#unequal gender representation

[womensjudgesday]

Women in Justice/for Justice.

High-level event “Women in Justice/for Justice”

On the occasion of the International Day, UNODC organized a special high-level event to celebrate women and gender champions in the judiciary and law enforcement. At the event, UNODC launched its new initiative, “Women in Justice/for Justice”, to promote gender balance and gender responsiveness across the spectrum of justice. The initiative will encompass

calls to action to:

Advance women’s representation and leadership in the justice sector to promote integrity and gender-responsive criminal justice;

Improve the existing knowledge base to support responses; and

Celebrate “Women in Justice/for Justice” leaders, through an awareness-raising campaign which will be continued throughout 2022.

The ongoing work of the Global Judicial Integrity Network

Gender-related judicial integrity issues, including unequal gender representation, have been among the priority areas for the Network’s efforts since its launch in 2018. Among other work, the Network has organized numerous conferences, sessions or webinars on the topic, developed a dedicated issue paper, and published opinion pieces, podcasts and other relevant resources. You can access all these resources and learn more here.

[evidence-based-activism]

My mother keeps saying men are better suited for mathematics, numbers and coding because of their brains and supposed inclinations to be logical. She took a coding class and claimed that the men just understood it better, and were better at it.

I told her, women were the first ones to dominate coding in general, but she still believes the male brain is just better for practical use. She's a nurse by the way... I'd thought she'd know better than the believe the myth sex based brains.

How can I prove to her that she's false?

Hi Anon! I'm sorry your mother believes this! Maybe you can show her this post to help her understand the evidence!

---

Mathematics Performance

First, some studies that show women and men/girls and boys have similar math performance/aptitude:

This international study [1] examined boys and girls performance on standardized math exams around the world. They found that "gender equity and other sociocultural factors ... are the primary determinants of mathematics performance," which indicates that there is no inherent/biological difference in math performance just artifacts of an unequal culture.

This 2008 analysis of representative USA data [2], found "effect sizes for gender differences, representing the testing of over 7 million students in state assessments, are uniformly <0.10, representing trivial differences." Further over half of the individual effect sizes actually indicated better performance for girls. That being said, the weighted mean was consistent with no gender differences. In addition they completed a sub-analysis of items that targeted "cognitive complexity or depth of knowledge", as some suggest that boy's higher performance on these types of problems would explain their over-representation in STEM. However, this study found that "even for difficult items requiring substantial depth of knowledge, gender differences were still quite small."

This meta-analysis [3] of "242 studies published between 1990 and 2007, representing the testing of 1,286,350 people" found "no gender difference" in mathematics performance. They also performed a second analysis of data from large data sets based on probability sampling of U.S. adolescents over the past 20 years" and found that no gender differences on average; in addition the effect sizes again indicated girls performed better on some assessments.

This international meta-analysis [4] "representing 493,495 students ...across 69 nations" found "all of the mean effect sizes in mathematics achievement were very small" indicating that boys and girls performed similarly on the mathematics exams. Interestingly, despite the similarity, "boys reported more positive math attitudes and affect."

This review [5] found "research on cognitive development in human infants, preschool children, and students ... provides evidence that mathematical and scientific reasoning develop from a set of biologically based cognitive capacities that males and females share. These capacities lead men and women to develop equal talent for mathematics and science."

All of this indicates that there are no inherent gender differences in mathematics performance between the sexes. There may appear to be a difference, but this is a result of sociocultural factors and/or slight natural sample variation.

---

Stereotype Threat

In addition to the above, I want link to a past post where I address stereotype threat. I've copied the relevant portion below, but please see the link for sources:

As suggested by @mycodyke, an important factor here is the stereotype threat. This refers to how "behavior can be a consequence of priming effects, ... when a stereotype becomes activated, stereotype-consistent behavior may follow automatically from that activation" [21]. The study she linked [22] goes into this, finding that men performed the same in a cognitive task regardless of priming condition, whereas women performed worse only when primed with female condition. This replicated an earlier study [23] that found "no sex differences were observed" when the task instructions didn't emphasize sex-stereotypes. Other similar studies: -- This study [24] found "sex difference was reliably elicited and eliminated by controlling or manipulating participants’ confidence" -- This meta-analysis [25] suggested that "male superiority on spatial ability tasks ... is related to the implementation of time limits". -- This study [26] also suggested this, finding that "the magnitude of gender differences was linearly related to the amount of time available for test completion". All of this indicates that sex differences on this task (and likely in other similar situations) are the result of individual expectations about their performance. This is also commonly brought up for self-fulfilling prophecies; that is, if someone believes they will succeed/fail they are more likely to succeed/fail. And this has real-world consequences. For example, in this study [27], "in a simulated job interview, [participants] … were confronted with either sexist … or non-sexist … behavior … [and] results indicated that female participants in the sexist condition performed significantly worse on the mathematical test than female participants in the control condition … suggest[ing] an influence of psychological and interpersonal processes on seemingly objective test outcomes."

These studies were on a different "male typical" cognitive task, but the same principles underlying these results apply to tests of mathematical performance.

In short, the belief that men are naturally better/women naturally worse on a particular task can actually lower women's performance on the task. Eliminating or reducing this perception results in higher female performance.

For specific studies on this with reference to mathematical performance, see:

This study [6] found that "[math] test performance of women in a stereotype-nullifying presentation ... was raised significantly to surpass that of the men in the course" specifically for "the most highly qualified and persistent women [and men] in [upper level] college mathematics." (And as a note, they also find that when "test-takers were given the test under normal test instructions, women and men performed equally.")

This experimental study [7] that found women's performance on a math test, but not men's performance, was reduced by the stereotype threat condition (where they were told their sex is expected to perform worse) both within and between sexes.

Taken together, these results suggest that the current cultural expectation that men are naturally better – and women naturally worse – at math is actually harming women's performance.

---

Coding Skills

In addition to all of that, I've also discussed how there little to no evidence of sex differences in the human brain.

There's a lot less research on sex differences in computer coding proficiency, but a few include:

This study [8] that found that while "males have significantly more previous exposure to computer programming ... females do equally as well or better in programming comprehension."

This study [9] on programming lessons for primary school children found "no gender differences in coding ability".

This experimental study [10] also found no gender differences in "accuracy and efficiency of codes".

This interesting code review [11] found that "while there is gendered variation in programming style, there is no evidence of gender difference in code quality" [emphasis mine].

The above studies on gender similarities in math/spatial reasoning all also support gender similarities in coding considering they are often considered to underlie programming skill.

You are also correct about women being the original programmers! You can see these sources [12, 13] for an introduction to the history here.

---

Conclusion

In addition to all of that, I've also discussed how there little to no evidence of sex differences in the human brain.

All in all, there's no evidence that men are better suited for STEM fields than women. Instead, there's substantial evidence that there is no innate gender differences in mathematical ability, complex reasoning skills, spatial reasoning ability, and computer programming proficiency.

I hope this helps you convince your mom, Anon! If either of you have any questions, feel free to send them!

References under the cut:

Kane, J. M., & Mertz, J. E. (2012). Debunking myths about gender and mathematics performance. Notices of the AMS, 59(1), 10-21.

Hyde, J. S., Lindberg, S. M., Linn, M. C., Ellis, A. B., & Williams, C. C. (2008). Gender similarities characterize math performance. Science, 321(5888), 494-495.

Lindberg, S. M., Hyde, J. S., Petersen, J. L., & Linn, M. C. (2010). New trends in gender and mathematics performance: a meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 136(6), 1123.

Else-Quest, N. M., Hyde, J. S., & Linn, M. C. (2010). Cross-national patterns of gender differences in mathematics: a meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 136(1), 103.

Spelke, E. S. (2005). Sex differences in intrinsic aptitude for mathematics and science?: a critical review. American psychologist, 60(9), 950.

Good, C., Aronson, J., & Harder, J. A. (2008). Problems in the pipeline: Stereotype threat and women's achievement in high-level math courses. Journal of applied developmental psychology, 29(1), 17-28.

Johnson, H. J., Barnard-Brak, L., Saxon, T. F., & Johnson, M. K. (2012). An experimental study of the effects of stereotype threat and stereotype lift on men and women's performance in mathematics. The Journal of Experimental Education, 80(2), 137-149.

Du, J., & Wimmer, H. (2019). Hour of Code: A study of gender differences in computing. Information Systems Education Journal, 17(4), 91.

Price, C. B., & Price-Mohr, R. (2023). Exploring gender differences in primary school computer programming classes: A study in an English state-funded urban school. Education 3-13, 51(2), 306-319.

Akinola, S. O. (2015). Computer programming skill and gender difference: An empirical study. American journal of scientific and industrial research, 7(1), 1-9.

Brooke, S. (2024). Programmed differently? Testing for gender differences in Python programming style and quality on GitHub. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 29(1), zmad049.

Little, B. (2021, February 9). When computer coding was a “woman’s” job. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/coding-used-to-be-a-womans-job-so-it-was-paid-less-and-undervalued

Thompson, Clive. “The Secret History of Women in Coding.” The New York Times, 13 Feb. 2019. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/13/magazine/women-coding-computer-programming.html.

[spiderfreedom]

About this post, out of curiosity, when do you think it all started? Is there research on like how far back it goes? It obviously isn't inherent to human nature; I know it's not. Is it just one of those toxic things that started from the beginning of organized religion :( ?

There's research, but there's a lot of controversy on when/how patriarchy developed. The most important thing to note is that Greek/Roman/Chinese/Japanese style misogyny is not universal and has not always been the norm. Societies differed a lot in how much power and autonomy women had. At the same time, we must be conscious even the 'best' societies of the past still had faults surrounding women.

Some places to start are:

Alice Evans: Ten Thousand Years of Patriarchy: This article looks at it from an economic and cultural perspective. I strongly recommend reading her Substack, where she travels around the world interviewing Third World Women and Feminists to see why their women's liberation movements have succeeded or failed! From the linked article:

Our world is marked by the Great Gender Divergence. Objective data on employment, governance, laws, and violence shows that all societies are gender unequal, some more than others. In South Asia, North Africa and the Middle East, it is men who provide for their families and organise politically. Chinese women work but are still locked out of politics. Latin America has undergone radical transformation, staging massive rallies against male violence and nearly achieving gender parity in political representation. Scandinavia still comes closest to a feminist utopia, but for most of history Europe was far more patriarchal than matrilineal South East Asia and Southern Africa. [...] Why do some societies have a stronger preference for female cloistering? To answer that question, we must go back ten thousand years. Over the longue durée, there have been three major waves of patriarchy: the Neolithic Revolution, conquests, and Islam. These ancient ‘waves’ helped determine how gender relations in each region of the world would be transformed by the onset of modern economic growth.

Another thing to remember/consider when it comes to studying the past is how few resources we have. We only know so much about how pre-historical humans organized their societies. Colonialism destroyed evidence of other societies with different ways of approaching gender. Many of the great apes we study are endangered. And literate societies happened to be patriarchal societies (likely related to literacy going hand in hand with bureaucracy and agriculture and the development of a state?) so we don't know as much as we could about women in literate regions.

Organized religion definitely codified a lot about patriarchy, but the major religions (Christianity, Islam, Buddhism) arose in regions of the world that were already patriarchal. So it's kind of a chicken and the egg problem when it comes to patriarchy and religion. We know that religions that worshipped goddesses, like Greek and Roman paganism and Hinduism, can still coexist with sexist societies.

These aren't great answers, but it's a big question and there are a lot of people working on answering it! It ties back into the bigger question of what our human ancestors were like, and whether we're kind of doomed to violence and xenophobia or whether there are alternatives. Some other books I've read that may be useful reading on this front are:

The Dawn of Everything. A long book, but it's a tour of human history and different societies and ways of organizing society. One of the chapters is on women, if I recall correctly.

Women's Work: The First 20,000 Years: Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times. Women have been working with cloth for a very long time. In some societies, this allowed women a high degree of status (see the Minoans!) and in others, women were worked to the bone producing textiles (Ancient Egypt).

The book "Demonic Males" looks at the birth of patriarchy from a primatology perspective. Our ape ancestors show male-dominant behaviors and societies. It's controversial the extent this is directly responsible for misogyny and male violence, but I think it's likely that our ape inheritance influenced the structure of early humans - so we basically have a lot of baggage.

Broadly speaking, reading books on feminist anthropology will help you, because a lot of what we know about patriarchy is based on highly literate societies, which as we established, are also agricultural societies with bureaucracies and a hierarchical culture. That's hardly representative of the human condition. As an example, look at Inuit society - on the one hand, there is arranged marriage and all that it implies; on the other, we do not have the same ideals of silent women who stay at home - women are valued members of the society and their skills are explicitly recognized as necessary for survival. Compare Western cultures that view domestic tasks as "support" tasks while the "real" work is done by men.

Finally, this one is a bit old (1974), but it may give you a starting point for understanding feminist anthropology and the search for the origins of patriarchy: "Is Female to Nature as Male is to Culture". It can help us understand how female subordination manifests itself in different cultures, and to know what to look for.

I hope this has been helpful. If anyone can recommend good books on the origin of patriarchy/female subordination (especially for non-Western cultures), please feel free to add in the replies or reblogs!

[pomegranateandhoney]

Marry Me by Midnight by Felicia Grossman

"Every love story begins with once upon a time .   London, 1832 : Isabelle Lira may be in distress, but she's no damsel. Since her father’s death, his former partners have sought to oust her from their joint equity business. Her only choice is to marry—and  fast —to a powerful ally outside the respected Berab family’s sphere of influence. Only finding the right spouse will require casting a wide net. So she’ll host a series of festivals, to which  every  eligible Jewish man is invited.   Once, Aaron Ellenberg longed to have a family of his own. But as the synagogue custodian, he is too poor for wishes and not foolish enough for dreams. Until the bold, beautiful Isabelle Lira presents him with an irresistible offer . . . if he ensures her favored suitors have no hidden loyalties to the Berabs, she will provide him with money for a new life.   Yet the transaction provides surprising temptation, as Aaron and Isabelle find caring and passion in the last person they each expected. Only a future for them is impossible—for heiresses don’t marry orphans, and love only conquers in children’s tales. But if Isabelle can find the courage to trust her heart, she'll discover anything is possible, if only she says yes."

I thought it might be nice to just highlight some Jewish books I read, and I thought I'd start here -- with a lovely little historical romance that features the Jewish community in London. It's not common to see Jews in HistRom, mainly because these books are usually written about aristocratic, Christian society, often in England, in a time period where Jews as a whole were kept separate and unequal from wider English society. It delves a little into the Sephardi/Ashkenzai hierarchies and prejudices, which was interesting to read.

This is a gender flipped Cinderella retelling. There's queer representation in this book as well, which was lovely to see. I overall gave this book a 3 star rating, which is my usual for a book I enjoyed and had fun reading. There's some pretty explicit on-page sexual encounters, though I think some consider this book ultimately closed door as the sex scenes don't run up to penetration. I personally feel this book is open door, as it was explicit enough to count for that in my eyes.

Content warnings for this one really only include antisemitism.

[girl4music]

God I just want more strong female representation. Not necessarily WLW representation but just female in general. Women-led TV art/entertainment. Female empowerment. Female vulnerability and strength.

I want a representation of the human condition where females can have all their internal conflicts and conditions but not be punished for them. Or if they have to be punished in the narrative - fully explore as to why they do. What the necessity for it is. Whether it’s valid and justified. Whether it serves a purpose in the narrative for that female character. Does it help them grow and evolve into a better person? Does it help them combat their internal demons and heal their mind, body and soul? Or is it only there in the service of someone else’s story arc because they don’t matter as much as that other character does? I’ve always said that punishment for punishments sake is just stupid. It serves nothing. It helps nothing. It evolves nothing. And when it comes to female punishment in TV art/entertainment in particular, there is very rarely an exploration of the reasoning why they have to be. And that’s because of poor narrative writing choices more so than it is because of purposeful ignorance or spite.

Poor narrative writing choices because of the anxiety of providing sufficient representation and the anxiety of cancellation. Rushed written and produced content. Female representation in particular has had a real hammering. I mean you still are provided it but the problem is the lack of care and conscientiousness with it. Representing a female on-screen is different to representing a male on-screen. Not necessarily because there’s differences in the genders or sexes. I am the last person to care about gender stereotypes and the “correct” gender roles and bullshit like that. That’s not what I mean. No, it’s more so about trying to depict the subtle nuances of gender identity. Think of it like the treatment of ability VS disability. What’s required to treat that disabled individual person equally to the abled person will obviously be different things. So you’re more so pointing out the differences in how females VS males are treated on-screen than you are of how they’re represented. Females need to and should be treated differently to males and vice versa on-screen but it should never be in an unequal way the same way it should never be between an abled person and a disabled person. You shouldn’t have to point out the weaknesses or debilitations of one more than the other. You shouldn’t have to punish one more than the other. That’s what I’m trying to say about how female representation has had a real hammering taken to it recently in TV art/entertainment. Or at least since the likes of ‘Xena’, ‘Buffy’ and ‘Charmed’ were on air. All notoriously women-led shows. Two created by men at that.

I haven’t really seen anything last or stand the test of time since. I mean I’ve found ‘Wynonna Earp’ but I don’t know if it’s significant enough in female representation to have longevity well after it finished with it being produced by a small network then and an even smaller one for when it comes back next year with a 90 minute scripted special titled ‘Wynonna Earp: Vengeance’. It’s certainly something but it’s not enough. We need more female representation and specifically female empowerment representation because what we’ve got at the moment is pathetic.

[destinyesque]

please say more about the satan/beelzebub angel sex essay!!!

Aight so basically I was in a class about Milton and my prof was like "no one has ever written an essay abt Beelzebub" and I was like "bet" and I started looking into it and as it turns out, there are actually some really strong parallels between the Satan/Beelzebub relationship and the Adam/Eve relationship. It's some pretty specific stuff that really hints at it so I won't go into it all here.

Now, Milton is super weird about gender, and Eve's status in relation to Adam is in question for pretty much all of Paradise Lost. The gender hierarchy is never definitively resolved, so their whole relationship is super weird. Satan/Beelzebub, on the other hand, have a much more strict hierarchical relationship. Beelzebub here is cast in the "female" role to Satan's domineering "male" role (despite the fact that Paradise Lost fallen angels can switch genders whenever they want). Anyway, the contrast between the hierarchical Satan/Beelzebub relationship and the more equitable Adam/Eve relationship complicates Milton's view on gender even further.

Also, Raphael talks about angel sex at least once as an analogue for human sex/marriage, which, in combination with the fluidity of angel gender, raises questions about how exactly gender roles are supposed to work on a cosmic/divine scale.

TL;DR Satan and Beelzebub were 100% having gay sex offscreen

Anyway, it's a pretty complicated argument, so I'm putting the full essay under a readmore in case you're interested. The end is a little rushed bc i was strapped for time and reaching the max page count, but I'm proud of most of it.

Gender, Hierarchy, and the Façade of Male Friendship: The Relationship of Satan and Beelzebub in Paradise Lost

by Sam Destinyesque

Through the characters of Satan and Beelzebub, John Milton navigates an unequal, perplexing, and even at times strictly gendered relationship. Much has already been said on Milton's ideas on gender in the Adam and Eve relationship, but this angle posits an additional representation of the gendered relationship, although the female aspect must be confined to metaphor. Though Satan and Beelzebub are the pinnacle of evil within Paradise Lost, the aspects of their relationship which connect with contemporary ideas of relationships cannot be ignored. In Paradise Lost, the relationship between Beelzebub and Satan can be read in parts as friendship, hierarchy, and even a perverse version of marriage, akin to the relationship between Adam and Eve, complicating Milton's vision of gender and marriage.

To even allow an equivocation between the fallen angels and Adam and Eve, Milton's ideas on how angels relate to sex and intimacy must first be examined; this through the lens of Raphael in Book VIII. In response to Adam asking if and how angels express love, Raphael says:

Let it suffice thee that thou know'st

Us happy, and without Love no happiness.

Whatever pure thou in the body enjoy'st

(And pure thou wert created) we enjoy

In eminence, and obstacle find none

Of membrane, joint, of limb, exclusive bars:

Easier than Air with Air, if Spirits embrace,

Total they mix, Union of Pure with Pure

Desiring; nor restrain'd conveyance need

As Flesh to mix with Flesh, or Soul with Soul. (Milton Book VIII 620-629)

Clearly, the expression of love that Raphael describes is not synonymous with human sex in the sense that there is no physical "body" involved, no obstacles "of membrane, joint, of limb". Still, the angelic act of love is analogous to the same in humans, as Raphael can at least compare the two; though human sex involves flesh and soul while angelic "sex" involves some "pure" essence of a kind, both result in pleasure and the mixing of beings. If Adam and Eve, the unfallen humans, experience "pure" sex, as they were created pure and their bodies are yet without sin, the angels experience in even greater sense; Raphael says compared to what Adam and Eve experience, "[the angels] enjoy in eminence". Even compared to the unfallen human body and soul, the purity of angelic expressions of love is higher, unrestrained, and total. Thus, while angels do not experience sex and express love in the same way that humans do, it can be imagined that their analogous experiences are simply of a higher, purer nature. The existence of angelic "sex" opens up the possibility of angelic love relationships in a way that is similarly analogous to human relationships. In Book IV, Milton expresses that Adam and Eve's sex is contingent on their marriage:

[Eve] with eyes

Of conjugal attraction unreproved,

And meek surrender, half-embracing leaned

On our first father; half her swelling breast

Naked met his, under the flowing gold

Of her loose tresses hid (Milton Book IV 492-497)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, sex for Adam and Eve is inextricably linked to their marriage; the physical attraction Eve has for Adam is described as "conjugal". Only with the precondition that their attraction and their actions are within the context of marriage, can unfallen sex occur. Applying this information to Raphael's description of angelic sex, the possibility of some form of angelic marriage or some analogous love relationship is hardly unreasonable. Thus, I defend the idea of comparing angelic relationships, particularly that of Beelzebub and Satan, to the human marital and sexual relationship of Adam and Eve.

Milton's depiction of Satan and Beelzebub has some overlap with contemporary ideas of friendship, but it is still difficult to place the relationship between the two fallen angels within the context of 17th century male friendship. In her book Sovereign Amity: Figures of Friendship in Shakespearean Contexts, Laurie Shannon describes friendship as an equalizing or democratizing relationship in which neither party is meant to have control over the other: "Likeness in both sex and status is (the only) political equality in period terms; on the basis of this likeness, writers stress the making of a consensual social bond or body that is not inherently subordinating" (Shannon 3). Satan consistently uses the language of equality with the other angels, particularly Beelzebub, giving the appearance of an equal relationship like that Shannon describes. Seeing Beelzebub after they are cast from heaven, Satan calls him:

he whom mutual league,

United thoughts and counsels, equal hope

And hazard in the glorious enterprise

Joined with me once, now misery hath joined

In equal ruin (Milton Book 1 84-91)

Note the diction used: "mutual" and "united" appear once, both "equal" and "joined" appear twice. This language emphasizes a sense of shared status; not only are Satan and Beelzebub in "league" together, not only are their interests "united," but they are "equal" in the sense that they had the same stake in the war in heaven, and they now suffer the same ruin after their fall. Satan's language of equality reflects Shannon's description of friendship as a likeness in status, supporting a reading of Satan and Beelzebub as reflective of period-typical male friendship. Additionally, the narration itself supports this reading in some instances, referring to Beelzebub as Satan's "nearest mate" (Milton Book I 192) and his "next mate" (Milton Book I 238), implying a strong sense of familiarity and partnership rather than of hierarchy. Still, Beelzebub and Satan's relationship does not reflect the stated equality in practice. Most obviously, Beelzebub is not Satan's political equal. In the council of devils, Beelzebub is ranked highly; Milton says, "than whom, Satan except, none higher sat" (Milton Book II 299-300). It is no secret that Beelzebub is politically inferior to Satan, effectively his second-in-command. However, this in and of itself is perhaps not the obstacle to friendship it may seem to be. Shannon posits that it is not uncommon for contemporary representations of friendship to be between a subject and a political leader (particularly a monarch). In these relationships, legal political equality may not be achieved, but within the friendship, the subject may have the power to affect the ruler's character and policy (Shannon 8). Therefore, literal political status would not itself ruin the notion of Beelzebub and Satan as male friends with some sense of equality. However, after Beelzebub's speech in the council of devils, Milton writes:

Thus Beelzebub

Pleaded his devilish counsel—first devised

By Satan, and in part proposed: for whence,

But from the author of all ill, could spring

So deep a malice (Milton Book II 377-381)

Beelzebub did not invent the content of the speech himself, instead just acting as a mouthpiece for Satan. Throughout the council, Beelzebub does not express original ideas nor does he act in any way that has not already been told to him by Satan, implying that even beyond political inequality, the two partners of the "friendship" are not equal in value. Satan's ideology overrides Beelzebub's intellectual independence, positioning Satan's mind as the more important of the two.

If Shannon's model of male friendship doesn't fit, then Bray's descriptions of the "secretary" and the "wedded brothers" may better reflect Satan and Beelzebub's relationship. In his book The Friend, Bray discusses how a traditional notion of friendship could include the character of the secretary, who functioned as "the intimate friend who acted for a great man and was his go-between with the world" (Bray 69). If Beelzebub is construed as the secretary, then his speech as directed by Satan during the council of devils perhaps makes more sense if one wishes to see the two as friends. Though, in this framework, the two may not be equals, Beelzebub could still act as "the intimate friend" who has the additional job of mediating between Satan and the rest of his legion. However, looking at Bray's work, it would be an oversight not to compare Satan and Beelzebub to the model of the wedded brothers. Bray describes that a "marriage" covenant between male friends could be made between families of a (heterosexual) marrying couple, or between parents and godparents of a child, but he additionally says that "such a covenant and kinship could also be made between two "wedded" brothers, directly by the oath itself and without the symbolic instrumentality of in the one case the bride or in the other the child" (Bray 102-103). This "wedded brother" relationship would have been very close, though not analogous to heterosexual marriage in that it was traditionally strictly platonic. Still, Bray notes that figures such as King James I and the Duke of Buckingham, who were in a "wedded brother" relationship of sorts, identified each other as "husband" and "wife" within their relationship. Thus, there is certainly precedent for describing close male friendship in gendered terms, the application of which to the Satan and Beelzebub relationship is later described. Additionally, the "wedded brother" relationship and its linguistic proximity to (heterosexual) marriage is notable, if only for the way that Satan and Beelzebub's relationship is later characterized not only as a close partnership but also as similar to heterosexual marriage.

Yet, the prescriptions of specifically masculine friendship may also slide off the fallen angels, as Milton seems to conceive 'gender' and 'sex' differently for angels than for humans. Harkening back to Raphael's description of angelic expressions of love, the angels are described as not to have the same restrictions as humans: namely, there is no obstacle "of membrane, joint, of limb" (Milton Book VIII 625) nor is there the presence of human flesh or soul. Put plainly, the angelic "sex" act lacks genitalia or identifying human sexual characteristics entirely. Though Raphael appears in comprehensible human form, his account here suggests that not only is physical sex irrelevant to angelic acts of love, but also that angels operate at a higher form of being in general; in some "pure" form instead of human "flesh" and "soul". Lacking human flesh, the medium through which human sexual characteristics are expressed, human sexual prescriptions would be inapplicable to the angelic being. Milton's ideas of gender roles, based as they are on sexual characteristics, would be similarly inapplicable. Furthermore, the fallen angelic beings engage with human gender differently than humans themselves or the a-gender angelic beings described by Raphael. When the fallen angels land in hell and begin to come up out of the lake of fire, Milton says:

With these came they who, from the bordering flood

Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts

Egypt from Syrian ground, had general names

Of Baalim and Ashtaroth—those male,

These feminine. For Spirits, when they please,

Can either sex assume, or both; so soft

And uncompounded is their essence pure,

Not tried or manacled with joint or limb,

Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones (Milton Book I 419-427)

The fallen angels assume the forms of male gods and female goddesses, the "Baalim and Ashtaroth", and Milton notes that the fallen angels, in their non-human forms not bound by flesh, "can either sex assume, or both". If, even in physical, embodied form, the fallen angels are capable of changing sex, then human sexuality and male/female dichotomy means little to the identity of the individual angel. Though the impermanent gender of fallen angels in Paradise Lost, apparently makes the strict application of 17th century masculine friendships and gender roles almost irrelevant, the consistent male gendering of the named fallen angels throughout rather indicates that analogy to male relationships is relevant, if not entirely accurate.

Returning to the question of equality within Satan and Beelzebub's relationship, Satan's address of Beelzebub as "cherub" is not an obviously applicable one, but looking into biblical and angelic hierarchical contexts, the use of "cherub" conveys important information about the true hierarchical nature of Satan and Beelzebub's relationship. In Book I, during Satan's exchange with Beelzebub in the lake of fire, he calls him "fallen cherub" (Milton Book I 157). According to Heywood's Hierarchie of the blessed angells, the cherub represents "absolute Knowledge, free from Humane dulnesse" (Heywood 194). On its own, this knowledge seems to mean little to Beelzebub. He proves to be a proficient orator, but this is only because he is given the content of his speech by Satan; otherwise, Beelzebub as depicted in the poem is not particularly knowledgeable. However, Heywood later says about the cherubim:

God is an absolute Monarch; and next Him,

Daniel doth place the holy Cherubim,

As knowing best His Counsels and Intent;

And such are seldome on his message sent. (Heywood 283)

This description of the cherubim has more in common with Beelzebub. His position as Satan's second-in-command reflects the cherubim's position beside God; Beelzebub is also the fallen angel privy to the most of Satan's plans, as in the speech at the council of devils. This interpretation places Satan in the position of God, though this is perhaps unsurprising, as Satan's claim of leadership in hell clearly mimics the rule of God in heaven. Referring to Beelzebub, his closest lieutenant, as a cherub, the type of angel closest to God, could be Satan's way of linguistically solidifying his claim to godhood in hell. Though cherub implies high rank, it also indicates a position of servitude, of one obedient to an absolute ruler, placing the Satan and Beelzebub relationship into the context of strict hierarchy. However, Heywood's writing on cherubim has yet more to offer. In a description of Lucifer, Heywood says, "For thee in the first day thou wert created./Thou art th' anointed Cherub" (Heywood 337), clearly stating that the unfallen Lucifer himself was a cherub. This complicates further Satan's use of "cherub," assuming Milton was working under the same assumption as Heywood, that Satan had been a cherub in his unfallen state. Heywood's Hierarchie of the blessed angels was published in 1635 in London, so that Milton would have considered similar ideas is not out of the question. Assuming the Satan of Paradise Lost was a cherub in heaven, his subsequent use of the word to describe Beelzebub could reflect a friendship dynamic of seeing oneself in the other, having a sense of sameness and kinship with Beelzebub. However, Satan has been previously discussed to use the language of equality with Beelzebub without acting out an equal relationship, so his nod to kinship could simply be another occasion of this kind. Perhaps a more compelling reading of the use of "cherub," however, is that Satan uses the word and its relationship to himself in the past to once more establish his godhood. When speaking to his fellow fallen angels, Satan speaks of their past servitude in heaven to God; to Satan, then, the cherub is a symbol of his own servitude. Recognizing another, Beelzebub, as cherub instead of himself, who ranks above Beelzebub in the politics of hell, places Satan in the position of control, of God. Thus, the use of "cherub" can be read as a casting-off of a past label of servitude onto another to assume godhood. This reading, once again, places Satan and Beelzebub in a hierarchy, but paradoxically links the two closer as beings who had both, at some point, worn the same label. In the Bible, the cherubim hold a similar position to that Heywood originally described. Ezekiel 10 describes God appearing to Ezekiel along with cherubim bearing his throne. At the end of Ezekiel's vision, "the glory of the LORD departed from off the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubims. And the cherubims lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight" (Ezekiel 10:18-19). Again, the cherubim are seen closest to God, serving as wordless throne bearers and heralds. Satan addressing Beelzebub in this sense indicates that he sees him as a servant meant to be obedient and to serve his will. If Satan is intending to be the equivalent to God in hell, then Beelzebub being a "cherub" indicates that Satan wants anything but equality out of their relationship; the simplicity of an equal friendship as described by Shannon is nowhere to be found, as it is clear that their relationship entails strict hierarchy.

Despite the hierarchy in their relationship, the pair Satan and Beelzebub parallel Adam and Eve through similar awakening scenes in Book V, remarkably giving Satan and Beelzebub the appearance of lovers. Book V opens with Adam awakening Eve in the morning as he says:

"Awake,/My fairest, my espoused, my latest found" (Milton Book V 17-18), then, later, "why sleepest thou, Eve?" (Milton Book V 38). In the same book, Satan approaches a sleeping Beelzebub:

His next subordinate

Awakening, thus to him in secret spake.

Sleepest thou, Companion dear? What sleep can close

Thy eye-lids? and rememberest what decree

Of yesterday, so late hath passed the lips

Of Heaven’s Almighty. Thou to me thy thoughts

Wast wont, I mine to thee was wont to impart;

Both waking we were one; how then can now

Thy sleep dissent? (Milton Book V 671-679)

In both instances, the "sleepest thou" phrase is repeated drawing an immediate parallel through wording. Not only that, but the fact that the similar wording occurs in tandem with similar action—that of the "leader" or "head" in the relationship awakening his partner—ties these two instances and these two pairs closer together, to the point where one begins to wonder why this parallel would occur. Then, there is the parallel address of Eve and Beelzebub as familiar names—"fairest" and "espoused" for Eve, and "companion dear" for Beelzebub. Even on its own, Satan calling Beelzebub "companion dear" is particularly familiar language; on its own, "sleepest thou, companion dear" could easily be a phrase spoken between Adam and Eve in their own Book V awakening scene. However, the familiar name "companion dear" occurring soon after the language Adam uses once again drives home the parallel in the two scenes. Finally, Satan's declaration that "both waking we were one" once again recalls Raphael's talk of "mixing" of bodies and "union" as in both angelic and human sex. Not only that, but in Book VIII, when Adam recalls his discussion with God on the creation of Eve, he says of man and woman that "they shall be one Flesh, one Heart, one Soul" (Milton Book VIII 499) as in marriage. The parallels between Satan and Beelzebub and Adam and Eve evident in Book V are perhaps the clearest in all of Paradise Lost, but they are not the only parallels, and perhaps not even the most profound.

In their functions as well as their actions, the two pairs mirror each other; Satan and Adam acting as the superior while Eve and Beelzebub are considered inferior, thus also having the effect of gendering Beelzebub as feminine. As shown by his address of Beelzebub as "cherub" and his use of Beelzebub as a mouthpiece, Satan sees Beelzebub as not an equal, but as a "partner" who is essentially belongs to him and is meant to do as he asks. Adam and Eve's relationship, as outlined in Book IV, is similar:

Whence true authority in men; though both

Not equal, as their sex not equal seemed;

For contemplation he and valour formed;

For softness she and sweet attractive grace;

He for God only, she for God in him (Milton Book IV 295-299)

In Adam and Eve's marriage, they are neither equal nor meant to be so; their sexes were made for different purposes which are not valued the same. Adam is spiritually higher than eve, made "for God only, she for God in him". Of the two, Adam is meant to be the closer of the two to God, and though the fallen Satan is not spiritually close to God, his aspiration to become the god of hell makes him conceptually closer to godhood than his partner, Beelzebub. Therefore, Satan can be read as analogous to Adam in their position in their closest relationship, while Beelzebub is analogous to Eve. This reading of the Satan and Beelzebub relationship differs from the strictly platonic "wedded brothers" as described by Bray, instead in closer agreement with a heterosexual marriage exemplified in Adam and Eve. This comparison, then, requires that Beelzebub be read as feminine in his submission and obedience.

However, what is perhaps more interesting is the differences between Beelzebub and Eve; while he is complacent in his inferior position, Eve continuously challenges her designation as less important than her husband. It is Eve who is first to tell her own story in Book IV, Eve in Book IX whose temptation takes pages and pages rather than the fall of Adam, which takes a few lines, Eve who directly communicates with God in a dream while Adam speaks to the intermediary, Raphael. Eve continuously expresses her own original thoughts and opinions throughout Paradise Lost, but there are simply no instances of Beelzebub doing the same. If Beelzebub and Satan are to be read as a corrupted reflection of the Adam and Eve marriage, then perhaps part of what makes their relationship corrupted, or a result of said corruption, may be Beelzebub's abject submission to Satan. Perhaps it is Eve's ability to think and act independently from Adam that sets them above the relationship between the two fallen angels.

Readings of Beelzebub and Satan's relationship can be more complex than they may seem from the surface. Elements of male friendship exist between them, though confounded by hierarchy and the perplexing nature of angelic gender. The most profound aspect of their relationship, however, may relate them back to the marriage of Adam and Eve, putting the two fallen angels into an unequal gendered relationship. However, looking at the two pairs together, Satan and Beelzebub's relationship is more strictly hierarchical, a clearer definition between leader and follower, superior and inferior, while Adam and Eve's marriage is more confused in terms of where Eve stands as compared to Adam. She, like Beelzebub, seems to be placed below her husband in importance, but she challenges this notion, unlike the complacent Beelzebub. That the more clearly defined relationship is embodied in the fallen angels may perhaps highlight that the parallel relationship is messier, and that strict gendered hierarchy and absolute subjugation, as far as Milton is concerned, is reserved for the fallen.

Works Cited:

Bray, Alan. The Friend. University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Heywood, Thomas. The hierarchie of the blessed angells Their names, orders and offices the fall of Lucifer with his angells. London, Printed by Adam Islip, 1635. ProQuest, http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/books/hierarchie-blessed-angells-their-names-orders/docview/2248523987/se-2?accountid=14244.

King James Version. 1611. The Bible in English. http://collections.chadwyck.com/bie/htxview?template=basic.htx&content=frameset.htx

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. 1667. Reprint. Hackett Publishing, 2003.

Shannon, Laurie. Sovereign Amity: Figures of Friendship in Shakespearean Contexts. The University of Chicago Press, 2002.

[dgtanisha]

Empowering Women: Unleashing the Force of Change

In a world where progress is measured by the empowerment of its people, the role of women stands as a critical cornerstone of societal advancement. Empowering women isn't merely about providing them with opportunities; it's about recognizing and unleashing the transformative potential that lies within each woman. From breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes to driving innovation and fostering inclusive societies, women empowerment is a catalyst for positive change across the globe.

Historically, women have faced systemic barriers that hindered their full participation in social, economic, and political spheres. Discriminatory practices, unequal access to education and employment, and gender-based violence have long impeded the progress of women in societies worldwide. However, despite these challenges, women have continually demonstrated resilience, courage, and determination in their pursuit of equality and empowerment.

Education serves as a cornerstone of women empowerment, providing them with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to pursue their aspirations and contribute meaningfully to society. By ensuring equal access to quality education for girls and women, we not only unlock their potential but also lay the groundwork for sustainable development and social progress. Education empowers women to challenge societal norms, pursue their passions, and become agents of change in their communities.

Moreover, economic empowerment is essential for women to achieve financial independence and break free from the cycle of poverty. Access to economic resources, including credit, land ownership, and entrepreneurial opportunities, enables women to support themselves and their families, invest in their futures, and contribute to economic growth and prosperity. By promoting women's entrepreneurship and leadership in business and industry, we can harness their talents and expertise to drive innovation, create jobs, and foster inclusive economic development.

Political empowerment is another crucial aspect of women empowerment, as it enables women to participate fully in decision-making processes and shape the policies that affect their lives. Through representation in political institutions, women can advocate for their rights, influence legislative agendas, and champion issues of gender equality and social justice. By promoting women's political participation and leadership at all levels of governance, we can create more inclusive and responsive democracies that reflect the diversity and voices of all citizens.

Beyond education, economics, and politics, women empowerment also encompasses the elimination of gender-based violence and discrimination. Violence against women remains a pervasive global issue, depriving women of their dignity, safety, and fundamental human rights. By challenging harmful gender norms, promoting gender equality, and implementing laws and policies that protect women from violence and discrimination, we can create safer and more equitable societies where women can thrive and fulfill their potential.

Cultural and social norms often perpetuate gender stereotypes and restrict women's freedom and agency. Empowering women requires challenging these norms and fostering environments where women are valued, respected, and treated as equals. By promoting gender-sensitive attitudes and behaviors, celebrating women's achievements, and amplifying their voices and stories, we can inspire future generations of women to dream big, defy expectations, and pursue their aspirations without fear or limitation.

In today's interconnected world, the empowerment of women is not only a matter of justice and human rights but also a prerequisite for sustainable development and global peace. When women are empowered, societies prosper, economies thrive, and communities flourish. By investing in women's education, economic opportunities, political participation, and safety, we invest in a brighter and more equitable future for all.

As individuals, communities, and nations, we must commit ourselves to the cause of women empowerment and work tirelessly to dismantle the barriers that stand in the way of women's progress. Let us celebrate the achievements of women past and present, amplify their voices, and champion their rights and aspirations. Together, let us build a world where every woman and girl can live with dignity, equality, and the freedom to pursue her dreams. For in empowering women, we empower humanity to reach its fullest potential and create a better world for generations to come.

[honeyriot]

"Mainstreaming Feminism in Legal Education" - Catharine Mackinnon

"Framing feminism’s point of departure and return this way focuses the question of what women’s experience concretely is. Transnational and cross-cultural patterns within nations, including on the basis of race and class, have emerged from asking feminist questions. Women, the least privileged more than the more privileged, tend to be segregated into forms of work that are paid little and valued less, their material contributions, including as mothers and homemakers, devalued.

Women’s status is enforced by demeaning women’s physical and social characteristics, often through stereotyping and relegation to disfavored roles, even as their entrance into some conventionally more favored roles diminishes their status as well as their compensation or standard of living. Across cultures, women are subjected to domestic servitude and battering in their homes. They are often forced to become mothers in a setting of lack of reproductive choice. Sometimes they are sterilized against their will, sometimes forced to have children they do not choose and cannot care for. Unwanted sexual attention that women are in no position to refuse is commonly inflicted on them.

Women are, worldwide, sexually abused and assaulted as children and as adults, in war and in peace. They are sexually objectified, reduced to things for sexual possession, use, and abuse. Women of every racial, national, sexual, and aged specificity are bought and sold for denigrating entertainment and trafficked in prostitution, sometimes by their own families, within and across jurisdictional boundaries. They are transferred for intimate sexual access like chattel, sometimes in marriage for a long time, sometimes in prostitution for a short time.

Through experiences like these, and in being socialized and targeted for them, and because of the status they represent, women are socially deprived of respect, personal security, human dignity, access to resources, speech, political representation, and power—in a word, equality. It is common across cultures to attribute this subordinate status to nature and body.

Evidence and analysis support the conclusion that this attribution is an ideological excuse and rationalization, not a preexisting natural reality. Together, these experiences and others like them become a pervasive social system through which women are gendered, hence made into a sex. Together with other practices and mechanisms of enforcement, they form an unequal status on the basis of sex.

Women as a gender group can, then, be observed to be used, violated, demeaned, exploited, excluded, and silenced—whatever else does or does not happen to them as individuals, however these effects are muted or evaded by luck, chance, resistance, or privilege. When they happen, these acts are inflicted on women by men who, socialized to masculinity, can decide to do them or not.

Not all men do them, or are in an equal position to do them. Whether or not individual men do these things is largely their choice, though, depending on factors that include their relative status among men. As men, most men benefit from not being the people to whom these things are done (although they are done to some men) and can be done with relative impunity (although some men are held accountable for them, actually, whether they do them or not). They also benefit from being in a position to decide to do these things or not to do them, a power men have to varying degrees. Ultimately, women are able to choose precious little about whether these things happen to them. Attempts to avoid them, often through restrictions on liberty, do not necessarily mean they will not happen anyway.

This is what it means to speak of the inequality of the sexes in terms of male power. To be a member of the social group women, as a condition of birth, means that any one or more of these things can happen to you, and little will be done about it, whether these acts are formally illegal or not.

Many legal problems are generated by, and interact with, this treatment and its status outcomes. The question of the role of feminism in legal education can thus be reframed as: What can legal education do to prepare lawyers to intervene in this situation—women’s inequality to men—in order to change it?"

[opiatemasses]

Breaking Boundaries or Breaking Point? Joey Barton's Diatribe on Women Football Commentators

In the evolving world of football broadcasting, the game's flow is complemented and enriched by the voices describing its details. Recent comments regarding female broadcasters within men’s football made by former footballer Joey Barton has created uproar. As football fans we are not merely spectators, we are active participants, engaging in a larger conversation that helps to shape our experiences of the beautiful game. Interestingly, Barton’s recent remarks extend further than a single conversation: his comments added fuel to existing, wider conversations about diversity. Are we witnessing a necessary evolution in football commentary, or has the push for diversity reached considerable challenges?

What is happening?

Barton’s recent remarks, that began on the social media ‘X’ have sparked numerous reactions across the football community and beyond. Essentially, he is rejecting the idea of women having commentary roles in men’s football, branding this to be part of a broader ‘woke agenda’. His statements are not merely personal observations, deliberately stirring discussion about wider societal change and gender dynamics in the world of football broadcasting.

Joey Barton argues that he’s not against women because of their gender; he doesn’t like the principle of women being awarded roles that are important in men’s football as a way of showing people that they are inclusive. He believes that in football commentary people should be selected based solely on their skillset even if that means that there will be no women.

History of Women in Football Commentary

Sports commentary has had a long history of unequal treatment based on gender. Women have had a tough time getting into commentary for many years, and when they do their contributions are often not appreciated or taken seriously. Old-fashioned, stereotypical ideas and conventions about what men and women should do have shaped people’s perceptions of women football commentators. Barton’s comments fit into a similar narrative from history, where women are kept on the sidelines, trying hard to overcome long-standing prejudices. As described by Ali Bowes et al 2023 the increased inclusion of women as pundits in televised match coverage has been a gradual process.  In 2007 Jacqui Oatley became the first female football commentator on the television programme Match of the Day since its origins in 1964. The next female was former England International Eniola Aluko, breaking ground in 2014 as the first women in this presenting role. Aluko notably contributed to the television coverage of the 2018 World Cup, pushing her into the media spotlight.

Women reporters have often found it challenging to get players and coaches and even the audience to see them as reporters first and women second. A study made by Swanson 2009 was conducted where he interviewed female journalists. He found that they “spoke of a love or passion for sports” with the majority playing one or more sports in the past. This discredits the suggestion that women commentators are less knowledgeable, qualified, and professional than their male counterparts.

Has there been improvement?

Over a five-year span there has been an increasing number of female pundits. Looking at the research from David Lenton 2022 he identified that the presence of women covering men’s games, either as commentators or pundits has seen remarkable growth. It grew 5650% from 2016/17 to 2020/21 (from 12 appearances to 690). Two seasons ago (2020/21) saw 2500 male commentators and pundits appearing in all televised men’s games - a difference of 1810. While the female representation has grown dramatically, there is still a huge gap to fill.

Push for diversity

The push for diversity is a vital aspect of progress in the sports industry. It helps to break down historical barriers and provide opportunities for individuals regardless of gender. The drivers behind the push include the recognition that talent and expertise are not limited by gender but can be found in individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences. Alex Scott is a brilliant example of this. After retiring from football in 2017 she broke major barriers by becoming the first female football pundit at the World Cup for the BBC and joined Sky Sports Super Sunday as the first female pundit. Findings from 2017 found that 88.5% of sport reporters were male which makes Alex Scott’s achievement even more impressive.

Like any significant shift, there can be unintended consequences. As depicted by Burch et al 2023, even with female commentator's obvious expertise they often face scepticism about their knowledge and competence in sports. Additionally the rise of online platforms has exposed them to a wave of harassment and abuse, perpetuating a hostile and discouraging environment. However, within the industry the ongoing efforts to promote gender equality are evident. Gender pay gaps still persist, with female journalists earning less than their male counterparts for similar roles and responsibilities.

Some people support Barton and say that everyone has a right to an opinion. However, many others like me disagree with Barton’s outspoken standpoint. Football commentary and broadcasting should be platforms that embrace diversity and inclusivity. Dismissing the idea of women having roles in football commentary sustains current biases and contributes to the ongoing issue of sexism in football commentary. He pointed out how you need to play football at a high level to be able to talk about it, however there are many talented women broadcasters that didn’t play football at all. A couple that spring to my mind is Kate Abdo and Laura Woods. This makes me question whether Barton’s idea of who is ‘Credible’ is more about keeping things the way they’ve always been and maintaining sexism in football commentary.

So what is the solution? Football commentary has always been opinionated people sharing their opinions more than sharing facts. Fans may watch certain sport shows because they like personalities such as the CBS Sports Champions League Show, which is full of personalities including the likes of Thierry Henry, Micah Richards, Jamie Carragher and Kate Abdo. What arguably makes the show entertaining is that they are brilliant personalities while also reporting on the football. This has nothing to do with their gender which is why I don't understand Joey Barton's sexist comments.

Seeing change in the future

Football, as a dynamic and influential part of our cultural landscape, provides a unique platform for connection, dialogue and debate. Barton’s comments have sparked discussions reflecting the extremes within the football community. On one side, fans unite with a shared goal of supporting one another; while on the other side, you have people's passion which blinds their negative comments and viewpoints.

The necessary evolution in football commentary demands a positive change in fan engagement. Supporters should channel their voices to drown out the negativity. Embracing this shift will not only enhance the fan experience but also contribute to creating an inclusive and supportive environment within the realm of football commentary.

What’s your take on Joey Barton’s Views? Is the push for diversity in football commentary a necessary evolution, or does it risk undermining the credibility of the sport? Share your thoughts below and join the conversation.

N0993793

[lanabriggs]

Challenges Women in Top Management Meet

There has been a noticeable shift in the representation of women in top management positions within companies in the past decade. While progress has been made, significant challenges persist for women aspiring to reach and thrive in executive roles.

One of the primary challenges faced by women in top positions is the pervasive issue of gender bias and stereotypes. Despite efforts to promote diversity and inclusion, women often encounter systemic barriers rooted in traditional perceptions of leadership. They may face unfair scrutiny, microaggressions, and double standards that can impede their career advancement and credibility.

Another key challenge is the lack of mentorship and sponsorship opportunities for women in leadership roles. Many women struggle to access networks and support systems that are essential for career growth and advancement. The absence of role models and advocates within organizations can hinder their professional development and limit opportunities for progression.

Work-life balance remains a significant hurdle for women in top management. The demands of senior roles often require extensive hours and travel, which can conflict with caregiving responsibilities and personal commitments. This imbalance can lead to burnout and impact women's ability to sustain long-term success in their careers.

Moreover, women continue to face unequal pay and compensation disparities compared to their male counterparts in similar roles. The gender pay gap persists across industries, contributing to financial insecurity and undermining women's economic empowerment and professional standing.

Lastly, unconscious bias in recruitment and promotion processes presents a formidable obstacle for women seeking leadership positions. Biased decision-making based on stereotypes and assumptions can lead to missed opportunities and perpetuate gender inequity within organizations.

Despite these challenges, women in top management are driving meaningful change and advocating for gender equality in the corporate world. Continued efforts to address systemic barriers, promote inclusive leadership practices, and provide meaningful support will be essential to advancing gender parity in senior roles.

[planindiango]

The Power of ‘We’ for an equal world

Partnerships go a long way in driving meaningful digital engagement for non-profits during campaigns and make the cause relatable in a pandemic impacted world.

Digital has never been more important for charities than in 2020, as Covid-19 forced non-profits to embrace the “new normal” – in which digital enabled technologies and platforms play a major, long-term role in mobilising communities, campaigning and fundraising. And while doing so it is imperative that we need to re-invent re-strategies and put our acts together in a real time bound manner.

As an organisation, Plan India is committed to the cause of promoting girls rights and equality. As a humanitarian organisation, while we were at the forefront of COVID-19 response, providing immediate relief and aid to more than a million population, we also set about executing an ambitious digital campaign #EqualUnlock mobilising partners and hundreds of girls from the most marginalised section of the society. Putting the spotlight on rights of girls and their agency is all the more important as often such issues slip through the cracks in the larger scheme of things. We should not let COVID upend decades of work around gender equality.

The campaign #EqualUnlock conceived as part of the International Day of the Girl which falls on 11 October, challenged stereotypes that hold them back or question their capabilities based on gender. The spirit of the campaign was: It is proven that girls have the potential to lead companies and countries through positions of power and be Unconquerable. They strive to fight their battles of freedom and be Unafraid. In a world that ties them with limiting stereotypes and unequal representation, they choose to be Unstoppable. In a post COVID world we should not let girls fight alone but be their voice because it’s time for an #EqualUnlock.

Each October since 2016, led by different Plan International offices, thousands of girls all over the world have taken over positions of power including those of Presidents, Ambassadors, CEOs and Chief Editors as part of a global movement in support of gender equality. Given the new normal created by COVID-19 physical takeovers was difficult but what could not be missed was the need to highlight the need for continued focus on girls’ rights and equality. Embracing the new normal, In India we tweaked the physical takeovers to social media takeovers and roped in partners such as diplomatic Missions, corporates, media and influencers—who espouse the cause of gender equality.

Therefore, Delegation of the European Union to India, Embassy of Argentina, Australian High Commission, Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium, High Commission of Canada in India, Embassy of the Czech Republic, Royal Danish Embassy, Embassy of Finland, Embassy of France, Embassy of Israel, Embassy of Ireland, Embassy of Latvia, Embassy of Lithuania, Embassy of Mexico, Embassy of Netherlands, Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia, Embassy of Sweden and the Embassy of Switzerland; the content platform The Better India – Hindi and English; and the corporates H&M joined the social media takeovers— all came forth to not only celebrate the Day of the Girl but also give up their individual social media handles as Ambassadors/CEOs or that of their organisation in solidarity.

The reach of the campaign was further strengthened with the support of globally acclaimed sportspersons such as Tashi and Nungshi Malik, Tania Sachdev and Ria Rajeshwari Kumari. As a result 20+ girls, some of them from the remotest communities in India, took the digital world by storm reaching 9 million people organically and raising one unified voice for girls’ rights and equality.

 It is evident that together we can make a far bigger impact than we could by acting alone. The big question is—do you see yourself as flagbearer for girls’ rights and equality? The road ahead can be lonely, challenging and long drawn but the outcome is a world where girls are finally seen as equals.

[simarjeet12]

Encouraging Women: India's Revolutionary Path

India's journey toward Women empowerment India has been revolutionary and is still changing the socioeconomic and cultural landscape of the country. Giving women equal access to education, work, decision-making, and opportunity in all areas of life is part of the idea of women's empowerment. India has made great progress in promoting this cause throughout the years, yet there are still obstacles in the way of attaining complete gender parity.

The Historical Background of Indian Women's Empowerment

India has a long history of strong, independent women. Women have been crucial in forming the country, from Sarojini Naidu's literary achievements to Rani Lakshmibai's courageous participation in the Indian uprising of 1857. However, patriarchal structures and sociocultural norms limited women's autonomy and rights for generations. Their potential was drastically constrained by customs like child marriage, dowries, and restricted educational opportunities.

With social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar fighting for women's rights, the movement for women's empowerment in India gained traction in the 19th and 20th centuries. The foundation for the current gender equality movement was established by these initiatives.

Government Programs to Empower Women

The Indian government implemented a number of laws and initiatives to empower women after gaining independence. Article 15 of the Constitution forbids discrimination on the basis of gender, and Article 39 stresses that men and women should be paid equally for equal labor. A number of flagship projects have been introduced in recent years:

Beti Padhao and Bachao: Addressing gender-based discrimination and advancing girls' education are the goals of this campaign.

The Ujjwala Yojana promotes health and lessens dependency by giving women from households below the poverty line access to LPG connections.

By offering financial support for commercial endeavors, the Stand-Up India Scheme encourages women entrepreneurs.

Women Helpline Scheme: Provides women who are victims of abuse or violence with round-the-clock support.

These initiatives have had a major impact on women's freedom and quality of life improvements.

The Foundation of Empowerment: Education

In India, women's empowerment is based on education. In recent years, the percentage of women who are literate has increased significantly, from just 8.86% in 1951 to over 70%. Girls' access to school has improved thanks in large part to government initiatives like Samagra Shiksha and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya.

There are still difficulties in spite of these developments. Concerns about socioeconomic dropout rates and gender inequality in higher education persist. A multifaceted strategy including community involvement, legislative changes, and financial incentives for families to send their daughters to school is needed to address these problems.

Employment Inclusion and Economic Empowerment

One essential component of women's empowerment is economic freedom. With more women occupying positions in a variety of industries, including technology, healthcare, and entrepreneurship, the number of women in India's workforce has been continuously rising.

Indian women's entrepreneurial spirit is demonstrated by the growth of women-led companies and businesses. Women now have opportunities to demonstrate their abilities and attain financial independence thanks to platforms like "Mahila E-Haat" and the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA). To guarantee a truly inclusive workforce, however, issues like unequal compensation, workplace harassment, and a lack of representation in leadership roles must be addressed immediately.

Well-being and Health

Women's empowerment requires access to healthcare. With initiatives like "Poshan Abhiyaan" and "Janani Suraksha Yojana," India has significantly improved maternal and child health. Maternal mortality rates and child and maternal malnutrition have decreased as a result of these efforts.

However, progress is hampered by the stigma associated with reproductive health and the lack of adequate healthcare infrastructure in rural areas. Campaigns for awareness, better facilities, and culturally competent healthcare services are all necessary to address these problems.

Dismantling Social Barriers

In India, empowering women also entails dispelling long-standing prejudices and social conventions. Issues of gender-based violence and harassment have gained attention thanks to campaigns against domestic abuse and movements like #MeToo. Laws like the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act (2013) and the Domestic Violence Act (2005) have given women the means to defend their rights.

Maintaining these initiatives requires a shift in public perceptions. Stereotypes can be broken down and gender sensitivity can be encouraged with the support of education and awareness initiatives aimed at both men and women.

Leadership and Political Representation

Another crucial aspect of women's empowerment is political engagement. With the help of leaders like Indira Gandhi, India's first female prime minister, and Pratibha Patil, the country's first female president, women in India have achieved incredible advancements in political leadership. Women's participation in local governance has expanded dramatically since Panchayati Raj institutions reserved 33% of their seats for them.

However, there is still a lack of representation in legislatures and higher political positions. Creating a conducive atmosphere through mentorship, training, and policy changes is necessary to encourage more women to enter the political sphere.

Technology's Contribution to Women's Empowerment

In India, technology has become a potent instrument for women's empowerment. The availability of smartphones, the internet, and digital platforms has created new avenues for social interaction, enterprise, and education. In order to close the digital divide and guarantee that women gain an equitable share from technical breakthroughs, digital literacy programs and initiatives such as "Digital India" are being implemented.

Women can now express their views, create networks, and look for assistance on online platforms. Campaigns on social media have effectively sparked community action and increased awareness of important topics.

Obstacles on the Way Forward

Despite the advancements, India still confronts a number of obstacles to women's empowerment:

Patriarchal Mindsets: Women's opportunities are still restricted by traditional attitudes and behaviors.

Gender-Based Violence: Human trafficking, honor killings, and domestic abuse are still common crimes.

Economic Inequalities: There is still a gender pay gap and restricted access to resources.

Urban-Rural Divide: In contrast to their urban counterparts, rural women frequently do not have access to healthcare, education, or work opportunities.

The Path Ahead

All facets of society must work together to achieve true women's empowerment in India. Important actions consist of:

Encouraging early education and knowledge of gender-sensitive issues.

Bolstering legal frameworks and making sure they are applied effectively.

Motivating males to take an active role as allies in the empowering process.

Utilizing focused strategies and initiatives to close the gap between urban and rural areas.

Conclusion

In India, empowering women is not just a goal but also essential to the overall growth of the nation. Stronger families, communities, and economies are a result of empowered women. Even though there has been a lot of progress, much more has to be done. India can unleash the potential of its women and create a more promising and inclusive future by cultivating an atmosphere of equality, respect, and opportunity.

[amandabanks1]

Healthcare Access: Combating Inequalities in Medical Services Across Communities with Public Speakers like Amanda Banks

Healthcare access remains a critical issue globally, as disparities in medical services continue to affect vulnerable communities. Unequal access to healthcare not only undermines the principles of equity but also exacerbates social and economic divides. Factors such as socioeconomic status, geographic location, and systemic discrimination often determine the quality and availability of medical care individuals receive. Read more

Addressing these disparities requires a multifaceted approach that includes policy reforms, community engagement, and equitable resource allocation. Bridging the gap in healthcare access is essential to improving public health outcomes, fostering social cohesion, and achieving sustainable development goals. By understanding the root causes of these inequalities and implementing targeted interventions, policymakers and stakeholders can ensure that quality healthcare is a universal right rather than a privilege.

Understanding the Roots of Healthcare Inequality

Healthcare inequality stems from deeply entrenched social, economic, and systemic factors. Economic disparities play a significant role, as individuals with lower incomes often lack access to insurance and cannot afford necessary treatments. The rising costs of medical care further widen the gap, leaving disadvantaged groups to rely on underfunded public health systems or forego treatment altogether.

Geographic location also contributes significantly to inequality as noted by public speakers like Amanda Banks. Rural and remote areas frequently lack sufficient healthcare facilities and qualified medical professionals. Patients in these regions often travel long distances to receive care, leading to delays in diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, the digital divide prevents these communities from leveraging telehealth services, exacerbating their healthcare challenges.

The Impact of Discrimination on Healthcare Access

Systemic discrimination in healthcare can take many forms, including racial bias, gender inequities, and cultural insensitivity. Minority communities often face barriers such as language differences, prejudiced attitudes, and inadequate representation among healthcare providers. These factors deter individuals from seeking care, ultimately leading to poorer health outcomes.

Social justice advocates such as Amanda Banks convey that gender inequality further complicates access to healthcare. Women, particularly in low-income communities, often face challenges in obtaining maternal and reproductive health services. Cultural norms and discriminatory practices may restrict their autonomy in making healthcare decisions, contributing to higher morbidity and mortality rates. Addressing these issues requires a comprehensive approach that prioritizes inclusivity and equity in medical services.

The Role of Policy in Addressing Healthcare Disparities

Effective policies play a pivotal role in reducing healthcare inequalities as pointed out by public speakers including Amanda Banks. Expanding access to health insurance, for instance, can alleviate the financial burden on underserved populations. Programs like Medicaid in the United States have demonstrated the potential of government interventions to provide affordable care to low-income families.

Investing in healthcare infrastructure is another critical step. Policymakers must allocate resources to build hospitals, clinics, and telehealth facilities in underserved areas. Additionally, incentivizing healthcare professionals to work in rural and marginalized communities can help bridge the gap in medical service delivery. By prioritizing equitable policies, governments can create a more inclusive healthcare system.

The Importance of Community-Based Solutions

Community-based approaches are essential for addressing local healthcare challenges. Grassroots initiatives that involve local leaders, organizations, and residents can effectively identify and address the specific needs of underserved populations. For example, mobile clinics and health camps can bring essential services to remote areas, reducing barriers to access.

Health education is another crucial component of community-based solutions. Empowering individuals with knowledge about preventive care, chronic disease management, and available resources fosters healthier communities. Culturally sensitive programs that respect local traditions and values are particularly effective in engaging diverse populations as underlined by social justice advocates like Amanda Banks. Community-driven efforts complement systemic reforms, creating sustainable solutions to healthcare disparities.

Leveraging Technology to Bridge Healthcare Gaps

Technology offers promising solutions for overcoming healthcare access barriers. Telemedicine, for instance, enables patients in remote areas to consult with medical professionals without traveling long distances. This approach not only saves time and costs but also ensures timely interventions for conditions that require immediate attention.

Digital health platforms can also improve access to information and services. Mobile applications that provide appointment scheduling, prescription management, and health monitoring tools empower individuals to take charge of their healthcare. However, addressing the digital divide is crucial to ensuring these technologies benefit all communities, particularly those with limited internet access or digital literacy.

Building an Equitable Healthcare Future

Achieving equitable healthcare requires collaboration among governments, healthcare providers, and communities. Stakeholders must work together to dismantle systemic barriers and prioritize the needs of underserved populations. This includes fostering diversity in the healthcare workforce, ensuring cultural competence, and promoting policies that address social determinants of health.

Public speakers such as Amanda Banks express that global cooperation is equally important in addressing healthcare inequalities. Sharing best practices, funding initiatives in low-income countries, and supporting international organizations can create a more balanced global healthcare landscape. By committing to equity and inclusivity, the healthcare sector can transform lives and reduce disparities across communities.

Combating healthcare inequalities is a moral and practical imperative that demands collective action. Addressing the economic, geographic, and systemic barriers that hinder access to medical services is crucial to fostering a healthier, more equitable society. Policymakers, communities, and healthcare providers must work together to implement sustainable solutions that prioritize the needs of vulnerable populations.

By embracing technology, promoting inclusivity, and investing in underserved areas, the healthcare sector can bridge the gap in access and improve outcomes for all. The journey toward equitable healthcare may be challenging, but its rewards are profound—ensuring that every individual, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to lead a healthier, more fulfilling life.

[blumlawfirm]

Understanding Employment Discrimination Lawsuits: Protecting Your Rights with Blum Law Firm

Employment discrimination lawsuit play a critical role in ensuring fairness and equality in the workplace. Discrimination based on race, gender, age, religion, disability, or other protected characteristics is not only unethical but also illegal under federal and state laws. At Blum Law Firm, we specialize in representing individuals who have experienced workplace discrimination, helping them secure the justice they deserve.

What Is an Employment Discrimination Lawsuit?

An employment discrimination lawsuit is a legal action taken by an employee or job applicant who has been subjected to unfair treatment in violation of anti-discrimination laws. These lawsuits often arise when an employer’s actions adversely affect an individual’s hiring, promotion, pay, or work environment based on discriminatory reasons.

Federal laws such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) provide protections against such injustices. State laws often expand on these protections, offering additional avenues for legal recourse.

Common Types of Employment Discrimination

Discrimination can take many forms, including:

Racial Discrimination: Treating employees differently based on their race or ethnicity.

Gender Discrimination: Unequal treatment or harassment based on gender or sexual orientation.

Age Discrimination: Bias against employees aged 40 or older.

Disability Discrimination: Failure to provide reasonable accommodations or unfair treatment of individuals with disabilities.

Religious Discrimination: Harassment or unequal treatment due to religious beliefs or practices.

If you believe you’ve been a victim of any of these forms of discrimination, Blum Law Firm can help you determine whether you have grounds for an employment discrimination lawsuit.

How Blum Law Firm Can Help

Navigating the complexities of an employment discrimination lawsuit can be overwhelming, especially when dealing with the emotional toll of workplace injustice. Blum Law Firm offers experienced legal guidance to help you:

Assess Your Case: We will evaluate your situation to determine whether your rights have been violated.

File a Complaint: If necessary, we will assist in filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or the appropriate state agency.

Pursue Legal Action: Should your case proceed to court, we will provide aggressive representation to secure the compensation and remedies you deserve.

Why Choose Blum Law Firm?

At Blum Law Firm, we are committed to fighting for employees’ rights and holding employers accountable for discriminatory practices. With a proven track record of success, our team understands the nuances of employment discrimination lawsuit and is dedicated to achieving favorable outcomes for our clients.

If you’ve experienced workplace discrimination, don’t wait to seek justice. Contact Blum Law Firm today for a consultation. Let us help you take the first step toward restoring your dignity and protecting your rights.

[jcmarchi]

Addressing Current Issues Within LLMs & Looking Forward to What’s Next

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/addressing-current-issues-within-llms-looking-forward-to-whats-next/

Addressing Current Issues Within LLMs & Looking Forward to What’s Next

Today, there are dozens of publicly available large language models (LLMs), such as GPT-3, GPT-4, LaMDA, or Bard, and the number is constantly growing as new models are released. LLMs have revolutionized artificial intelligence, completely altering how we interact with technology across various industries. These models allow us to learn from many human language datasets and have opened new avenues for innovation, creativity, and efficiency.

However, with great power comes great complexity. There are inherent challenges and ethical issues surrounding LLMs that must be addressed before we can utilize them to their fullest potential. For instance, a recent Stanford study found racial and gender bias when observing ChatGPT-4 for how it treats certain queries that include first and last names suggestive of race or gender. In this study, the program was asked for advice on how much one should pay for a used bicycle being sold by someone named Jamal Washington, which yielded a far lower amount, compared to when the seller was named Logan Becker. As these discoveries continue coming to light, the need to address LLM challenges only increases.

How to Mitigate Common LLM Concerns

Bias

One of the most commonly discussed issues among LLMs is bias and fairness. In a recent study, experts tested four recently published LLMs and found that they all expressed biased assumptions about men and women, specifically those aligned with people’s perceptions rather than those grounded in fact. In this context, bias refers to the unequal treatment or outcomes among different social groups, most likely due to historical or structural power imbalances.

In LLMs, bias is caused by data selection, creator demographics, and language or cultural skew. Data selection bias occurs when the texts chosen for LLM training do not represent the full diversity of language used on the web. LLMs trained on extensive, but limited, datasets can inherit the biases already in these texts. With creator demographics, certain demographic groups are highlighted more often than others, which exemplifies the need for more diversity and inclusivity in content creation to decrease bias. For example, Wikipedia, a common source of training data, exhibits a notable demographic imbalance among its editors with a male majority (84%). This is similar to the skew that is found for language and culture as well. Many sources that LLMs are being trained on are skewed, leaning English-centric, which only sometimes translates accurately across other languages and cultures.

It’s imperative that LLMs are trained on filtered data, and that guardrails are in place to suppress topics that are not consistent representations of the data. One way to do so is through data augmentation-based techniques. You can add examples from underrepresented groups to the training data, thus broadening the dataset’s diversity. Another mitigation tactic is data filtering and reweighting, which primarily focuses on precisely targeting specific, underrepresented examples within an existing dataset.

Hallucinations

Within the context of LLMs, hallucinations are a phenomenon characterized by the production of a text that, while grammatically correct and seemingly coherent, diverges from factual accuracy or the intent of the source material. In fact, recent reports have found that a lawsuit over a Minnesota law is directly affected by LLM hallucinations. An affidavit submitted to support the law has been found to have included non-existent sources that may have been hallucinated by ChatGPT or another LLM. These hallucinations can easily decrease an LLM’s dependability.

There are three primary forms of hallucinations:

Input-Conflicting Hallucination: This happens when the output of an LLM diverges from the user’s provided input, which typically includes task instructions and the actual content needing to be processed.

Context-Conflicting Hallucination: LLMs may generate internally inconsistent responses in scenarios involving extended dialog or multiple exchanges. This suggests a potential deficiency in the model’s ability to track context or maintain coherence over various interactions.

Fact-Conflicting Hallucination: This form of hallucination arises when an LLM produces content at odds with established factual knowledge. The origins of such errors are diverse and may occur at various stages in the lifecycle of an LLM.

Many factors have contributed to this phenomenon, such as knowledge deficiencies, which explains how LLMs may lack the knowledge or ability to assimilate information correctly during pre-training. Additionally, bias within training data or a sequential generation strategy of LLMs, nicknamed “hallucination snowballing,” can create hallucinations.

There are ways to mitigate hallucinations, although they will always be a characteristic of LLMs. Helpful mitigation strategies for hallucinations are mitigating during pre-training (manually refining data using filtering techniques) or fine-tuning (curating training data). However, mitigation during inference is the best solution due to its cost-effectiveness and controllability.

Privacy

With the rise of the internet, the increased accessibility of personal information and other private data has become a widely recognized concern. A study found that 80% of American consumers are concerned that their data is being used to train AI models. Since the most prominent LLMs are sourced from websites, we must consider how this poses privacy risks and remains a largely unsolved problem for LLMs.

The most straightforward way to prevent LLMs from distributing personal information is to purge it from the training data. However, given the vast amount of data involved in LLMs, it’s nearly impossible to guarantee that all private information is eradicated. Another common alternative for organizations that rely on externally developed models is to choose an open-source LLM instead of a service such as ChatGPT.

With this approach, a copy of the model can be deployed internally. Users’ prompts remain secure within the organization’s network rather than being exposed to third-party services. While this dramatically reduces the risk of leaking sensitive data, it also adds significant complexity. Given the difficulties of fully guaranteeing the protection of private data, it is still vital for application developers to consider how these models could put their users at risk.

The Next Frontier for LLMs

As we continue to grow and shape subsequent evolutions of LLMs through mitigating current risks, we should expect the breakthrough of LLM agents, which we already see companies like H with Runner H, starting to release. The shift from pure language models to agentic architectures represents a change in AI system design; the industry will be moving past the inherent limitations of chat interfaces and simple retrieval-augmented generation. These new agent frameworks will have sophisticated planning modules that decompose complex objectives into atomic subtasks, maintain episodic memory for contextual reasoning, and leverage specialized tools through well-defined APIs. This creates a more robust approach to task automation. The architectural progression helps mitigate the common challenges around tasks and reasoning, tool integration, and execution monitoring within traditional LLM implementations.

In addition to LLMs, there will be greater focus on training smaller language models due to their cost-effectiveness, accessibility and ease of deployment. For example, domain-specific language models specialize in particular industries or fields. These models are finely tuned with domain-specific data and terminology, making them ideal for complex and regulated environments, like the medical or legal field, where precision is essential. This targeted approach reduces the likelihood of errors and hallucinations that general-purpose models may produce when faced with specialized content.

As we continue to explore new frontiers in LLMs, it is essential to push the boundaries of innovation and address and mitigate potential risks associated with their development and deployment. Only by first identifying and proactively tackling challenges related to bias, hallucinations, and privacy can we create a more robust foundation for LLMs to thrive across diverse fields.

[pooma-education]

Super strategies to govern and maintain Gender Equality in schools.

To effectively maintain gender equality in school, powerful strategies include: actively challenging gender stereotypes in curriculum and activities, using inclusive language, encouraging mixed-gender group work, providing diverse role models in educational materials, implementing teacher training on gender sensitivity, and actively addressing any instances of gender bias or harassment within the school environment.

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀:

1.Curriculum review and integration:

▪️Incorporate diverse perspectives and experiences of women and men across all subjects, not just in dedicated "gender studies" classes.

▪️Analyze textbooks and teaching materials for gender bias and actively replace outdated stereotypes with inclusive representations.

Highlight achievements of women in STEM fields and other traditionally male-dominated areas.

2.Classroom practices:

▪️Promote mixed-gender group work on projects and activities to encourage collaboration.

▪️Avoid gender-segregated seating arrangements or activities.

▪️Use inclusive language and address students equally regardless of gender.

▪️Actively call out and address gender-based jokes or comments in the classroom.

3.Teacher training and awareness:

▪️Provide regular professional development for teachers on gender sensitivity and how to incorporate gender equality into their teaching practices.

▪️Encourage teachers to be mindful of their own unconscious biases and actively challenge gender stereotypes in their interactions with students.

4.Leadership and school culture:

▪️Foster a school climate where students feel safe to report instances of gender-based harassment or discrimination.

▪️Encourage female leadership roles in student government and extracurricular activities.

▪️Implement clear policies addressing gender-based violence and provide support systems for affected students.

5.Student engagement:

▪️Encourage open discussions about gender equality issues and empower students to become advocates for change.

▪️Incorporate student-led initiatives to promote gender equity within the school community.

▪️Provide opportunities for students to learn about gender equality issues through guest speakers, field trips, and awareness campaigns.

6.Important considerations:

▪️Data collection and analysis: Regularly collect and analyze data on gender disparities in student participation, academic performance, and disciplinary actions to identify areas needing improvement.

7.Community engagement:

▪️Partner with parents, local organizations, and community leaders to promote gender equality outside of school hours.

8.Addressing systemic barriers:

▪️Recognize and address potential barriers to gender equality within the school system, such as unequal access to resources or different expectations for girls and boys.

By actively implementing these strategies, schools can create a more equitable learning environment that empowers all students to reach their full potential regardless of gender.

(Dr Jemi Sudhakar, Principal, Velammal Vidyashram)