growth. Furthermore, this statistical market research repository examines and estimates the li-ion battery recycling market at the global and regional levels.

Market Overview

The growing demand for electric vehicles across the world due to the environmental concern such as global warming, carbon emission, etc. along with the use of lithium-ion in other electronics such as laptops, phones, and watches with other propels the demand for the lithium-ion battery which in turn increase the demand for the li-ion battery recycling. With the increasing use of li-ion batteries in different applications such as automotive, electronics, and industrial with other staggering demand for li-ion batteries across the globe, it is anticipated that the global lithium-ion battery recycling market will expand steadily owing to increasing demand. The government incentives and support for the battery recycling plant will propel the market in the coming time. It is expected that the decrease in the battery price of the li-ion would make it more feasible for the recycler by lowering the overall cost of recycling and reproduction.

Factors such as technological advancement coupled with the growing number of industries and manufacturing units along with the new product launches in the market are some of the prominent factors that are positively influencing the market growth globally.

Some of the major players operating in the market include Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd., American Battery Technology Company, Accurec Recycling GmbH, Akkuser Oy, Duesenfeld GmbH, Fortum Corporation, Retriev Technologies Inc., Li-Cycle Corp., Neometals Ltd, and Umicore.

COVID-19 Impact

The recent covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the world and has brought a state of shock to the global economy. The global pandemic has impacted the manufacturing industry along with supply chain disruption, regulatory and policy changes, labor reliance, working capital management, and liquidity & solvency management. The li-ion battery recycling market has been significantly affected during these times owing to the gap between supply and demand.

The global li-ion battery recycling market report is studied thoroughly with several aspects that would help stakeholders in making their decisions more curated.

Based on end-users, the market is categorized into the automotive and non-automotive segments. The automotive sector has shown significant growth over the last few years and would remain the same during the forecast period owing to the increasing demand for the EV across the globe and government incentives for electric vehicles. Moreover, the rising awareness of the individual toward cleaner fuel and cost-effectiveness of the EV propels the demand for the EV and in turn which increase the demand for lithium-ion batteries. For instance, according to the IEA, the demand for the li-ion battery has doubled and reached approximately 340 GWh for the year 2021 compared to 160 GWh for 2020, globally.

Based on chemistry, the market is segmented into lithium-nickel-cobalt-aluminum oxide, lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt, lithium-titanate oxide, lithium-manganese oxide, and lithium-iron-phosphate. The lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt segment is expected to show higher market growth in the forecasted period owing to higher energy retention time compared to the other segment. The LNMC batteries have a longer life span than the other four types.  In lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries, nickel hydroxide is used as the active material for the cathode which is mainly used for the hybrid electric vehicle. In these batteries the cathode combination ratio of the nickel is 60%, for manganese, it is 20% and for cobalt, it is 20% respectively which significantly lowers the overall cost of the batteries.

Li-ion Battery Recycling Market Geographical Segmentation Includes:

North America (United States, Canada, and the Rest of North America)

Europe (Germany, United Kingdom, France, and the Rest of Europe)

Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, and the Rest of Asia-Pacific)

Rest of the World

North America is anticipated to grow at a substantial CAGR during the forecast period. This is mainly due to the increasing demand for electric vehicles coupled with the increasing demand for li-ion batteries in the second life application and government support and regulation in the region. Additionally, it is anticipated that the presence of important recyclers such as Call2Recycle, Aqua Metals, Enersys, and Battery Solutions, Inc. will fuel demand during the forecast period along with the rising demand for UPS systems in commercial infrastructure and the rising popularity of electric vehicles. Due to an increase in foreign investment, Central and South America is predicted to experience significant market expansion. For instance, the Cochrane Coal-fired Power Plant in Chile had a sizable lithium-ion battery storage system installed by GS Yuasa Corporation in 2017. During the projected period, large-scale passenger and commercial vehicle production in Latin America is anticipated to fuel lithium battery demand. The U.S has registered significant growth in the demand for electric vehicles in the year 2021 which in turn increases the overall market size for li-ion battery recycling in the near future.

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The major players targeting the market include

Ganfeng Lithium Co. Ltd.

American Battery Technology Company

Accurec Recycling GmbH

Akkuser Oy

Duesenfeld GmbH

Fortum Corporation

Retriev Technologies Inc.

Li-Cycle Corp.

Neometals Ltd

Umicore

Competitive Landscape

The degree of competition among prominent global companies has been elaborated by analyzing several leading key players operating worldwide. The specialist team of research analysts sheds light on various traits such as global market competition, market share, most recent industry advancements, innovative product launches, partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions by leading companies in the li-ion battery recycling market. The major players have been analyzed by using research methodologies for getting insight views on global competition.

Key questions resolved through this analytical market research report include:

• What are the latest trends, new patterns, and technological advancements in the li-ion battery recycling market?

• Which factors are influencing the li-ion battery recycling market over the forecast period?

• What are the global challenges, threats, and risks in the li-ion battery recycling market?

• Which factors are propelling and restraining the li-ion battery recycling market?

• What are the demanding global regions of the li-ion battery recycling market?

• What will be the global market size in the upcoming years?

• What are the crucial market acquisition strategies and policies applied by global companies?

We understand the requirement of different businesses, regions, and countries, we offer customized reports as per your requirements of business nature and geography. Please let us know If you have any custom needs.

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[parasparivaar]

India's Current Climate Situation

Paras Parivaar Charitable Trust Climate Programs:

From the bottom of our hearts, we extend a warm welcome to you in the Paras Parivaar Charitable Trust family. In our Sanatan Dharm, this Parivaar was founded and is now being maintained by our Mahant Shri Paras Bhai Ji of Sanatan Dharm to contribute to the welfare of the underprivileged and needy people. Because he consistently states, "The happiness of Maa is behind their smile." This idea of Mahant Shri Paras Bhai Ji has become the focus of our family's daily activities.

The Paras Parivaar Charitable Trust works 365 days a year to lug our Paras Guru's vision forward. We have helped more than 10 lakh needy people, and thanks to Maa and our Mahant Shri Paras Bhai Ji of Sanatan Dharm, this number is steadily rising. And it is the grandeur of Sanatan Dharm that we strive to assist those who cannot afford to pay for their education or who are food insecure.

India is ranked sixth among the countries most affected by climate change. Despite having 17% of the world's population, it produces about 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The country emits around 3 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, or around 2.5 tons per person, which is less than the global average.

Temperature increases and severe weather

Since the early twentieth century, India's temperature has risen by around 0.7°C (1.3°F). This increase has been linked to more frequent and intense heatwaves, with temperatures hitting record highs, such as 51 °C in May 2022. According to estimates, heatwaves that were once expected to occur every 312 years may now occur every three years due to climate change.

Furthermore, changing rainfall patterns have been seen, with monsoon rainfall decreasing since 1950. Extreme weather occurrences, such as catastrophic floods and droughts, are becoming more common, endangering the country's agriculture and water supplies.

Effects on Food Security and Agriculture

Paras  Bhai ji started Tree planting programs. Agriculture, which employs over 56% of the Indian population, is particularly vulnerable to climate change. According to studies, essential crop yields like rice and wheat are expected to plummet significantly by 2100. For example, irrigated rice yields could fall by 7% in 2050 and 10% in 2080, while wheat yields could drop by up to 25%.

This reduction in agricultural output jeopardizes millions of people's food security and livelihoods, especially the rural poor, who rely heavily on agriculture for survival.

Threats to Ecosystems and Water Resources

Climate Change is also impacting India's water resources. The retreat of Himalayan glaciers jeopardizes the flow of major rivers like the Ganges and Brahmaputra, which are vital to millions of farmers. According to reports, these alterations could cause the Indus River to run dry.

Furthermore, rising sea levels harm coastal regions, potentially causing displacement and a refugee crisis if low-lying settlements are flooded. The Sundarbans, an important natural region, have already lost a lot of land owing to increasing sea levels.

Financial Repercussions

Climate change has far-reaching economic ramifications for India. According to projections, climate change might cost the country between 3% and 10% of its GDP every year by 2100. The social cost of carbon in India is among the highest in the world, indicating that the economic burden of climate change will be borne disproportionately by the poorest people.

Public Knowledge and Reaction

A recent survey found that 85% of Indians are influenced by climate change, with many considering relocation in reaction to extreme weather events. The public is more aware of the need for action, with a huge majority supporting India's goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

[newsalertusa]

Israel’s Holocaust Memorial Is Stepping Up Efforts to Preserve Memories

The pictures are haunting: black-and-white prints of a snow-covered barracks and paintings bordered by wire fences and skeletal trees, grim depictions of a World War II camp in France where Jews were interned before being transported to concentration camps.The artist, Jacques Gotko, created one picture using a background of crushed eggshells glued to a wooden board; for others he used a piece of old tire as a printing block. Those were just some of the few materials available to him at the camp where he was held before being transported to Drancy, another camp in France, then Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland, in 1943.Fragile and rarely displayed, these works are part of a massive repository of Holocaust-related artifacts — among them millions of pages of documents, tens of thousands of pages of testimony, artworks and personal belongings and more than half a million photographs — collected over the years by Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.Most of the artifacts had been scattered around Yad Vashem’s vast campus, but they will now be housed in a new center that will allow easier access for researchers and provide the most advanced technological conditions to safeguard them for future generations. The center was recently completed and was inaugurated Monday.The task of preserving the artifacts has become all the more urgent as the Holocaust becomes an ever more distant episode, with the number of survivors steadily decreasing, at a time when antisemitism and extremism are resurgent around the world, Yad Vashem officials say.“These are the crown jewels of the Jewish people,” Dani Dayan, the chairman of Yad Vashem, said of the collections. “There is no Judaism without historical remembrance.”The new David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center is opposite the Hall of Remembrance, which was established more than six decades ago at the core of the campus, and where an eternal flame burns above a stone crypt containing the ashes of Holocaust victims from extermination camps in Europe.It is mostly subterranean, reaching five stories underground, blending in with the landscape and housing the artifacts in a protected space.More than 150 staff members will be working at the site, gathering more names of victims and artifacts, and conserving and cataloging the objects. A video installation along the wall of the entrance hall runs in a 44-minute loop showing thousands of fragments of documents and objects kept in the center’s vaults.“We are not looking for a Mona Lisa,” said Medy Shvide, the director of the Yad Vashem archives, museums and collections. “We look for things that tell the story of the people of the time — who was this family, and what happened to them.” Those remnants, or clues, could be as seemingly unremarkable as a hairbrush or a glove.State-of-the-art labs are upgrading the process of digitizing and treating documents and other paper artifacts; textiles, such as decorative ritual garments; and oil paintings.Many objects are not restored to their former state, intentionally. Yad Vashem’s curators say the imperfections, or damage such as charring from a fire, can often best convey the stories of the Jewish communities decimated in the Holocaust, of Jewish life before World War II or of survivors.The art collection is housed in a vault with an oxygen-reduced atmosphere for fire prevention. Most of the works created during the Holocaust were on paper and are kept in boxes. Many are not by famous artists. “It is our duty to commemorate them,” said Eliad Moreh-Rosenberg, Yad Vashem’s art collections director; otherwise, “they will be forgotten.”Some of the works in the art vault will go on display as part of a rotating exhibit in Yad Vashem’s gallery.Since the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on Oct. 7, Israelis have been wrestling with a new tragedy and questions of remembrance and commemoration. About 1,200 people were killed that day, most of them civilians, according to the Israeli authorities, making it the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.Yad Vashem’s mission is to emphasize the uniqueness of the Holocaust as a singular historical event and educate the world about it. Mr. Dayan, the chairman, takes issue with direct comparisons between the terrorism of Oct. 7 and the Nazi genocide and says a distinction must be made.“Oct. 7 was not the Shoah,” he said, referring to the Holocaust by its Hebrew name, adding that modern Israel has a strong army that can exact a toll from its enemies.Still, he said, for many people the associations were inescapable: Mothers muffling their infants — trying to keep them quiet while hiding in their safe rooms as gunmen hunted them down and set their homes ablaze — recalled Jews hiding from the Nazis in barns, basements or attics in Europe.In the years before the assault of Oct. 7, antisemitic incidents had been on the rise around the world. The shooting in October 2018 at a synagogue in Pittsburgh in which 11 worshipers were killed was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. In Europe, synagogues in Germany and France were targeted in attacks, sometimes fueled by anger over strife between Israel and the Palestinians.After the Oct. 7 assault, Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza unleashed mass protests in foreign capitals and on college campuses, at times with antisemitic overtones.Israel has found itself accused of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza — where more than 38,000 people have been killed in the war, according to Gaza health officials, who do not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths. Israel denies committing genocide.For Mr. Dayan, preserving the Yad Vashem collections is crucial to building a solid, authoritative foundation of evidence, data and knowledge to counter Holocaust deniers and distorters as the aging generation of Holocaust survivors dies out.That means commemorating artists whose creations came to stand as their last wills and testaments — like Jacques Gotko, who died of typhus in Auschwitz-Birkenau, he said.Using the scrap of tire, Gotko created a series of linocut-style prints of the barracks where Jews were kept at the Nazi transit camp at Compiègne, in France. The signed works are numbered and labeled Front Stalag 122, as the camp was designated, and dated 1942.Born Jakow Gotkowski in Odesa, in what is now Ukraine, Gotko moved to Paris in 1905 as a child with his family. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, and his paintings were exhibited in prestigious Parisian art salons.He continued painting after he was taken with other Jews to the transit camp in 1941. In the camp, a still life that is being stored in the new facility was among his creations.In a twist on the traditions of the old masters, instead of sumptuous displays of exotic fruit and vivid flowers, the still life he painted featured a crust of bread, a spoon, a tin cup and a matchbox. His backdrop was a wire fence and trees, some bare and skeletal, some with leaves, in the world beyond the camp.Mr. Dayan has a quotation etched on the wall of his office written by Gela Seksztajn, a Polish artist who died in the Warsaw Ghetto. Knowing that she was doomed, she wrote: “My works I bequeath to the Jewish museum to be built after the war.”Many of her works were hidden in a secret archive in the ghetto and survived the war. Most are now kept in the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw. A few are in the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and one is in Yad Vashem.“We are approaching a watershed moment in Holocaust remembrance,” Mr. Dayan said. “We are entering the post-survivor era where we are going to be the messengers.” israels-holocaust-memorial-is-stepping-up-efforts-to-preserve-memories Read the full article

[the-global-housing-slump]

The global housing slump and its latest developments

Is it a mirage or a tangible reality? Or in other words, is the global housing slump nearing its end? This has been a question that has been looming over many economies for longer than they would have liked. Thanks to the pandemic that seemed to have left no stone unturned, the outlook for most major housing markets had looked extremely bleak following the year 2020. House prices spiked at a staggering and quite scary pace where in some instances it rose more than 50%. However, it appears that despite the setbacks the housing market (although not in all countries alike) is cooling down. Slowly, but surely. 

First things first, what exactly is a housing market crash? 

A crash course on ‘housing market crash’

This refers to a significant and sudden decline in the value of real estate properties which then leads to a severe downturn in the housing market. A housing market crash will witness a sharp drop in property prices, a decrease in the demand for homes, and the supply of available houses exceeding the number of potential buyers. And then comes the housing bubble burst. The aforementioned chain of reactions will end in property prices overinflating as a result of speculative buying and unsustainable lending practices. 

The consequences of a housing market crash leave no party unaffected. Both homeowners and the overall economy will suffer. Homeowners will experience a decrease in the value of their properties. This means that they will be paying an outstanding mortgage balance that is higher than what their home is currently worth. This is also termed negative equity. 

For the broader economy, a housing market crash can contribute to a downturn in consumer spending, a sluggish pace in construction activity, decreased lending and investment in the real estate sector. This will inevitably lead to job losses, a stagnated economic growth and could even result in broader recession. So the big picture, to put it simply, is stormy with a chance of an economic tsunami. 

How does the weather in the housing market look like now?

Recent trends in the housing market indicate that even amidst grey clouds and rains, the sun seems to be shining on it. For instance, if we consider the U.S. and its trajectory, right after the pandemic the country saw an all-time low in mortgage rates and an all-time high in home prices. After such record-breaking numbers, towards the tail end of 2022, the housing market got some breathing space where it started seeing a turnaround. 

While the U.S. was well on its way to a housing market crash, home values started to increase steadily for four months in a row, starting from May 2023. As The Economist states, their indexes indicate that the housing values have increased by 1.6% from where it was in January. Profit margins had revved up to 47.7% in the second quarter,  from 43.9% in the first quarter. Furthermore, the national median home price was pushed up by 10% quarterly to US$350,000, making the nationwide profit margin and the median home price look much better in comparison to the previous quarters. 

Even with a positive comeback as such, according to Bankrate, in comparison to the numbers in May 2022, it is still down by 0.5%. Some numbers that were mentioned by Shrey Dua in  InvestorPlace hinted that “[W]ith mortgage rates still trending around 7%, relatively strong home sales have been the major stopgap to a wider real estate recession”. Therefore, it is evident that concerns are still at large.

In Australia, house prices have been experiencing growth since late February-early March 2023 A strong indicator of how well the country is doing is auction clearance rates. Even despite each state functioning at different values, the bidding for most properties is wild. One that would have you raising your eyebrows is a recent auction that happened in Double Bay, a suburb on Sydney’s harbour. A double-bedroom bungalow which opened bidding at A$4m dropped its gavel at A$6m. The numbers speak for themselves. Additionally, as of the latest statistics, the national capital city quarterly median house price has increased by 0.7% over July in comparison to June- rising to $1,055,252. 

However, it is not all unicorns and rainbows. New Zealand has seen one of the most troubled housing markets over the last 18 months or so. Both homeowners and investors have experienced significant financial losses, amounting to billions of dollars. This was a result of the sharp decline in property prices that had surged in an unthinkable manner during the pandemic. Exacerbating the situation, mortgage rates have also increased causing a negative economic impact on individuals and investors alike. It is not news that the pandemic took a swing at the housing markets in several countries. Amidst those, New Zealand stands out as one of the most affected, experiencing an especially volatile fluctuation. Recently (June 2023), the country even slipped into a recession. Home sales have fallen where houses sit on the market for an average of 47 days and some remain there for months.

If we continue speed-reading the situation worldwide, this would more or less be the picture. While some seem to have averted the crash, some seem to still be struggling. However, the consensus is that on average, most economies appear to be doing fairly better than how they used to during the pandemic, or immediately after it. Even though that is a low bar, countries seem to have built a surprising housing resilience. When juxtaposed with previous housing slumps, there is no indication that the decreasing or increasing house prices are leading to financial contagion. Banks don’t seem to be up in arms about sudden increases in bad mortgages. This could very well be because housing markets have adopted a more cautious approach where they are exposing themselves to fewer high risk-loans and avoiding overindulgence in risky subprime securities. 

As Shakespeare famously said “All the world’s a stage and  we all have our entrances and exits”. Housing slumps sure seem to have very grand entrances, but they do not seem to have their exits. Although the fear of falling back on a crash has not completely left the scene, the current market is not necessarily treading on eggshells. Because a housing market crash occurs when the value of homes decreases significantly. Making it difficult for homeowners to afford their mortgages. So they try to sell the houses, but at a value that will leave them with a colossal loss. This does not seem to be the situation right now, at least not as far as numbers indicate. So when people say the housing slump is nearing its end, in other words, it means that the housing slump has calmed down, is not flirting with recession, and is certainly not throttling economies.