This report addresses: Female Crane Operators

Stakeholders seek women inclusion in politics, others

EXPERTS in the accounting profession, as well as players in the public and the private sectors, have underscored the need for women to be included in corporate leadership, politics, entrepreneurship and finance for societal and national growth.

The stakeholders argued that embracing gender equity is not a favour to women, insisting that it would benefit the nation and the world socially, politically and economically.

Getty Images/E+/SDI Productions

Men’s participation in postsecondary education and their completion rates have been front and center in higher education in recent weeks in both the United States and Canada.

A recent report released by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario showed that nearly one in four students who enrolled in a postsecondary program in Ontario failed to complete a credential after eight years.

Losing more jobs and hours of work than men in the 2020 lockdown, women roared back into paid employment in late 2020 to post a historic 61.9% participation rate in March this year.

The question is: will women return to the labour market with the same enthusiasm they demonstrated after the 2020 lockdowns?

This report addresses: Female Crane Operators

Title:

Content: The news is by your side.

Stakeholders seek women inclusion in politics, others

EXPERTS in the accounting profession, as well as players in the public and the private sectors, have underscored the need for women to be included in corporate leadership, politics, entrepreneurship and finance for societal and national growth.

They spoke at an event organised by the Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and ElectHER with the theme, ‘The Nexus Between Women Inclusion and Economic Performance,’ in Lagos.

The stakeholders argued that embracing gender equity is not a favour to women, insisting that it would benefit the nation and the world socially, politically and economically.

Those who addressed the gathering included Executive Vice-Chair, Emerging Africa Group Toyin F. Sanni, ACCA Executive Director for Markets Lucia Real-Martin and Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, FCCA, ACCA Nigeria leadership represented by Head of Nigeria Office, Mr. Tom Isibor, Ms Aderonke Adebule, Ibijoke Fakorede of ElectHer and others.

Sanni, who delivered the keynote speech at the event, said inclusion is the practice of consciously providing everyone, with equal access to opportunities and resources, irrespective of such divisive categorisation.

But she lamented that many women face serious obstacles in accessing financial services, especially in the African markets.

She mentioned a MCKinsey study, which claimed that in the private sector alone, women globally occupy less than a third of senior and middle management positions.

According to her, women in the financial services industry make up about 30 per cent of the workforce at the senior management level in Africa.

The Executive Vice-Chair, Emerging Africa Group said: “This is bested only by the healthcare and TMT (Telecoms, Media and Technology) industries, which have higher representations of 39 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.”

Sanni noted that women do 2.6 times more unpaid care and domestic work than men, adding that globally, only one in three businesses are owned by women.

The Sub-Saharan Africa, she said, is blessed with 29 per cent rate of women entrepreneurs.

Sanni lamented that in many Africa countries, most female-led enterprises were small businesses with little opportunity for growth.

On political inclusion, she said women serve as Heads of State or Government in only 22 countries. According to her, 119 countries have never had a woman leader, stressing that only 21 per cent of government ministers are women, with only 14 countries having achieved 50 per cent or more women in cabinets.

Sanni noted that despite the clamouring for inclusion, all gender bills proposed on the floors of the Nigerian House of Representatives and Senate were rejected by the National Assembly comprising 95.9 per cent male representation.

Fakorede of ElectHer said Nigeria ranks 184 out of 187 countries with women in parliament, quoting the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

She noted that less than five per cent of Nigerian lawmakers are women.

According to her, the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill has been rejected more than three times by the National assembly.

Fakorede said the top 10 countries with good human development index are countries with high women representation in their national parliament.

She said her organisation, ElectHer, would support women aspiring for political offices through funding, special projects, programmes and behavioural change communications to realise their ambitions, pleading with Nigerians to obtain their voters cards to vote for their preferred candidates in 2023 elections.

Oyedele, in his remarks at the event, said women are 47 per cent more likely to suffer severe injuries in car crashes because safety features are designed for men and noting that women are likely to experience more medical side effects because drugs are designed for male bodies.

He said women globally own less than 20 per cent of land and 33,000 girls become child brides every day, thereby making it harder for them to achieve their full potentials.

According to him, a woman is less likely to default on a loan facility and yet, female entrepreneurs get less funding for business than their male contemporaries.

“When we exclude women in economic activities, policy formulation, governance, leadership, access to education, job and career opportunities, we limit our possibilities.

“From an economic perspective, when women earn income, it means better child nutrition, health and education. I do not think that women are really asking for any special treatment, they are rather asking for equal opportunity to be considered based on their competence and capacity,” he said.

Real-Martin said there is an economic, social and political imperative to achieving gender parity – as well as a green imperative.
She said governments’ role is essential in achieving change to achieve inclusion.

“We’ve called on governments for a more inclusive approach to economic recovery, urging the use of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) to ensure that women and men benefit equally from the economic recovery out of Covid-19, and to guarantee a stop to inequality,” she said.

Isibor, who said he was trained from childhood to imbibe inclusion in his ways of life, said the Nigeria ACCA Office decided to support the programme since inclusion is topical in the realization of United Nations (UN) SDGs.

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Women are more likely than men to complete their academic programs.

Getty Images/E+/SDI Productions

Men’s participation in postsecondary education and their completion rates have been front and center in higher education in recent weeks in both the United States and Canada.

A recent report released by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario showed that nearly one in four students who enrolled in a postsecondary program in Ontario failed to complete a credential after eight years. However, when accounting for gender, men’s noncompletion of a credential was over one in three.

Similar to the findings from Canada, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center in the United States released data on completion rates, which showed that only 58.4 percent of men completed their program within six years, while women completed their programs at a higher rate, 65.6 percent. Leaving aside the different definition of completion (six versus eight years) used by the two studies, the gender divide is clear and should be concerning to those who work in higher education.

Compounding the issue of completion is the general lag in participation in higher education among men in both countries. A 2002 Statistics Canada report showed that men were less likely to enroll in postsecondary education over all, with 1.2 million women enrolled, compared with 930,000 men. In the United States, a similar gap emerges: a 2021 report showed that women account for 59.5 percent of all college students, while men accounted for just over 40 percent of enrollment.

I am cautious to make an overgeneralization, as men are still the majority in science, technology, engineering and math programs, despite incentives to improve gender diversity. It is quite clear that there are still massive gaps for women in higher education, especially at leadership levels. But we have gender issues on campus. We must and should celebrate the fact that women access higher education, and thus their career outcomes have improved over time, but we need to think about how we address men’s comparative lack of success.

As a student affairs professional and dean of students working in higher education, success of all students is front and center for me. I fundamentally believe that each person, if admitted to a program, should have the opportunity to succeed. Consequently, given the facts, if we as a profession are not paying attention to the gender gap in our colleges and universities, I believe we are failing to live up to our professional standards.

So what do we need to do? I have some thoughts.

  1. Look at the data.

I am jealous of some of the range of data sources our neighbors to the south have on their campuses. In Canada, we are severely limited by the data we capture beyond gender that will help us get into the weeds of the matter.

That said, it is not just the question of men, but also which men and from what background are struggling. Is your campus capturing and tracking through student information systems or CRMs the right information so you can target interventions? It might be socioeconomic, race or sexual orientation when you dive down further to work with staff and faculty on support systems or programs on campus.

  1. Address uneven professional development and awareness.

Despite various efforts related to raising the level of preparedness of the profession when it comes to serving men, I believe there is still a gap in the understanding of how the student affairs profession might address this issue.

While I know there have been efforts made by NASPA, with the Men’s and Masculinities Knowledge Communities and innovative men’s support programming at the University of Vermont, there are massive gaps in research, and subsequently programming, related to men, especially on campuses in Canada. Frankly, from a dollars-and-cents perspective, we aren’t going to solve retention problems without addressing the men’s problem on campus.

  1. Discuss men’s identity.

Social media has seen an explosion of various examples of “alpha males” as a response to what is a purported and false premise: the feminization of men’s identity. The allure of a return to dominant male role models does a disservice to men. First, it dissuades men from seeking help when they need it, because asking for help may be seen as be a sign of weakness or not what “real” men do. Additionally, this toxic form of masculinity increases gender-based violence, which is a known issue on campus.

Consequently, we need to weave in new student-focused programming that advances conversations on healthy and contemporary masculine identity.

Student affairs professionals in North America are known for their roles in building community, solving problems and empowering student success. The gap in men’s achievement on campus is persistent problem that needs to be acknowledged by the profession. Through data, professional development and addressing the impacts of toxic male identities, I am confident we can move the needle.

Joe Henry is the dean of students at King’s University College at Western University. You can follow him at @askdeanjoe on Instagram and X.

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Australia’s working women are productivity gold. Here are five ways to help them thrive

Elizabeth Hill and Rae Cooper

Many are exhausted from Covid-induced stress. But our labour market is not yet fit for purpose

Australian women are weary and whiplashed. Weary from two years of intense unpaid care work, including months of remote schooling their kids, and whiplashed from two severe periods of job and hours loss. As the Covid recovery picks up speed, many women are wondering what work in 2022 might look like. Employers should be too.

Losing more jobs and hours of work than men in the 2020 lockdown, women roared back into paid employment in late 2020 to post a historic 61.9% participation rate in March this year. But it wasn’t too long before Delta emerged, and the 2021 lockdowns hit women even harder: 61.5% of jobs lost between June and October. The question is: will women return to the labour market with the same enthusiasm they demonstrated after the 2020 lockdowns?

Many are exhausted from months of pandemic-induced stress, including uncertainty about the health of family and friends, income loss, intensified care responsibilities and remote schooling. Frontline workers in health, retail and other essential services have been more exposed to the virus and have had to negotiate difficult and frequently changing public health orders and work conditions. Others are dazed by the on-again, off-again nature of their employment under lockdown.

Australia has the most highly educated and skilled prime age female labour force in the OECD. Last month the ABS reported 50% of young women aged 25 to 34 have a university degree.

This is productivity gold.

Governments and employers are starting to prioritise women’s labour force participation, seeing it as the most effective way to boost productivity and to drive the Covid recovery.

But our labour markets, our employment options and our care systems are not yet fit for purpose.

The pandemic has shone a spotlight on many of the barriers and obstacles that limit women’s ability to take part in work at a level that reflects their skills and aspirations. It has also provided an opportunity to experiment with new ways of working previously thought impossible. With the end of the year upon us, it seems that rather than a “great resignation”, many Australian women are engaging in the “great contemplation” – how to work, care and survive, and perhaps even thrive in 2022?

Rather than put the onus on women to solve this problem, we propose five urgent things that business and governments can do right now to supercharge women’s participation in work in 2022, to build an inclusive recovery that delivers economic security and wellbeing to all.

First, provide the high-quality flexibility that employees want and need to thrive. Employees have been crying out for the high-quality flexible work that makes their job fit with the rest of their lives. Working from home during the pandemic was the first taste many had of how flexibility might work. Previously some employers have resisted, or their employees have been too afraid to ask.

Lockdown mandated work from home for about one-third of the labour force. The sky did not fall in!

Initial data shows productivity remained high and many workers were more satisfied. But we can’t just assume remote or hybrid working will make work more equitable. Evidence shows that when done poorly, it can embed new gendered inequalities. To avoid this, we need carefully designed high-quality flexible options that support all workers to maintain their career development.

Now is the time to be asking employees about the types of flexibility they want to make use of and to put in place the systems and the technology that will make it possible.

Second, build good secure jobs into the organisation, your supply chain and across the economy. Our research shows that women want and need secure and predictable hours to make life work, they want more hours and to work in higher skilled and better paid roles. Yes, they want flexibility, but they want control over the hours they work to schedule essential care support for children or aged parents. Women will flourish in good secure roles.

Third, design mutually supportive work and care systems. When we survey and run focus groups with women, they tell us they struggle to access the high-quality care supports they need to fully take part in work at the level and hours they prefer. Some young women tell us being a working parent looks too hard and had put off or changed their minds altogether about having kids.

Governments and employers wanting to prioritise women’s workforce participation will have to attend to both sides of the work/care equation if they are to improve women’s labour supply and fully access this talent pool.

Care services are essential economic infrastructure, an investment in human capital, in future economic prosperity and community wellbeing. They also support family formation. Governments that rethink finance and delivery of these essential public goods as part of the Covid recovery will reap significant dividends. Employers who implement generous care policies will too.

Fourth, if you really value women, pay them properly and provide them with a career path. Australia has one of the most gender-segmented labour markets in the OECD. The fact than men dominate in sectors which are more secure and highly paid and women are concentrated in sectors with high levels of insecurity, low pay and poor career paths is one of the reasons for our stubbornly high gender pay gaps. These silos need to be broken open with good jobs, career paths and economic security available for all.

Fifth, we urgently need to build respect for women at work. Women have said “enough” to ongoing harassment, disrespect and violence. Kate Jenkins’ 2020 Respect@Work report and the fierce advocacy of young leaders like Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame have made it clear that bad practice is too common. It hurts those who are targeted, and it damages economic security. Business and political leaders must step up, take responsibility and act. This must happen now.

Action by business and government in these five vital areas will lay the foundation to “build back better” for gender equality in 2022.

Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill and Professor Rae Cooper are members of the University of Sydney’s gender equality in working life research initiative


This report addresses: Female Crane Operators

Stakeholders seek women inclusion in politics, others

EXPERTS in the accounting profession, as well as players in the public and the private sectors, have underscored the need for women to be included in corporate leadership, politics, entrepreneurship and finance for societal and national growth.

The stakeholders argued that embracing gender equity is not a favour to women, insisting that it would benefit the nation and the world socially, politically and economically.

Getty Images/E+/SDI Productions

Men’s participation in postsecondary education and their completion rates have been front and center in higher education in recent weeks in both the United States and Canada.

A recent report released by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario showed that nearly one in four students who enrolled in a postsecondary program in Ontario failed to complete a credential after eight years.

Losing more jobs and hours of work than men in the 2020 lockdown, women roared back into paid employment in late 2020 to post a historic 61.9% participation rate in March this year.

The question is: will women return to the labour market with the same enthusiasm they demonstrated after the 2020 lockdowns?

This report addresses: Female Crane Operators

Title:

Content: The news is by your side.

Stakeholders seek women inclusion in politics, others

EXPERTS in the accounting profession, as well as players in the public and the private sectors, have underscored the need for women to be included in corporate leadership, politics, entrepreneurship and finance for societal and national growth.

They spoke at an event organised by the Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and ElectHER with the theme, ‘The Nexus Between Women Inclusion and Economic Performance,’ in Lagos.

The stakeholders argued that embracing gender equity is not a favour to women, insisting that it would benefit the nation and the world socially, politically and economically.

Those who addressed the gathering included Executive Vice-Chair, Emerging Africa Group Toyin F. Sanni, ACCA Executive Director for Markets Lucia Real-Martin and Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, FCCA, ACCA Nigeria leadership represented by Head of Nigeria Office, Mr. Tom Isibor, Ms Aderonke Adebule, Ibijoke Fakorede of ElectHer and others.

Sanni, who delivered the keynote speech at the event, said inclusion is the practice of consciously providing everyone, with equal access to opportunities and resources, irrespective of such divisive categorisation.

But she lamented that many women face serious obstacles in accessing financial services, especially in the African markets.

She mentioned a MCKinsey study, which claimed that in the private sector alone, women globally occupy less than a third of senior and middle management positions.

According to her, women in the financial services industry make up about 30 per cent of the workforce at the senior management level in Africa.

The Executive Vice-Chair, Emerging Africa Group said: “This is bested only by the healthcare and TMT (Telecoms, Media and Technology) industries, which have higher representations of 39 per cent and 33 per cent respectively.”

Sanni noted that women do 2.6 times more unpaid care and domestic work than men, adding that globally, only one in three businesses are owned by women.

The Sub-Saharan Africa, she said, is blessed with 29 per cent rate of women entrepreneurs.

Sanni lamented that in many Africa countries, most female-led enterprises were small businesses with little opportunity for growth.

On political inclusion, she said women serve as Heads of State or Government in only 22 countries. According to her, 119 countries have never had a woman leader, stressing that only 21 per cent of government ministers are women, with only 14 countries having achieved 50 per cent or more women in cabinets.

Sanni noted that despite the clamouring for inclusion, all gender bills proposed on the floors of the Nigerian House of Representatives and Senate were rejected by the National Assembly comprising 95.9 per cent male representation.

Fakorede of ElectHer said Nigeria ranks 184 out of 187 countries with women in parliament, quoting the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

She noted that less than five per cent of Nigerian lawmakers are women.

According to her, the Gender and Equal Opportunity Bill has been rejected more than three times by the National assembly.

Fakorede said the top 10 countries with good human development index are countries with high women representation in their national parliament.

She said her organisation, ElectHer, would support women aspiring for political offices through funding, special projects, programmes and behavioural change communications to realise their ambitions, pleading with Nigerians to obtain their voters cards to vote for their preferred candidates in 2023 elections.

Oyedele, in his remarks at the event, said women are 47 per cent more likely to suffer severe injuries in car crashes because safety features are designed for men and noting that women are likely to experience more medical side effects because drugs are designed for male bodies.

He said women globally own less than 20 per cent of land and 33,000 girls become child brides every day, thereby making it harder for them to achieve their full potentials.

According to him, a woman is less likely to default on a loan facility and yet, female entrepreneurs get less funding for business than their male contemporaries.

“When we exclude women in economic activities, policy formulation, governance, leadership, access to education, job and career opportunities, we limit our possibilities.

“From an economic perspective, when women earn income, it means better child nutrition, health and education. I do not think that women are really asking for any special treatment, they are rather asking for equal opportunity to be considered based on their competence and capacity,” he said.

Real-Martin said there is an economic, social and political imperative to achieving gender parity – as well as a green imperative.
She said governments’ role is essential in achieving change to achieve inclusion.

“We’ve called on governments for a more inclusive approach to economic recovery, urging the use of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) to ensure that women and men benefit equally from the economic recovery out of Covid-19, and to guarantee a stop to inequality,” she said.

Isibor, who said he was trained from childhood to imbibe inclusion in his ways of life, said the Nigeria ACCA Office decided to support the programme since inclusion is topical in the realization of United Nations (UN) SDGs.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Title:

Content: You have /5 articles left.
Sign up for a free account or log in.

Women are more likely than men to complete their academic programs.

Getty Images/E+/SDI Productions

Men’s participation in postsecondary education and their completion rates have been front and center in higher education in recent weeks in both the United States and Canada.

A recent report released by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario showed that nearly one in four students who enrolled in a postsecondary program in Ontario failed to complete a credential after eight years. However, when accounting for gender, men’s noncompletion of a credential was over one in three.

Similar to the findings from Canada, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center in the United States released data on completion rates, which showed that only 58.4 percent of men completed their program within six years, while women completed their programs at a higher rate, 65.6 percent. Leaving aside the different definition of completion (six versus eight years) used by the two studies, the gender divide is clear and should be concerning to those who work in higher education.

Compounding the issue of completion is the general lag in participation in higher education among men in both countries. A 2002 Statistics Canada report showed that men were less likely to enroll in postsecondary education over all, with 1.2 million women enrolled, compared with 930,000 men. In the United States, a similar gap emerges: a 2021 report showed that women account for 59.5 percent of all college students, while men accounted for just over 40 percent of enrollment.

I am cautious to make an overgeneralization, as men are still the majority in science, technology, engineering and math programs, despite incentives to improve gender diversity. It is quite clear that there are still massive gaps for women in higher education, especially at leadership levels. But we have gender issues on campus. We must and should celebrate the fact that women access higher education, and thus their career outcomes have improved over time, but we need to think about how we address men’s comparative lack of success.

As a student affairs professional and dean of students working in higher education, success of all students is front and center for me. I fundamentally believe that each person, if admitted to a program, should have the opportunity to succeed. Consequently, given the facts, if we as a profession are not paying attention to the gender gap in our colleges and universities, I believe we are failing to live up to our professional standards.

So what do we need to do? I have some thoughts.

  1. Look at the data.

I am jealous of some of the range of data sources our neighbors to the south have on their campuses. In Canada, we are severely limited by the data we capture beyond gender that will help us get into the weeds of the matter.

That said, it is not just the question of men, but also which men and from what background are struggling. Is your campus capturing and tracking through student information systems or CRMs the right information so you can target interventions? It might be socioeconomic, race or sexual orientation when you dive down further to work with staff and faculty on support systems or programs on campus.

  1. Address uneven professional development and awareness.

Despite various efforts related to raising the level of preparedness of the profession when it comes to serving men, I believe there is still a gap in the understanding of how the student affairs profession might address this issue.

While I know there have been efforts made by NASPA, with the Men’s and Masculinities Knowledge Communities and innovative men’s support programming at the University of Vermont, there are massive gaps in research, and subsequently programming, related to men, especially on campuses in Canada. Frankly, from a dollars-and-cents perspective, we aren’t going to solve retention problems without addressing the men’s problem on campus.

  1. Discuss men’s identity.

Social media has seen an explosion of various examples of “alpha males” as a response to what is a purported and false premise: the feminization of men’s identity. The allure of a return to dominant male role models does a disservice to men. First, it dissuades men from seeking help when they need it, because asking for help may be seen as be a sign of weakness or not what “real” men do. Additionally, this toxic form of masculinity increases gender-based violence, which is a known issue on campus.

Consequently, we need to weave in new student-focused programming that advances conversations on healthy and contemporary masculine identity.

Student affairs professionals in North America are known for their roles in building community, solving problems and empowering student success. The gap in men’s achievement on campus is persistent problem that needs to be acknowledged by the profession. Through data, professional development and addressing the impacts of toxic male identities, I am confident we can move the needle.

Joe Henry is the dean of students at King’s University College at Western University. You can follow him at @askdeanjoe on Instagram and X.

Next Story

Written By

More from Views

Title:

Content: Skip to main contentSkip to navigation

Australia’s working women are productivity gold. Here are five ways to help them thrive

Elizabeth Hill and Rae Cooper

Many are exhausted from Covid-induced stress. But our labour market is not yet fit for purpose

Australian women are weary and whiplashed. Weary from two years of intense unpaid care work, including months of remote schooling their kids, and whiplashed from two severe periods of job and hours loss. As the Covid recovery picks up speed, many women are wondering what work in 2022 might look like. Employers should be too.

Losing more jobs and hours of work than men in the 2020 lockdown, women roared back into paid employment in late 2020 to post a historic 61.9% participation rate in March this year. But it wasn’t too long before Delta emerged, and the 2021 lockdowns hit women even harder: 61.5% of jobs lost between June and October. The question is: will women return to the labour market with the same enthusiasm they demonstrated after the 2020 lockdowns?

Many are exhausted from months of pandemic-induced stress, including uncertainty about the health of family and friends, income loss, intensified care responsibilities and remote schooling. Frontline workers in health, retail and other essential services have been more exposed to the virus and have had to negotiate difficult and frequently changing public health orders and work conditions. Others are dazed by the on-again, off-again nature of their employment under lockdown.

Australia has the most highly educated and skilled prime age female labour force in the OECD. Last month the ABS reported 50% of young women aged 25 to 34 have a university degree.

This is productivity gold.

Governments and employers are starting to prioritise women’s labour force participation, seeing it as the most effective way to boost productivity and to drive the Covid recovery.

But our labour markets, our employment options and our care systems are not yet fit for purpose.

The pandemic has shone a spotlight on many of the barriers and obstacles that limit women’s ability to take part in work at a level that reflects their skills and aspirations. It has also provided an opportunity to experiment with new ways of working previously thought impossible. With the end of the year upon us, it seems that rather than a “great resignation”, many Australian women are engaging in the “great contemplation” – how to work, care and survive, and perhaps even thrive in 2022?

Rather than put the onus on women to solve this problem, we propose five urgent things that business and governments can do right now to supercharge women’s participation in work in 2022, to build an inclusive recovery that delivers economic security and wellbeing to all.

First, provide the high-quality flexibility that employees want and need to thrive. Employees have been crying out for the high-quality flexible work that makes their job fit with the rest of their lives. Working from home during the pandemic was the first taste many had of how flexibility might work. Previously some employers have resisted, or their employees have been too afraid to ask.

Lockdown mandated work from home for about one-third of the labour force. The sky did not fall in!

Initial data shows productivity remained high and many workers were more satisfied. But we can’t just assume remote or hybrid working will make work more equitable. Evidence shows that when done poorly, it can embed new gendered inequalities. To avoid this, we need carefully designed high-quality flexible options that support all workers to maintain their career development.

Now is the time to be asking employees about the types of flexibility they want to make use of and to put in place the systems and the technology that will make it possible.

Second, build good secure jobs into the organisation, your supply chain and across the economy. Our research shows that women want and need secure and predictable hours to make life work, they want more hours and to work in higher skilled and better paid roles. Yes, they want flexibility, but they want control over the hours they work to schedule essential care support for children or aged parents. Women will flourish in good secure roles.

Third, design mutually supportive work and care systems. When we survey and run focus groups with women, they tell us they struggle to access the high-quality care supports they need to fully take part in work at the level and hours they prefer. Some young women tell us being a working parent looks too hard and had put off or changed their minds altogether about having kids.

Governments and employers wanting to prioritise women’s workforce participation will have to attend to both sides of the work/care equation if they are to improve women’s labour supply and fully access this talent pool.

Care services are essential economic infrastructure, an investment in human capital, in future economic prosperity and community wellbeing. They also support family formation. Governments that rethink finance and delivery of these essential public goods as part of the Covid recovery will reap significant dividends. Employers who implement generous care policies will too.

Fourth, if you really value women, pay them properly and provide them with a career path. Australia has one of the most gender-segmented labour markets in the OECD. The fact than men dominate in sectors which are more secure and highly paid and women are concentrated in sectors with high levels of insecurity, low pay and poor career paths is one of the reasons for our stubbornly high gender pay gaps. These silos need to be broken open with good jobs, career paths and economic security available for all.

Fifth, we urgently need to build respect for women at work. Women have said “enough” to ongoing harassment, disrespect and violence. Kate Jenkins’ 2020 Respect@Work report and the fierce advocacy of young leaders like Brittany Higgins and Grace Tame have made it clear that bad practice is too common. It hurts those who are targeted, and it damages economic security. Business and political leaders must step up, take responsibility and act. This must happen now.

Action by business and government in these five vital areas will lay the foundation to “build back better” for gender equality in 2022.

Associate Professor Elizabeth Hill and Professor Rae Cooper are members of the University of Sydney’s gender equality in working life research initiative


This report addresses: Female Crane Operators

She highlights that this shift has been the result of consistent efforts, including investment in the leadership training of women at TfW, increased collaboration with trade unions to encourage more women into driver and engineering roles, and focus on improving well-being through initiatives like menopause workshops.

"Women are now better represented in higher-paid positions and both organisations have increased the proportion of women working for them."

According to Ms Daly, this has not been a superficial change.

Empowering women in commercial driving

    Rooted in the CTA's initiatives to train and upskill women in driving trucks and other commercial vehicles, Selesho's opportunity underscores the importance of programmes aimed at empowering women in the logistics sector.

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    The Courier Guy empowers female driver with year-long contract in Johannesburg

    Nomathemba Selesho has been awarded a one-year contract to provide first and last-mile services in and around Johannesburg, as part of a new collaboration between The Courier Guy, Hollards Commercial Transport AcademyCTA + Mercedes Benz commercial transport division.

“Increasing the visibility of women and their roles in leadership is vital to expanding the talent pool – as well as in gaining access to the innovation, creativity, and risk management that more diverse leadership would provide.”

The President of IAWA, Bobbi Wells, said, “Women report they are struggling throughout their careers in today’s aviation culture.

New report exposes gender gap in aviation industry

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A new survey has revealed that 59 per cent of women working in leadership positions in aviation have considered leaving the industry.

This report addresses: Female Crane Operators

Title:

Content: The gender pay gap at Transport for Wales (TfW) has been reduced according to a new report.

TfW says the recruitment of 22 more female train drivers in the year 2022/23 has contributed to this reduction.

Consequently, the median gender pay gaps for Transport for Wales (TfW) Rail and TfW Group now stand at 16.2 per cent and 14.1 per cent respectively, a reduction of 1.2 and 18.7 percentage points.

Higher-salaried roles within the organisation have seen an increase in female recruits, helping to balance the proportion of colleagues across all salary levels.

As of April 2023, there were 76 female drivers, a significant increase from the previous April where only 54 positions were occupied by women.

This accounts for 9.3 per cent of all drivers compared to 7.4 per cent in 2022.

Women's representation in TfW’s new apprenticeships sees a similar upward trend, increasing from 14.3 per cent the preceding year to 42.9 per cent in 2023.

Marie Daly, chief customer and culture officer at Transport for Wales, said: "I am delighted to report that our gender pay gaps have narrowed once again.

"Women are now better represented in higher-paid positions and both organisations have increased the proportion of women working for them."

According to Ms Daly, this has not been a superficial change.

She highlights that this shift has been the result of consistent efforts, including investment in the leadership training of women at TfW, increased collaboration with trade unions to encourage more women into driver and engineering roles, and focus on improving well-being through initiatives like menopause workshops.

In the next year, TfW plans to continue its drive to improve opportunities for women which include publishing key performance indicators to measure female recruitment, offering greater secondment opportunities, reducing unconscious bias, and improved engagement with the communities they serve to understand how barriers to employment and retention can be further reduced for women from underrepresented backgrounds.

To learn more about TfW’s initiatives towards reducing the gender pay gap, the full report can be accessed via their website.

What are construction and maritime companies doing to promote and aid women in the field?

create leadership programs for women
professional development

What are governments doing to promote and aid women in construction or maritime industries?

How has the gender balance in the construction and maritime industries changed over recent decades?

How has the level of discrimination for female employees in the construction industry changed over recent decades?

What are construction and maritime companies doing to promote and aid women in the field?

appoint women to traditionally male roles

commit to gender equality in hiring practices

Why are construction and maritime industries more popular with women nowadays?

Title:

Content: Logistics & Transport News South Africa

Subscribe

Elections 2024

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    Search jobs

    The Courier Guy empowers female driver with year-long contract in Johannesburg

    Nomathemba Selesho has been awarded a one-year contract to provide first and last-mile services in and around Johannesburg, as part of a new collaboration between The Courier Guy, Hollards Commercial Transport AcademyCTA + Mercedes Benz commercial transport division.
    Source: Supplied

    Joining The Courier Guy’s Johannesburg truck fleet, Selesho will be delivering packages to customers in a brand-new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van clad, in The Courier Guy’s colours.

    “Nomathemba has spent time at our operation already to understand our business in-depth, as well as the technologies that we use and how we engage with our customers,” says Craig Pitchers, chief operating officer at The Courier Guy.

    Empowering women in commercial driving

    Rooted in the CTA's initiatives to train and upskill women in driving trucks and other commercial vehicles, Selesho's opportunity underscores the importance of programmes aimed at empowering women in the logistics sector.

    "The CTA is responsible for these ladies’ development through various programmes. And when the opportunity arose we started engaging with The Courier Guy and we’re grateful for this opportunity afforded to Nomathemba to develop her business," says Kas Govender, the executive director: HR and compliance at the CTA.

    The CTA has been upskilling commercial drivers for the sector since 2015, having developed 563 commercial drivers to date - 431 of whom are women.

    Candidates were invited to participate in the CTA’s Women Inspiring Women in Logistics Programme, and shortlisted from there. The Courier Guy chose the final candidate, Selesho, who now has the opportunity for long-term personal and professional growth working with one of South Africa's leading brands. “And as The Courier Guy expands, those opportunities will present themselves to her to expand her business,” says Pitchers.

    Enterprise development and gender equality

    “This initiative is in line with our Enterprise Development Programme and a significant step towards supporting entrepreneurship and advancing gender equality in business,” adds Robert Hoffmann, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.

    “With our partners, we have taken a significant step towards supporting the growth and success of female entrepreneurs and we look forward to seeing the impact of this initiative in the years to come. Female entrepreneurs and driving go way back considering that it was Bertha Benz who is well known for the first long-distance drive in the world in 1888.”

    "I am looking forward to growth in the courier industry, a long-term relationship with The Courier Guy and growing my fleet with them. Winning the Mercedes-Benz van is indeed a dream come true for me. I have never won anything in my life and I feel very proud and excited," she says.

    "I think what they’ve given me is an opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you to all the stakeholders; I am so grateful and humbled," she says. "I’m hoping by the time the 12 months ends I’m going to have more vehicles and my business can extend from there."

    The Courier Guy currently operates a fleet of 90 trucks around the country. This is split among four-tonne, eight-tonne and fourteen-tonne vehicles. Its depots operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while linehaul services between major cities run Monday to Friday. While Selesho will be responsible for deliveries in and around Johannesburg, she joins with an opportunity to renew her contract after a year and to keep growing her business while driving the first Mercedes-Benz van in The Courier Guy fleet.

    “We look forward to seeing how the next 12 months unfold and the success that Nomathemba will bring to herself as well as The Courier Guy. We wish her all the best,” Pitchers concludes.

    Let's do Biz

What are construction and maritime companies doing to promote and aid women in the field?

appoint women to traditionally male roles

Title:

Content: New report exposes gender gap in aviation industry

Kindly share this story:

A new survey has revealed that 59 per cent of women working in leadership positions in aviation have considered leaving the industry.

The report by global management consulting firm, Oliver Wyman, and the International Aviation Women Association, said that women were more likely to be pushed out because of negative experiences, while men who leave the industry were more often pulled away by the lure of better opportunities.

The study surveyed 450 aviation professionals in front-line, mid-level, and senior leadership (75 per cent women), supplemented by interviews, to understand why there were few female leaders in aviation – and what needed to be done to make progress in increasing that number.

The survey found that aviation had not made progress in addressing its gender gap at the top, as a third of the women surveyed reported taking longer to reach leadership positions relative to their peer group.

By comparison, 92 per cent of men surveyed advanced more quickly or at the same pace as their peer group.

In addition, men in the industry broadly believed their companies were doing a good job of offering effective and accessible programmes to promote gender equity. Women, on the other hand, did not find these programmes as effective or easy to access.

Vice President at Oliver Wyman, Oksana Bardygula, said, “The aviation industry is missing out on critical leadership talent.

“We are already at a tipping point with talent shortages across the industry in various fields, from pilots to mechanics.

“Increasing the visibility of women and their roles in leadership is vital to expanding the talent pool – as well as in gaining access to the innovation, creativity, and risk management that more diverse leadership would provide.”

The President of IAWA, Bobbi Wells, said, “Women report they are struggling throughout their careers in today’s aviation culture.

“Our study shows relative to men in the industry, women report more negative experiences, slower career advancement, and fewer opportunities to take on senior or challenging roles.

“It’s time for aviation leaders to change these dynamics if we are to attract and retain the most talented workers, regardless of gender.”

The study focused on identifying areas where the industry must make meaningful and lasting change to address the gender gap.

Copyright PUNCH

All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

Contact: [email protected]

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Welcome to our newsletter family.

You are all set!


This report addresses: Female Crane Operators

She highlights that this shift has been the result of consistent efforts, including investment in the leadership training of women at TfW, increased collaboration with trade unions to encourage more women into driver and engineering roles, and focus on improving well-being through initiatives like menopause workshops.

"Women are now better represented in higher-paid positions and both organisations have increased the proportion of women working for them."

According to Ms Daly, this has not been a superficial change.

Empowering women in commercial driving

    Rooted in the CTA's initiatives to train and upskill women in driving trucks and other commercial vehicles, Selesho's opportunity underscores the importance of programmes aimed at empowering women in the logistics sector.

sona.co.za

Advertise your job ad
    Search jobs

    The Courier Guy empowers female driver with year-long contract in Johannesburg

    Nomathemba Selesho has been awarded a one-year contract to provide first and last-mile services in and around Johannesburg, as part of a new collaboration between The Courier Guy, Hollards Commercial Transport AcademyCTA + Mercedes Benz commercial transport division.

“Increasing the visibility of women and their roles in leadership is vital to expanding the talent pool – as well as in gaining access to the innovation, creativity, and risk management that more diverse leadership would provide.”

The President of IAWA, Bobbi Wells, said, “Women report they are struggling throughout their careers in today’s aviation culture.

New report exposes gender gap in aviation industry

Kindly share this story:

A new survey has revealed that 59 per cent of women working in leadership positions in aviation have considered leaving the industry.

This report addresses: Female Crane Operators

Title:

Content: The gender pay gap at Transport for Wales (TfW) has been reduced according to a new report.

TfW says the recruitment of 22 more female train drivers in the year 2022/23 has contributed to this reduction.

Consequently, the median gender pay gaps for Transport for Wales (TfW) Rail and TfW Group now stand at 16.2 per cent and 14.1 per cent respectively, a reduction of 1.2 and 18.7 percentage points.

Higher-salaried roles within the organisation have seen an increase in female recruits, helping to balance the proportion of colleagues across all salary levels.

As of April 2023, there were 76 female drivers, a significant increase from the previous April where only 54 positions were occupied by women.

This accounts for 9.3 per cent of all drivers compared to 7.4 per cent in 2022.

Women's representation in TfW’s new apprenticeships sees a similar upward trend, increasing from 14.3 per cent the preceding year to 42.9 per cent in 2023.

Marie Daly, chief customer and culture officer at Transport for Wales, said: "I am delighted to report that our gender pay gaps have narrowed once again.

"Women are now better represented in higher-paid positions and both organisations have increased the proportion of women working for them."

According to Ms Daly, this has not been a superficial change.

She highlights that this shift has been the result of consistent efforts, including investment in the leadership training of women at TfW, increased collaboration with trade unions to encourage more women into driver and engineering roles, and focus on improving well-being through initiatives like menopause workshops.

In the next year, TfW plans to continue its drive to improve opportunities for women which include publishing key performance indicators to measure female recruitment, offering greater secondment opportunities, reducing unconscious bias, and improved engagement with the communities they serve to understand how barriers to employment and retention can be further reduced for women from underrepresented backgrounds.

To learn more about TfW’s initiatives towards reducing the gender pay gap, the full report can be accessed via their website.

What are construction and maritime companies doing to promote and aid women in the field?

create leadership programs for women
professional development

What are governments doing to promote and aid women in construction or maritime industries?

How has the gender balance in the construction and maritime industries changed over recent decades?

How has the level of discrimination for female employees in the construction industry changed over recent decades?

What are construction and maritime companies doing to promote and aid women in the field?

appoint women to traditionally male roles

commit to gender equality in hiring practices

Why are construction and maritime industries more popular with women nowadays?

Title:

Content: Logistics & Transport News South Africa

Subscribe

Elections 2024

Ebrahim Harvey walks us through the systematic collapse of South Africa.

sona.co.za

Advertise your job ad
    Search jobs

    The Courier Guy empowers female driver with year-long contract in Johannesburg

    Nomathemba Selesho has been awarded a one-year contract to provide first and last-mile services in and around Johannesburg, as part of a new collaboration between The Courier Guy, Hollards Commercial Transport AcademyCTA + Mercedes Benz commercial transport division.
    Source: Supplied

    Joining The Courier Guy’s Johannesburg truck fleet, Selesho will be delivering packages to customers in a brand-new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van clad, in The Courier Guy’s colours.

    “Nomathemba has spent time at our operation already to understand our business in-depth, as well as the technologies that we use and how we engage with our customers,” says Craig Pitchers, chief operating officer at The Courier Guy.

    Empowering women in commercial driving

    Rooted in the CTA's initiatives to train and upskill women in driving trucks and other commercial vehicles, Selesho's opportunity underscores the importance of programmes aimed at empowering women in the logistics sector.

    "The CTA is responsible for these ladies’ development through various programmes. And when the opportunity arose we started engaging with The Courier Guy and we’re grateful for this opportunity afforded to Nomathemba to develop her business," says Kas Govender, the executive director: HR and compliance at the CTA.

    The CTA has been upskilling commercial drivers for the sector since 2015, having developed 563 commercial drivers to date - 431 of whom are women.

    Candidates were invited to participate in the CTA’s Women Inspiring Women in Logistics Programme, and shortlisted from there. The Courier Guy chose the final candidate, Selesho, who now has the opportunity for long-term personal and professional growth working with one of South Africa's leading brands. “And as The Courier Guy expands, those opportunities will present themselves to her to expand her business,” says Pitchers.

    Enterprise development and gender equality

    “This initiative is in line with our Enterprise Development Programme and a significant step towards supporting entrepreneurship and advancing gender equality in business,” adds Robert Hoffmann, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.

    “With our partners, we have taken a significant step towards supporting the growth and success of female entrepreneurs and we look forward to seeing the impact of this initiative in the years to come. Female entrepreneurs and driving go way back considering that it was Bertha Benz who is well known for the first long-distance drive in the world in 1888.”

    "I am looking forward to growth in the courier industry, a long-term relationship with The Courier Guy and growing my fleet with them. Winning the Mercedes-Benz van is indeed a dream come true for me. I have never won anything in my life and I feel very proud and excited," she says.

    "I think what they’ve given me is an opportunity of a lifetime. Thank you to all the stakeholders; I am so grateful and humbled," she says. "I’m hoping by the time the 12 months ends I’m going to have more vehicles and my business can extend from there."

    The Courier Guy currently operates a fleet of 90 trucks around the country. This is split among four-tonne, eight-tonne and fourteen-tonne vehicles. Its depots operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while linehaul services between major cities run Monday to Friday. While Selesho will be responsible for deliveries in and around Johannesburg, she joins with an opportunity to renew her contract after a year and to keep growing her business while driving the first Mercedes-Benz van in The Courier Guy fleet.

    “We look forward to seeing how the next 12 months unfold and the success that Nomathemba will bring to herself as well as The Courier Guy. We wish her all the best,” Pitchers concludes.

    Let's do Biz

What are construction and maritime companies doing to promote and aid women in the field?

appoint women to traditionally male roles

Title:

Content: New report exposes gender gap in aviation industry

Kindly share this story:

A new survey has revealed that 59 per cent of women working in leadership positions in aviation have considered leaving the industry.

The report by global management consulting firm, Oliver Wyman, and the International Aviation Women Association, said that women were more likely to be pushed out because of negative experiences, while men who leave the industry were more often pulled away by the lure of better opportunities.

The study surveyed 450 aviation professionals in front-line, mid-level, and senior leadership (75 per cent women), supplemented by interviews, to understand why there were few female leaders in aviation – and what needed to be done to make progress in increasing that number.

The survey found that aviation had not made progress in addressing its gender gap at the top, as a third of the women surveyed reported taking longer to reach leadership positions relative to their peer group.

By comparison, 92 per cent of men surveyed advanced more quickly or at the same pace as their peer group.

In addition, men in the industry broadly believed their companies were doing a good job of offering effective and accessible programmes to promote gender equity. Women, on the other hand, did not find these programmes as effective or easy to access.

Vice President at Oliver Wyman, Oksana Bardygula, said, “The aviation industry is missing out on critical leadership talent.

“We are already at a tipping point with talent shortages across the industry in various fields, from pilots to mechanics.

“Increasing the visibility of women and their roles in leadership is vital to expanding the talent pool – as well as in gaining access to the innovation, creativity, and risk management that more diverse leadership would provide.”

The President of IAWA, Bobbi Wells, said, “Women report they are struggling throughout their careers in today’s aviation culture.

“Our study shows relative to men in the industry, women report more negative experiences, slower career advancement, and fewer opportunities to take on senior or challenging roles.

“It’s time for aviation leaders to change these dynamics if we are to attract and retain the most talented workers, regardless of gender.”

The study focused on identifying areas where the industry must make meaningful and lasting change to address the gender gap.

Copyright PUNCH

All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

Contact: [email protected]

Sign Up For Punch Newsletter

By submitting you agree to our privacy policy

Welcome to our newsletter family.

You are all set!


This report addresses: Science Fiction Evolution

The central role of evolution in biology

As evolutionary biologist Theodosius Zobzansky noted in the title of his seminal essay, Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution.

In the case of physics in primary or middle schools, we may or may not see the inclusion of topics such as wave theory, acoustics, electronics or relativity.

Science literature fests boost scientific temper

If scientists and literary figures come together, we can expedite our mission of developing scientific temper

Scientific temper is a buzzword in the scientific community, and policymakers often use it to highlight one of the specialties of our Constitution and nation.

Many educated people have an aversion to taking vaccines or believing in evolution.

So much of the world seems out of our control, and it’s been comforting to escape into a good book and connect with friends about it.

Whether you loved the book or hated the book, after you read a book, it’s nice to get to talk about it.

This report addresses: Science Fiction Evolution

Title:

Content: Menu Close

Educators involved in curriculum design know one hard truth: you can’t fit in everything. Whatever the finished product, there will always be someone who thinks something important has been missed or something unnecessary has been included.

This is what happened in the recent redesign of the Australian Curriculum, for example, where the emphasis on Western civilisation became politicised.

When it comes to science curriculums, the amount of potential content that can be included is staggering.

In the case of physics in primary or middle schools, we may or may not see the inclusion of topics such as wave theory, acoustics, electronics or relativity. Some may lament these exclusions, but most agree physics at this level can be taught without them.

Similarly, there are areas of biology that may be considered optional at this level, such as botany, entomology or marine ecosystems. Evolution, however, is a concept that underpins and integrates all facets of biological study.

Read more: What exactly is the scientific method and why do so many people get it wrong?

The central role of evolution in biology

As evolutionary biologist Theodosius Zobzansky noted in the title of his seminal essay, Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution.

Without evolution, the living world is a kaleidoscope of disconnected form and colour. With evolution, it is breathtakingly coherent. In terms of its simplicity and explanatory power, the theory of evolution by natural selection is arguably one of our most successful scientific achievements.

Because of evolution’s centrality to biology, its omission in any substantive course seems a matter of serious neglect.

Today many countries in the world, predominantly Islamic ones, do not teach evolution, as it is said to contradict religious teachings.

Recently, India also removed evolution from the formal education of students up to Year 10. This decision was supposedly related to its right-wing government’s commitment to promoting Hindu-nationalist perspectives.

These examples do not represent simple oversight. They are serious attempts to restrict people thinking about evolution and, ultimately, to delegitimise science for ideological gain.

Excluding evolution is a moral concern

Omitting evolution from educational curriculums isn’t just educationally fraught, it’s also a serious moral issue.

Morally speaking, at least four related points present themselves in favour of the inclusion of evolution in any biology curriculum.

1. Equality of opportunity

John Rawls, one of the most influential political philosophers of the 20th century, set equality of opportunity as a key social justice principle.

Many scientists have been inspired towards their work by understanding the grand narrative of evolution, which provides a coherent and effective framework to understand biological systems and their relationships.

Depriving students of this educational experience means they could be disadvantaged in further study or work. Or, worse, they might be dissuaded from it.

2. Free inquiry

Deliberate attempts to exclude serious rational inquiry are anathema to most philosophical schools of thought. Philosopher and scientist C.S. Peirce expressed this powerfully:

Upon this first, and in one sense this sole, rule of reason, that in order to learn you must desire to learn, and in so desiring not be satisfied with what you already incline to think, there follows one corollary which itself deserves to be inscribed upon every wall of the city of philosophy: do not block the way of inquiry.

To stifle inquiry is also to inhibit the development of important traits in students – especially curiosity, one of our most powerful tools for knowledge creation.

3. Fairness and public reasoning

Philosopher Immanuel Kant, expressing the essence of the Enlightenment as he saw it, set public reasoning through an individual commitment to rational inquiry as its cornerstone.

If we value the freedom to inquire and freedom of religious belief, it follows that no particular ideology should have unquestioned authority over others.

It’s naive to think science is a value-free arena. Yet it represents the most effective means of rational inquiry into the world we currently possess.

We can certainly allow for (and indeed need) explanations that the methodologies of science can’t provide. But rational inquiry needs to be accommodated, rather than usurped, by religious or political ideologies.

As the late author and journalist Christopher Hitchens elegantly stated:

We do not rely solely upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason.

4. Intellectual honesty, integrity and a commitment to scientific truths

An extended biology course that doesn’t contain evolution represents a promise made and broken.

To present something as scientific means it should embrace the methodologies and dispositions of scientific inquiry, including open-mindedness, scepticism and fallibility.

Ideologically driven censorship is therefore intellectually dishonest and, in these cases, results in a misrepresentation of science.

The bottom line

A moral stance is not something simply held dogmatically. It is one that can be reasoned in a way that’s rationally accessible to others.

Education in a cosmopolitan world – in as much as it is social, collaborative and cooperative – should be characterised by morality and rationality. Excising our best ideas from curriculums is both immoral and irrational.

Read more: Guide to the classics: Darwin's On the Origin of Species

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Title:

Content: Science literature fests boost scientific temper

If scientists and literary figures come together, we can expedite our mission of developing scientific temper

Scientific temper is a buzzword in the scientific community, and policymakers often use it to highlight one of the specialties of our Constitution and nation. Even before our Constitution came into existence, we had a rich tradition of following scientific principles in our daily life; be it in our architecture, health care, agriculture and music. Of course, this knowledge is kept in the hands of a few elite sections of society.

After independence, our policymakers realized that scientific knowledge and new scientific advances from the western world should be adopted. Accordingly, they

envisioned world-class institutions in the country and the fruits of which we are harvesting today through research and innovation. But even today, science is managed by the scientific and academic community. The science spoken by these elite communities is not digestible to the ordinary person, even though they are reaping the benefits in their daily life.

Myths and superstitions that affect human development are prevalent even in this ‘Amrit Kal’ when we are marching towards a global leader. Many educated people have an aversion to taking vaccines or believing in evolution. Only when all our citizens are scientifically literate, can our country progress in every aspect of human development. This is a challenging task in a country with diverse cultures and traditions. Many science popularization programs have been carried out in the country under the aegis of great institutions like Vigyan Prasar, CSIR-NIScPR (earlier CSIR-NISCAIR) and others. But still, achieving 100 per cent scientific temper seems to be a dream, the problem is that these institutions have their own limitations in reaching every nook and corner of the country.

Moreover, most of the science popularization programs are led by scientists who are from a science background. There are hardly any scientific institutions in the public sector where people from literature or fine arts backgrounds are recruited as scientists. This is one of the major drawbacks of our science communication activities. We need more science communication institutions having human resources trained in science, literature and fine arts, in different regions of the country. Based on the local culture, we need to design different science communication strategies to develop scientific temper in the society.

It is here that literature comes to the rescue. Every literate person will read story books, novels, fiction and poems at some point in life, even if they don’t read scientific books or journals. Literature is one area that we have missed in our science popularization activities. Even children who are not interested in science in the classroom would like to read sci-fiction books like the Star Trek series and similar.

Many ordinary people without any scientific background, have shown interest in reading Biographies of Scientists like “Wings of Fire” by our former President Dr APJAbdul Kalam. Similarly, there are many takers for the sci-fiction books written by Fred Hoyle, Gregory Benford, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Robert A Heinlein, Arthur C Clarke, Michael Crichton and others.

Even in our classroom, instead of textbooks, if science-based popular science books or literary works are included, we can generate interest in students. Studies have shown that creating connections with literary works will help Engage students in science classes.

Students reported that they were immediately able to see and emotionally engage with the narrative. They might start to appreciate science for its creative potential. Students’ self-assurance in science improves when they see the relevance of scientific concepts to interests they already have. It encourages kids to broaden their horizons and think beyond the box when it comes to their science coursework.

Integrating readings about accountability in science is one way to help students grasp the material. They gain self-assurance as they learn that science encompasses more than one narrow field. Students with a passion for science will find that the sessions push them to develop their critical thinking skills and open their minds to new ideas. They have also inspired many kids to pursue learning on their own time. Innovative ideas and technological advances in science and technology have been reflected by numerous well-known and representative literary works. The important interactions between science and the cultural sphere (with architecture, religion, the Philosophy of the Enlightenment, or literature) throughout history demonstrate that science is a fundamental component of culture.

Jonathan Swift, in his work Gulliver’s Travels (1726), depicts an island, Laputa, which is held up magnetically in the air, and inhabited by men who are totally dedicated to Mathematics and music. Similarly, Jules Verne, in his novel The Mysterious Island (1874) explains the notion of man’s controlling nature thanks to science and technology.

Science also influences the work of Arthur Conan Doyle. The investigation methods used by his literary creation, the Detective Sherlock Holmes, are based on the positivist scientific methods taught to the author as a medical student. In recent times books by Prof. Yuval Noah Harari – Sapiens & Homo Deus — were the best-sellers lucidly, which explain science, even though the author is not a Scientist per se. He recently came out with another book Sapiens: A Graphic History, a Radical graphical adaptation of his best-selling book Sapiens, targeting children and the layman.

Realizing the importance of literature in science communication, the government has included ‘Vigyanka’ (Science literature festival) as one of the main events at the mega science event, India International Science Festival (IISF), which has been celebrated since 2015. The ‘ Vigyanka’ event will bring scientists, literary and fine arts personnel to a common platform. The event was first conceived by Dr Nakul Parashar, Director, Vigyan Prasar, on the lines of Jaipur Lit Festival for the first time and with the help of his colleagues Kapil Tripathi and Maanbardhan Kanth launched it in IISF 2019 at Kolkata.

This initiated a new becoming in taking science communication and science education to the next level. Our science students should be taught to read novels, poems, biographies, etc., to improve their creative skills. The beauty of Storytelling and Poems is that even an illiterate person who listens to them will enjoy and understand scientific concepts.

In this world of trans-disciplinary learning, policymakers should open the doors of scientific institutions to people from a literature background. A good literary work, be it a novel or fiction, or poem, is a mirror of society. It can reflect problems the community faces, virtues of good values and teach people to dream higher. It can even help us document certain traditional knowledge that prevailed during the period. These values are essential for effectively bringing science to the masses. Even today, our policymakers give impetus to scientist-centric science communication. This should change to a collective teamwork of scientists, literary and fine arts persons. We must envision a Nation where scientific temper is imparted to every citizen. For this, we must train our young minds, our school-going children.

We need to design materials that would digest every child, story books, comic books, novels, fiction, poems, etc, that have scientific components in different languages. This will make even students not interested in science learn scientific concepts indirectly. If Scientists and literary figures come together, we can expedite our mission of developing scientific temper in every part of the country and make India a scientific superpower in the Amrit Kaal.

(The author is a science communicator and academic)

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Content: Lists

The 20 Best Book Club Books For 2021

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Whether you’re back meeting in person or still catching up with your book club on Zoom, book clubs haven’t slowed down in 2021. I myself have joined a few new ones in the past year. There’s something so satisfying about connecting with other people about books. Whether you loved the book or hated the book, after you read a book, it’s nice to get to talk about it.

2021 has been a good year for book clubs, which means 2021 has been a good year for book club books. So much of the world seems out of our control, and it’s been comforting to escape into a good book and connect with friends about it. If your book club is looking for new books from this year to read and discuss, there are so many great options from this year.

This list includes 20 books that are perfect for book club discussions. They’re compelling and fun to read, so you won’t have any problem getting through them before your next club meeting. These books also packed with plenty of topics worth talking about, whether it’s the wild plot twists, the heart-warming relationships, or the thought-provoking themes the story brings up. The books on this list span several genres, so your club will have something fun to read no matter what genre they prefer. And because 2021 has been such a stressful year, a lot of books on this list are uplifting, feel-good novels that promise an escape from whatever’s troubling you in the real world.

So grab your book friends and get ready to read!

The Best Book Club Books 2021

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan

Looking for a good mystery/thriller for your book club that examines American suburbia? Give Sarah Langan’s Good Neighbors a try. Maple Street in suburban Long Island seems like the perfect place to raise a family. Then the Wilde family moves into the neighborhood. The father Arlo is a washed up rockstar, the mother Gertie dresses provocatively, and their kids are rough around the edges too. Not the type of the family the people of Maple Street are used to welcoming into their community. Unsurprisingly, the Wildes quickly become outcasts, and when the most popular family in the neighborhood throw accusations against the Wildes, tensions mount to shockingly high levels.

What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster

What’s Mine and Yours is a historical literary fiction novel that’s sure to bring up a lot of interesting discussions at your next book club meeting. When a county in North Carolina moves to integrate its high schools, the community is outraged. Then two high school students — Gee and Noelle — join a school play meant to bridge the divide between the students at the school. Gee and Noelle both find themselves right in the middle of the integration debate in ways that will affect their lives and their families for the next 20 years.

The Atmospherians by Alex McElroy

The Atmospherians is a dark, satirical literary novel that examines contemporary influencer culture and gender roles. Sasha Marcus’s social media career tanks after an unfortunate run-in with a media troll. Now there are men’s rights activists protesting outside of her house, and she feels like she’s hit rock bottom. That’s when she and her best friend Dyson hatch up a plan: The Atmosphere. The Atmosphere is a rehabilitation community for men who have lost everything: their family, their jobs, their self-respect. Seems like a great idea, right? What could possibly go wrong?

The Upstairs House by Julia Fine

The Upstairs House is perfect for your book club if you love discussing books that leave you all asking yourselves “What the heck did we just read?” This book is a strange, eery literary novel with touches of surrealism and horror. It’s the story of Megan, a woman who is raising her newborn baby alone while her husband travels for work. She’s exhausted, drained, and fairly certain the ghost of Margaret Wise Brown and her lover Michael Strange are living upstairs. Will these ghosts help her care for her baby and pull her life together? Or will they do the opposite and tear her life apart?

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

Of Women and Salt is a sweeping debut literary novel about family legacies and difficult choices mothers sometimes have to make to do what they think is best for their children. Jeanette is living in Miami and battling addiction. She’s the daughter of a Cuban immigrant and she’s determined to learn more about her family’s past. And so she travels to Cuba to see her grandmother in the hopes of learning more about her family. But her trip threatens to reveal secrets that could change everything.

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

Beautiful World, Where Are You is the latest novel from New York Times best-selling author Sally Rooney, and it’s been getting a lot of well-deserved buzz. This is the story of Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon, four friends whose lives are complicatedly intertwined. Follow their stories as they fall in love with each other, desire each other, get together, break up, fall back into one another, and more. If you love beautifully rendered characters who are complex and maybe not entirely likable, then Sally Rooney’s books (especially her latest) will really work for you.

Wild Women and the Blues by Denny S. Bryce

Wild Women and the Blues is a beautifully written and well-researched historical fiction novel set in Jazz-age Chicago. Dreamland Café is a ritzy club where Honoree Dalcour dances every night, looking to find a path to a better life for herself. But how much is she willing to risk to get ahead? Ninety years later, in 2015, film student Sawyer Hayes seeks out a 110-year-old Honoree. He’s looking for the missing pieces to his research about legendary filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, but the information Sawyer gets from Honoree is completely surprising.

All’s Well by Mona Awad

After the wild ride that was Bunny, author Mona Awad’s novel All’s Well was highly anticipated, and readers knew they would be in for surprises. Awad’s latest novel does not disappoint. Miranda Fitch is a college theater director whose life is falling apart. Her acting career was ruined after a terrible accident. Her marriage has fallen apart. All Miranda wants now is to direct All’s Well That Ends Well, but her students don’t respect her, and they refuse to do the play. Then Miranda meets three strangers, and suddenly her luck changes.

Happily Ever Afters by Elise Bryant

If your book club is looking for an uplifting, feel-good book club book to get you through 2021, Happily Ever Afters is it. This young adult novel follows 16-year-old Tessa Johnson. She’s never seen herself reflected in the romance novels she’s read, and so she began to write her own. Now, she’s landed herself in a prestigious creative writing program. She’s so excited to finally share her stories with the world, but when she sits down to write, she finds she has some major writer’s block. Maybe a little real-life inspiration is all she needs to spark her creativity.

Peaces by Helen Oyeyemi

Helen Oyeyemi’s novels are always a little bit magical and strange, which should give your book club plenty to talk about. Otto and Xavier Shin are in love, and they’ve been gifted a trip on a sleeper train to celebrate their new commitment to one another. And so they embark on an adventure together, accompanied by their pet mongoose. But Otto and Xavier soon realize this is no ordinary train. Everything aboard seems especially catered to their needs and tastes. And where are all the other passengers?

The Tiger Mom’s Tale by Lyn Liao Butler

With The Tiger Mom’s Tale, you get emotional story of complicated family relationships that’s also ultimately uplifting. When American Lexa Thomas inherits the wealth of her Taiwanese family, she travels to Taiwan to confront the family in which she’s always felt like an outsider, and to face the truths that she tried to leave behind. Lexa’s trip to Taiwan leads her to explore her connections to her family and the realities of who she truly is. This heartwarming story should give book clubs plenty of material to discuss, laugh about, and cry about.

The Startup Wife by Tahmima Anam

For your 2021 book club, what novel could be more appropriate than a novel about startup tech companies? The Startup Wife is the story of Asha and Cyrus, two newlyweds who together start a tech incubator called Utopia. Their social media platform soon becomes wildly popular, replacing religious rituals for many of its users. Now Cyrus is being treated like a messiah, and Asha’s unsure their relationship can survive.

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

The Other Black Girl has been a really popular book club pick for 2021, and when you read it, you’ll see why. This novel is impossible to put down, but it also examines complicated issues of racism and microaggressions in the workplace. Editorial assistant Nella Rogers is the only Black employee at Wagner Books, and she’s sick of it. So when Hazel starts working for the publishing company, at first Nella is certain she’s found a new ally. The reality, however, is much more complicated.

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

Another topic that’s impossible to ignore in 2021: climate change. Charlotte McConaghy’s Once There Were Wolves is a meditation on climate change while also being an engaging story, which makes it perfect for timely discussions an enjoyable reading (so perfect for your book club). Inti Flynn is leading a team of biologists in the Scottish Highlands. Their mission is to reintroduce 14 grey wolves into the environment. Just as the wolves begin to thrive, a farmer is found dead, and everyone blames the wolves. Inti refuses to believe her wolves are capable of such a thing. But if they didn’t do it, who did?

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Cloud Cuckoo Land is another novel that’s been getting a lot of buzz this year. Readers couldn’t wait to see what Anthony Doerr was going to do after his beloved novel All The Light We Cannot See. So if your book club likes to stay up on all the buzziest books of the year, you need to pick up this one. This novel is a mixture of historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, and follows five characters’ stories in different places in the world in in different periods of time, from Constantinople in the 15th century to outer space decades into the future.

Fault Lines by Emily Itami

Fault Lines is a love story set in Japan that’s compared to the works of Sally Rooney (who is also on this list!) and Helen Fielding. Mizuki is a Japanese housewife who seemingly has the perfect life, and yet she can’t help but wonder how her life could have been different — and perhaps more exciting — if she’d made different choices. Then she meets Kiyoshi, a successful restaurateur. And through her time spent with him, she rediscovers her passion for life. The more time she spends with Kiyoshi, the more she falls for him and the person she is when she’s with him. But this can’t go on forever. Ultimately she must choose the comfortable life with the family she loves, the romance and electricity of something new.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

Klara and the Sun is author Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature. The story is told from the eyes of Klara, and artificial friend who learns about the world from watching people from her store window. Then one day someone finally comes to take Klara home and make her part of the family. But Klara is warned to not trust the promises of humans. Ishiguro’s literary sci-fi novel brings up environmental issues, concepts of religion, questions about what it means to be human, and much more. Perfect for a book club discussion.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Torrey Peters’s Detransition Baby is one of the most talked about books of 2021, which means it’s perfect for your book club. This novel follows the story of three women — transgender and cisgender — whose lives come together in unexpected ways when they attempt to raise a child together. Detransition, Baby explores gender identity, motherhood, relationships, and more through thoughtfully rendered characters who feel incredibly real.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

Are you looking for a fun, lighthearted sapphic romance with a huge dose of time travel? After hearing that sentence, are you realizing this this the storyline you didn’t know you needed? August is a cynical twentysomething New Yorker who doesn’t believe in love. Then she sees Jane on the train. Jane is gorgeous, charming, mysterious, and she looks like she came from the 1970s with her leather jacket and punk rock style. Then August finds out that Jane is actually from the 1970s, displaced in time, and her subway romance becomes a whole lot more complicated. This is a warmhearted and unique romance story that your book club will love talking about.

Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian

Gold Diggers is a coming-of-age story with a big pinch of magical realism, humor, and heart. Neil Narayan is a second generation Indian American teenager growing up during the Bush era in the Atlanta suburbs. Neil’s parents want him to be successful, but all he really wants is Anita Dayal, the girl of his dreams who lives across the cul-de-sac. Then Neil discovers Anita is brewing a magical potion out of stolen gold that harnesses the ambition of the person who owned the gold. And Neil’s life is changed forever.

If you’re looking for more guidance for getting your book club going, we’ve got some suggestions for you! Have the books you want to read but don’t have club to read them with just yet? Here’s your guide to starting your own book club. Also! Here are some ideas for book club discussion questions to get the conversation going. And if you’d rather just keep things online for now, here are some of the best online book clubs you can join right now. Happy reading, and happy chatting it up with your book club friends!

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