Year: 2018

Ethiopia (Conversation) – Within the last month Ethiopia has downsized its cabinet, named women to half the positions and, for the first time, appointed a woman as president. These are huge milestones in Ethiopian politics. They could also mark a turning point for the country’s girls as the women ministers are perhaps more likely to pursue policies that benefit girls. In addition, having women in positions of power will mean that girls have role models they can look up to, something that’s not common in the country. Girls in Ethiopia…

United States (Conversation) – Donald Trump’s delayed reaction to the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi shows how the US president’s “America First” campaign is shifting the government’s role towards a more pragmatic, rather than moralistic, approach to global affairs. By contrast, some major investors and businesses are filling the gap by taking over the role of moral compass. Many, for example, withdrew from Saudi Arabia’s recent investment conference in protest. The dramatic example of the Khashoggi case illustrates how rising nationalism and political polarisation forces politicians to oscillate between…

World Wide (Conversation) – From fashion trends to global events, the hashtag (#) has become the conspicuous symbol of the Twittersphere. What only a decade ago denoted a numerical symbol of no special significance or attribution is now a call to arms for causes that are many and varied. The “#” is a social organiser, which emerged spontaneously and dynamically from the content generated and updated by social media users. The initial intent behind the “#”, when Twitter launched in 2006, lay in its simple use as a means of…

United States (Conversation) – What is the cost of sexual assault? The answer depends on whom you ask. Social and behavioral scientists like me measure the consequences of sexual assault in terms of mental health, physical health and educational outcomes. We know that post-traumatic stress symptoms may last for years and even decades. Health is compromised indirectly, in ways unknown and unknowable to victims. Economists measure the cost of health and mental health care and days of productivity lost. Other costs, however, are intangible, harder to quantify. We might call…

United States (Conversation) – The midterm elections are widely expected to usher in this century’s “year of the woman” – an explosion of women entering government. Massachusetts will likely elect its first black woman to Congress, Arizona is poised to send its first woman to the U.S. Senate, and fully 50 percent of Democratic congressional nominees this year are women. But California – a policy trendsetter that in 1993 became the first state to be represented simultaneously by two women in the U.S. Senate – won’t be making history this…

Australia (Conversation) – Australia has become a destination for a legion of far-right speakers from North America and the UK in recent months. Milo Yiannopoulos’ controversial visit last December resulted in violent clashes between protesters and a A$50,000 bill for Yiannopoulos for extra policing. (He never paid it.) Nonetheless, Yiannopoulos is planning a return in late November. In March, the Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson packed out auditoriums in three cities for speeches railing against feminism, political correctness and hate speech laws. This was followed by the visits of Canadians Lauren…

United States (TexasTribune) – In the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers where she was held, Luz became known as la llorona — the one who cries. Luz, who asked to be identified only by her first name to protect her from an abusive husband in Honduras if she’s deported, said she was in emotional and physical pain for the five months she was in federal detention. First, she was separated from her 15-year-old son under the U.S. government’s short-lived “zero-tolerance” policy after fleeing what she described as 17 years of…

Mexico (GV) – In Mexico, alarming security issues are nothing new — press reports, statistics and general public perception all point to a rise in criminal offenses. Faced with this situation, which has at times exceeded the scope of the public institutions meant to deal with it, regular citizens in Mexico City have turned to mapping technology in an effort to reduce the impact of crime in their communities. According to a report on criminal offenses in the capital, in the second quarter of 2018, Mexico City suffered from the second highest…