We are 1 today and we are pretty thrilled.
Our newsletter has evolved, grown over time, and this week’s edition is a throwback to all. From Behind The Scenes to curated sections of our newsletter. Hope you enjoy it, as much as we did collecting it for you.
Let’s Talk about Women
This week we came across two interesting articles which reflected on the perception of women in professional and social spheres. So here we share some excerpts of the pieces and the similarity of concerns in different domains.
Women in Economics
In a recent article for The New York Times, Ben Casselman wrote about the growing hostility and gender bias against women in Economics. It has been subtle and direct, with women economists being bombarded with 15 questions in a go, than the male counterpart in the panels and conferences.
Source: The New York Times
After seeing such instances, economists Dr Modestino and Dr Wolfers went on collecting data to understand the reasons and trends. One vital observation of the study has been that women are posed with 12 per cent more questions than men that are patronising and hostile. Dr Modestino shared that “ it measures something that we thought cannot be measured, It links it to a potential reason that women are underrepresented in the profession.”
Men of Clubhouse- Let us speak, please!
Undoubtedly the clubhouse has gained the attention of every professional- but does it give space to all its users?
A US-based media house went ahead and talked to hundreds of women clubhouse users and there was one common complaint- men interrupting.
The similarity in behaviours and perceptions can actually make us lose lots of ideas. What do you think about this?
Abe’s Womenomics
Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe has been pushing economic policies to create a “Japan in which women shine”.
Japan records female labour force participation of 71%, surpassing superpower US and even Europe.
So how did Japan do this?
Answer: Womenomics (Women + Economics)
This model is an integral part of Japan’s economic strategy of involving more women in the labour force.
Why Womenomics?- Labour, Capital and Productivity are three significant determinants in an economy. With a limited population, declining birthrate and finite capital, this looked like a ray of hope for Japan’s economy.
Progress-
World’s most generous parental leave benefits.
Gender Transparency in organisations and businesses.
Workstyle reforms, making the culture more inclusive and comfortable for all.
Areas to be worked on-
Need for more women to take leadership positions in public/private sectors.
Inflexible labour contracts, which make the employees more vulnerable to fatigue and stress.
Insufficient caregiving facilities, which might hinder women on their path to shine.
Unconscious biases persist in every economy and society.
Recent Development- MPower Partners Fund, Japan’s first ESG focused Global Venture Capital fund, led by Kathy Matsui, Yumiko Murakami and Miwa Seki, is aiming to invest $150 million in startups with strong environmental, social and governance values(ESG). The new fund will aim to invest two-thirds of its capital in the growth of late-stage startups in Japan and the other third in early-stage startups overseas.
Fun Fact- Kathy Matsui penned the first report on womenomics in 1999.
(Source: Womenomics 5.0 by Goldman Sachs and Japan Times)
Did you know, last year women lost more income than the combined GDP of 98 countries? Fun right?
In our previous newsletter ‘Pandemic in 21st Century,’ we talked about the ‘Global Gender gap Index 2021’ which clearly indicated that it will almost take 135 years for men and women to achieve parity again.
Again, a new report from Oxfam International has come up in which women lost at least $800 billion in income last year and that's more than the combined GDP of 98 countries.
All over the world, women lost more than 64 million jobs last year which was a much greater loss for women(5%↓) than men(3.9%↓).
Gabriella Bucher, the executive director of Oxfam International observed that these conservative estimates don't include wages lost by women working in the informal sector like domestic workers, garment workers and street vendors.
Why does the gap exist?
Women are disproportionately represented in the jobs as they makeup 39% of employment but account for 54% of their job losses.
The gender pay gap was uneven before the pandemic too but the crisis widened it further.
Governments treat women’s jobs as dispensable.
What do you think the government or the citizens can do on their level to reduce this gap?
(Sources: Business Insider, CNN Business, McKinsey)
Burnouts and Work Culture
Burnout has been redefined by the World Health Organization as a syndrome that "refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context…resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”
Burnout culture/ overworking culture has been glorified among Generation Z, which is impacting mental health and the opted lifestyles. One such bank where junior bankers are facing this is Goldman Sachs with a workload of 100 hours a week.
As per a survey with 13 investment bank analysts were asked some questions, like - How many hours did you work this week?; Rate your mental health before starting this job?; Has the work stress affected your relationship with friends and family?
With no surprise, most of them answered ‘yes’ to these questions. This trend is not new, it came to light when a 22-year-old analyst at the bank took his own life in 2015.
Goldman is trying to improve conditions by transferring staff internally to help its busiest department and working on enforcing a policy of no work on Saturdays.
While in other news, one of the world’s largest CITI groups announced plans for ‘Zoom-Free-Saturdays’. This step is to avoid burnout and boost productivity among employees.
Climate Change and Changing Times
The average temperature will hit more than 1.5 degrees Celsius even before 2040 as per a 4000 pages report by IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
The report has 4 main key takeaways:
Increment in temperature- Countries that made commitments under the Paris Agreement to keep the temperature below 1.5-2 degrees Celsius are faltering, and challenges are great as the temperatures will increase up to 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.
Chronic Effects- Humankind in millions will experience chronic hunger to extreme poverty by 2050 along with extreme events of forest fires, droughts and floods.
Catastrophic Changes- It discusses changes that will be irreversible and catastrophic ranging from melting ice caps to increasing sea levels.
Blue carbon ecosystem- IPCC stresses upon conservation and restoration of blue carbon ecosystems—kelp and mangrove forests, by switching to plant-based diets that will help in reducing the emissions by as much as 70 per cent by 2050.
It is an extensive report indicating how climate change will impact the world in the coming years. If this is the reality, then are we doing enough for what the future holds?
Melting Ice Caps
As per new research published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal, more than a third of the ice shelf area is at the risk of collapsing if global temperatures reach 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The findings of the research are:
If the increase in temperature is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, it can halve the area at risk and avoid a drastic rise in sea levels.
The researchers even identified the remaining ice shelf on the peninsula, named Larsen C, which is the largest, is particularly at risk in a warmer climate.
34% area of the Antarctic shelves, including 67% area on the Antarctic Peninsula, are at the risk of destabilisation under such warm conditions.
Ella Gilbert from the University of Reading in the UK explained that Ice shelves are important buffers preventing glaciers on land from flowing freely into the ocean contributing to sea-level rise.
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