Gender Gap Tracker makes big data public to motivate media to achieve gender parity among experts
An Iranian big data engineer, a Spanish computational linguist and a Canadian social activist walk into a research lab. They don’t miss the drinks they could order if they’d gone to the bar, because they’re on a mission to change the world. We hear a lot about how artificial intelligence is taking away jobs and…
New online tool gives fitness tracker-style incentive for media to achieve gender parity in their sources
Could the incentivizing power of a fitness tracker be adapted to help achieve gender equality in the media, enhancing Canadian democracy in the process? After a year of collaboration with a team of big data scientists, we’re about to find out. Despite the increasing attention paid to the importance of women’s voices, in news media…
Gillette has stepped boldly into the socio-political minefields of #MeToo, bullying, spousal abuse and male self-absorption
It’s tempting to take the recent’s ‘controversy’ over the Gillette shaving company’s new advertising campaign at something less than face value. For starters, controversy itself is no longer the conversational cutting edge it once was. In this era of fake-versus-false news, universal short attention spans and ludicrous overstatement as the entry price for even being…
Only a free market will balance out pay inequities. If a company fails to compensate fairly, employees will simply move on
From conception to implementation, pay equity is a sham. It’s obscured in double speak, packaged in seemingly laudable goals and promises great results. However, it can’t deliver them because it’s based on false premises. Any good that comes of it is far outweighed by the harm. That’s why Canadians should be wary of any legislation…
It’s true that division weakens society, making it easier for evil to permeate. But who creates that division?
“Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on a machine and fluids from a bottle,” a husband told his wife. “If that happens, just pull the plug.” His wife promptly unplugged the TV and threw out all the beer. This story illustrates how one person’s solution could be…
He would like to see people leading honest and good individual lives and shining a light that way
A little girl noticed several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her mom’s brunette head. “Why are some of your hairs white?” she asked. “Every time you do something wrong, one of my hairs turns white,” her mom answered. After a thoughtful pause the girl asked, “Why are all of Grandma’s hairs…
Stephania Varalli talks about her own journey and how Women of Influence works to help others find their path to success
Stephania Varalli is co-CEO and head at media of Women of Influence. What’s Women of Influence and what does it do? Varalli: Our organization aims to help achieve workplace gender equality by inspiring and empowering individuals. We know that the system is biased against women, and it will take time and multiple, parallel efforts to…
How are emotions mobilized in politics, for whom and by whom? And what normalizes the expression of these emotions?
The fallout from the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court pick, Brett Kavanaugh, riveted people on both sides of the border and provides ample evidence that feelings can become weaponized in politics to uphold white male privilege. In his blistering, scripted opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kavanaugh performed the role of…
It is important that we understand history as it was, and not how some of us wish it would be
The philosopher George Santayana famously wrote in The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This statement makes sense, especially in light of our society’s recent trials of history – and the accuracy of history being placed on trial. The first example involves Scott…
B.C.’s Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner is a watchdog that barks public interest but whose bite is about self-interest
The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) was created to provide independent civilian oversight over municipal police forces in British Columbia. But a string of recent cases shows the OPCC is more about overreach than oversight. I know. I was one of the cases. This summer, after 40 years of unblemished service with the…