What if our future were designed equally by women?

11 February 201

Writen
Shamika N. Sirimanne, Director of the Division on Technology and Logistics (UNCTAD)

It is a revealing exercise to ask friends or colleagues if they can name the top men in tech right now…and then ask them to name the leading women. Expand the field to science, innovation, engineering or mathematics and the gaping lack of knowledge of women innovators can floor you.

Not because they are not there. They are, we just don’t know about them – even when women operate at high levels, in plain sight. When Donna Strickland won the Nobel Prize for her pulse amplification invention in 2018, she didn’t have a Wikipedia page. She had also never applied for a full professorship.

In media interviews she played down this issue, saying it’s the science that matters. But most people still wouldn’t know who the now Professor Strickland was if you asked.

There just isn’t the kind of acknowledgment and storytelling behind women’s achievements and success as there is for men. That – and the gendered nature of digital divide – seems to be expanding not contracting.

Leaky pipeline

We also have a leaky pipeline. Today less than 30% of researchers worldwide are women. UNESCO data between 2014 and 2016 shows only 30% of all female students going into higher education select science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related fields.

Globally, their enrolment is particularly low in ICT (3%), natural science, mathematics and statistics (5%) and in engineering, manufacturing and construction (8%).

Because women take fewer jobs in STEM, they may not be able to take advantage of the future demand for workers in frontier technologies.

Even worse, women leave the sector at much higher rates than men – US dataindicates that after 12 years, about 50% of women left STEM jobs, compared to less than 20% leaving other professional fields.

This means that a crucial opportunity to offer both a woman’s perspective on design, code, innovation and development and new thinking in general, is being lost. And it matters to outcomes.

Safer but less prosperous route

An example can be found in India, where a study showed women’s college choices could be explained partially by their concerns of street harassment. Women were willing to choose a lower-ranked college if it was on a perceived safer route.

But attending a lower-ranked college can translate into 20% lower lifetime earnings, perpetuating gender inequality in both education and earnings.

Women have been left out of much more than science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers. Yet this is the sector that builds, designs and codes our future.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence are increasingly integrated into our daily lives – think self-driving cars and an ecosystem of connected household devices – but the truth is their developers tend not to represent all society.

Gender bias by design

Recently, the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development examined cases where design had a gender bias. From seatbelts not factoring in the smaller size of women to certain medications only being tested on men, the world is designed by men.

Research has shown that the “female” personas of voice-assisted tech like Siri and Alexa has led to children barking commands at them without common courtesy, potentially shifting behaviour toward real women.

And algorithms learning from Wikipedia – where only 17% of profiles belong to women – will assume this is what the world looks like.

If more women had the lead in designing for innovation, would these design flaws still be evident? We don’t know, but without more women taking the lead in technological change, we never will.

While several efforts have been made toward gender equality, applying a gender lens to science, technology and innovation is vital.

New narrative

We not only need to discuss challenges and barriers for women to pursue a career in STEM-related fields, we also need to tell positive stories that give women and girls role models in these fields. It’s high time that we change the narrative on women in STEM careers.

Stories do that – stories like those of Mariana Costa, who teaches code to women in Latin America, giving them the tools to launch promising tech careers. With her social enterprise Laboratoria, Mariana has proved that when more women create technology, it means more women shaping our world’s future.

Or AfriLabs Foundation executive director Anna Ekeledo who runs a network of 133 innovation centers across 36 African countries, supporting hubs to raise successful entrepreneurs to create jobs and develop innovative solutions to African problems.

Or zoologist Shirley Malcom, head of education and human resources programs at the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She works to improve the quality and increase access to education and careers in STEM fields as well as to enhance public science literacy.

Storytelling like this starts today, on the first International Day of Women and Girls in Science declared by the United Nations.

Unless we get more women working on technology and innovation and have more stories to tell, women will not have a say in how we communicate, work, produce food, provide health care and educate the world for future generations.

That’s not the future we need.

Fire-safety check of high rises

The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial probe into a massive fire at a hotel in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh area on Tuesday in which at least 17 people were killed, its Home Minister Satyendar Jain said.

Jain, who visited the Arpit Palace Hotel where the fire broke out in the early hours of the morning, told reporters that he has also directed the fire department to inspect buildings which are five floors or more and submit a report on their fire safety compliance within a week.

“We have ordered for a magisterial inquiry into the case. Seventeen people have died, most of them of suffocation. Apparently, there were lapses (from the hotel administration’s side) and action will taken against those found guilty,” he said.

Generally, four floors are allowed for such establishments, the minister said. “We saw a canopy was put up on the terrace and tables and chairs were laid out. Inside in the rooms, wooden panels were there on the walls,” Jain said. “So I have also directed the fire department to inspect such multi-storeyed buildings which have five floors or more and submit a report in a week’s time,” he said.

The blaze that swept through the hotel in Gurudwara Road in central Delhi’s Karol Bagh killed at least 17 people, police said. A call about the fire was received at 4.35 am and 24 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior officer from the Delhi Fire Service said. — PTI

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Quake of 5.1 M at Bay Of Bengal

Sagar media inc

Earthquake of magnitude 5.1 on the Richter Scale hit Bay of Bengal at 7:02 am today

Earthquake of Magnitude:5.1, Occurred on:12-02-2019, 07:02:27 IST, Lat:14.5 N & Long: 85.7 E, Depth: 10 Km, Region: Bay Of Bengal

earthquake of Magnitude:5.1, Occurred on:12-02-2019, 07:02:27 IST, Lat:14.5 N & Long: 85.7 E, Depth: 10 Km, Region: Bay Of Bengal

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Media & BJP leaders please stop kite flying

A day after the #SupremeCourt said BSP chief #Mayawati may have to reimburse the public money spent on erecting her statues, she asked #BJP leaders and the media not to “distort” the observation of the court.

Marvellous Sthals/Memorials/Parks etc. built to honour

hitherto ignored great Sants, Gurus and great men born in

deprived and oppressed Dalit and OBCs are new grand identity

and tourist attraction of Uttar Pradesh which gives regular

income to government.

Humble request to media please don’t

distort oral observation of Hon’ble court.

Sure to get justice in

this matter also.

Media and BJP leaders please stop kite flying.

Lok Sabha passes Interim Budget

Union Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday that the Interim Budget for 2019-20 is aimed at overall development of the country so that each citizen can benefit.

Replying to a general discussion in the Lok Sabha, which passed the Interim Budget amid uproar and walk-out by Left and Congress, Goyal said: “The Budget provides for a substantial benefit to small and marginal farmers.”

“Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, 12 crore farmers with less than two hectares of land holding will get Rs 6,000 per year. The amount in three installments will go directly into their bank accounts,” he said amidst continuous slogan shouting by some opposition members.

Goyal said the scheme will be effective from December 1, 2018, and cost Rs 75,000 crore.

On the other hand, he said, the United Progressive Alliance government had waived off Rs 52,000 crore for farmers in a span of 10 years.

“The Congress-led UPA committed a breach of trust with the people of India. They did nothing for the poor,” said Goyal, adding that there is no accounting jugglery in the Budget for 2019-20 under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The overall expenditures in the Budget are at Rs 27.84 lakh crore, 13 per cent larger than the last years figure.

The expenditure for defence has been increased to Rs 3.05 lakh crore from Rs 2.85 lakh crore in 2018-19.Individual taxpayers having taxable annual income up to Rs 5 lakh will get full tax rebate.

All the applicable income tax rates have also kept unchanged.

Further, individuals having an annual income of Rs 6.5 lakh can also save income taxes, provided they invest a sum of up to Rs 1.5 lakh in prescribed savings schemes under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act such as Public Provident Fund (PPF), Equity-Linked Savings Scheme (ELSS), National Saving Certificates (NSC), insurance schemes, and so on.

An individual is also eligible to claim income tax deductions from of up to Rs 2 lakh on interest home loans, education loans, National Pension Scheme (NPS) contributions, medical insurance, medical expenditure on senior citizens.

Goyal also provided to increase the standard deduction by Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 from the present Rs 40,000.

Therefore, going forward, all the salaried persons can claim a standard deduction of Rs 50,000 on their respective taxable income.  — ANI

No-deal Brexit ‘could cost 600,000 jobs worldwide’, says study

A British departure from the European Union without a deal could put 600,000 jobs around the world at risk, with Germany the hardest hit, a study published on Monday found.

Researchers at the IWH institute in Halle, eastern Germany, examined what would happen if UK imports from the remaining EU fell 25 per cent after Brexit.

They reckoned that some 103,000 jobs would be under threat in Europe’s largest economy Germany and 50,000 in France.

Being affected by Brexit would not necessarily mean workers were laid off, the economists noted.

“Given the lack of skilled labour in many advanced economies, firms could also try to keep staff on by cutting hours or opening new markets,” they said.

It is so far uncertain whether Britain will strike a deal with the EU before its legally-binding exit date of March 29, after a huge majority of lawmakers last month voted down Prime Minister Theresa May’s painstakingly-negotiated accord with Brussels.

A “hard” departure without a deal would see tariffs imposed at the border, “tangling up global supply chains,” study co-author Oliver Holtemoeller said in a statement.

The economists focused only on trade in goods and services, leaving out other possible economic impacts of Brexit like changes to investment flows.

UK Police Check EU Criminal Database 539 Million Times a Year

“We are planning for the worst case scenario. If we leave the EU without a deal we have to fall back on contingency plans. We currently make 539 million checks a year on SIS,” Mr. Martin told reporters.

If an individual is arrested or their name comes up during a police investigation in the UK an officer will check the Police National Computer, which will automatically make a search of SIS if they are an EU national.

Currently 17 percent of people who end up in custody suites in the UK are foreign nationals, a rate that goes up to 27 percent in London.

Mr. Martin said at present it usually takes at most six days to find out if an EU national has a criminal record in their home country or on the continent but if there is a no-deal Brexit nations like France, Spain and Germany would become “Group Two” countries and he estimated it could take up to 66 days to get the desired information from their police databases.

He said if it took 66 days to find out from the Polish authorities — in the absence of SIS — if an arrested person was wanted for murder in Poland, there was a “very high possibility” they would abscond or be wrongly given bail.

Under UK law it is only possible to detain someone for 24 hours without charge, unless they are arrested for a terrorist offence in which case it is 14 days.

He said it was estimated the extra paperwork for police would cost £20 million a year and would take officers off the beat for thousands of hours.

Mr. Martin said the EU Arrest Warrant would also no longer work in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

PIL- Ballot Polling – Rs.10 Cr Fake Votes - Clean Elections  

February11, 2019 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com

World’s largest democracy is entitled to ‘Accurate Registration of VOTERS’ but in last elections 8-10 Crore More Voters Were Registered than Eligible Population of India.

Multi-Phase EVM Polling facilitated BOGUS VOTING – Same DayBallot Polling across India shall be INEXPENSIVE, AVOID BOGUS Voting, result available within 10-12 hours – save Directly Indirectly Rs.10,00,000 Cr.

Secured Ballots can be printed at Currency Printing Machines and Names of Candidates as Per Final List at each constituency PRINTED on other side. Or Leave Back Side Blank for VOTERS to Write SERIAL NUMBER of Preferred Candidate.

In democracy EVEN ONE VOTE could Bring Down a PM & HIS Cabinet, India Polled 10 Cr FRAUD Votes in 2014 Led to INC Losing over 161 Seats than 2009 – BSP total rout.

Party	2014	2009	Gain in 2014	Percent
BJP	171660230	78435381	93,224,849	119%
Congress	106935942	119111019	(-)12,175,077	(-) 10%
BSP	22,946,346	25,728,920	(-)2,782,574	(-) 10.8%

https://eci.gov.in/statistical-report/statistical-reports/

Year	Electors	5 Year Growth	Valid Votes	5 Year Growth
1989	498906129		309050495
1999	619536847	----	364437294	----
2004	671487930	51,951,083	389948330	25,511,036
2009	716985101	45,497,171	417159281	18,210,951
2014	834082814	117,097,713	547800004	130,640,723

India has 10 Cr More Voters Than Eligible.

As per 2011 Census – India’s resident population was 121 Cr Indians and in this 49.3 Cr Indians were less than 19 years of age –

-- since Voters Are Not Registered Immediately after acquiring Voting Age – There ought to have been 71 Cr approximate number of Votersin 2011 –

-- around 74 Cr Voters in 2013 end or Jan01, 2014, but

Election Commission had 83.4 Cr Voters on Voters List

--- nearly 10 Cr more than the eligible voters.

   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India

Structure of the population by Age Group (Census 2011)

Age group	Male	Female	Total	Percentage (%)
0–4	58,632,074	54,174,704	112,806,778	9.32
5–9	66,300,466	60,627,660	126,928,126	10.48
10–14	69,418,835	63,290,377	132,709,212	10.96
15–19	63,982,396	56,544,053	120,526,449	9.95

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