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The article reports on research which was conducted to investigate papers which were submitted to conferences of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) between 1996 and 2009 and to evaluate trends and influences on women’s authorship of computing-conference papers. Researchers found that the number of ACM conference papers grew from 1966 to 2009. They also found that while women remain severely underrepresented in computing, there was a substantial increase in their share of papers that they published. They concluded that the increase may be due to the fact that women earned more Ph.D. degrees in computing.

Although algorithmic auditing has emerged as a key strategy to expose systematic biases embedded in software platforms, we struggle to understand the real-world impact of these audits and continue to find it difficult to translate such independent assessments into meaningful corporate accountability. To analyze the impact of publicly naming and disclosing performance results of biased AI systems, we investigate the commercial impact of Gender Shades, the first algorithmic audit of gender- and skin-type performance disparities in commercial facial analysis models. This paper (1) outlines the audit design and structured disclosure procedure used in the Gender Shades study, (2) presents new performance metrics from targeted companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Megvii (Face++) on the Pilot Parliaments Benchmark (PPB) as of August 2018, (3) provides performance results on PPB by non-target companies such as Amazon and Kairos, and (4) explores differences in company responses as shared through corporate communications that contextualize differences in performance on PPB. Within 7 months of the original audit, we find that all three targets released new application program interface (API) versions. All targets reduced accuracy disparities between males and females and darker- and lighter-skinned subgroups, with the most significant update occurring for the darker-skinned female subgroup that underwent a 17.7-30.4% reduction in error between audit periods. Minimizing these disparities led to a 5.72-8.3% reduction in overall error on the Pilot Parliaments Benchmark (PPB) for target corporation APIs. The overall performance of non-targets Amazon and Kairos lags significantly behind that of the targets, with error rates of 8.66% and 6.60% overall, and error rates of 31.37% and 22.50% for the darker female subgroup, respectively. This is an expanded version of an earlier publication of these results, revised for a more general audience, and updated to include commentary on further developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is there a prototype for the 21st-century female metalhead? And can it be described? This is one of many questions I am addressing in my partial research, which is a continuation of my long-term dissertation research on female identity in the metal subculture in contemporary Czechia. In the metal subculture, women are still a marginalized minority, but with their thinking and specific conception of style and image. The image here is not uniform; on the contrary, it is very individualized and original. The male world often inspires female metalheads, but this is not the rule, and the motivations for a particular view of the subculture can be very peculiar within masculinity. But at the same time, they are women - will they stand up in this masculine subculture and outside of it? Is there specific sexism towards women here too, and does this undermine the integrity of the female world? And are there sex symbols that have the same visual and cultural connotations in the metal subculture as in mainstream music genres? In this paper, I address issues of style, identification, image, and cultural conceptions of female visualization in a metal subculture that has never fully revealed its feminine side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Stereotypes are simplified and widely shared visions held by a social group regarding a place, object, event or recognizable set of people united by certain characteristics or qualities. They are "dangerous" mental models because they are widely disseminated, devious and capable of acting even unconsciously in individuals, social groups and organizations altering the rationality of assessments and choices and producing discrimination and prejudice. Stereotypes acritically extend from a characteristic of a significant percentage of a category to the totality of individuals. The process of generalization triggered by a stereotype produces the error of discrimination and prejudice. There are numerous forms of stereotypes, but this study takes into account gender stereotypes because they act pervasively, often subtly, to reduce "productivity". People who are aware of being discriminated perceive an unsatisfactory fulfillment of their motivations, which reduces their incentive to improve their performance. Since productivity measures the efficient use of energy from working in production processes, the author believes that wherever gender stereotypes are at play, there is a productive "waste of energy", an inefficiency in work activity with harmful effects for organizations of all kinds, including families. Design/methodology/approach: The work aims to demonstrate that wherever gender stereotypes are at play, a "waste of energy" manifests itself in terms of productivity, representing an inefficiency in work activity with harmful effects for organizations of all kinds, including families. To describe the negative effects stereotypes produce in organizations, some models are presented based on the methods and language of systems thinking. These models, although typically qualitative, are capable of exploring the most accepted theories in the literature: tournament theory, the Pygmalion effect, the Galatea effect, self-fulfilling prophecies, the Queen bee syndrome, the role congruency theory, the glass ceiling theory ("think manager, think male" and "family responsibilities wall"). The paper follows a predominantly organizational and corporate approach, although the copious literature on stereotypes belongs largely to the area of social psychology and organization studies. Findings: The paper does not consider the psychological origin of stereotypes but highlights their use as routines-shortcuts for evaluations and decisions demonstrating that, when adopted in social systems and within organisations, stereotypes produce different forms of discrimination: in social rights, in work, in careers and in access to levels of education and public services, reducing performance and limit potential. The paper also examines some ways gender and culture stereotypes can be opposed, presenting a change management strategy and some concrete solutions proposed by the process–structure–culture model for social change (PSC model). Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of the work is that it focuses on gender stereotypes, choosing not to consider the "intersection effect" of these with other stereotypes: racial stereotypes, religious stereotypes, color stereotypes, age stereotypes, sex and sexual orientation stereotypes, and many others, whose joint action can cause serious inefficiencies in organizational work. Practical implications: As stereotypes are a component of social culture and are handed down, by use and example, from generation to generation, the maintenance over time of stereotypes used by individuals to evaluate, judge and act can be seen as an effect of the typical action of a combinatory system of diffusion, which can operate for a long time if not effectively opposed. Il PSC model indicates the strategy for carrying out this opposition. Social implications: With regard to gender stereotypes, it should be emphasized that in organizations and social systems, "gender diversity" should be considered an opportunity and not as a discriminating factor and thus encouraged by avoiding harmful discrimination. In fact, this diversity, precisely because of the distinctive characteristics individuals possess regardless of gender, can benefit the organization and lead to an increase in organizational and social performance. The United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2020) Goal 5: Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is examined in this context. Originality/value: This study views the action of gender stereotypes as especially harmful "mental models", highlighting the distortions they cause in the allocation of productive energy in society, groups and organizations. The paper follows a predominantly organizational and corporate approach, although the copious literature on stereotypes belongs largely to the area of social psychology. Using the "logic" and "language" of systems thinking, theories and models that describe and interpret the distorting effects of organizational choices based on stereotypes rather than rational analysis are highlighted. The action of stereotypes and their persistence over time can also be described using combinatory systems theory. With this paper, the author hopes that by acting on the three wheels of change highlighted by the PSC model, through legal provisions, control tools and actions on the culture operated by educational and social aggregative institutions, it should not be impossible to change the prevailing culture so that it becomes aware of the harmful influence of gender stereotypes and other discriminatory mental models and come to reject them. The author hopes this paper will help to understand the need to make this change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

inglese In recent years, the issue of gender difference in scientific disciplines has established itself in the political, social, and economic debate at national and international level. Nevertheless, in the italian scholastic environment, many topics related to gender inclusion are still underdeveloped or perceived as marginal. In this paper we investigate what are the strategies that school, and therefore teachers, can implement to promote inclusion in scientific disciplines, without losing sight of the complexity of the phenomenon which requires reflection at a broader level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paper focuses on the Zionist Organizations founded in Mandatory Palestine. They presented ideas about age, gender, and Zionism which opposed Zionist perceptions that became dominant throughout the Yishuv on the eve of World War II. The organizations challenged dominant perceptions on masculinity, and by internalizing the category of age-related identity, the seniors sought to promote broader acceptance of forms of masculinity using their newspaper as a platform. The organizations of the senior Zionists were characterized by a male subculture of aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can legislation encouraging women's political involvement impact women's desire to run for elected office? Eleven states have passed legislation to promote equal gender representation on appointed government boards, and many argue this legislation will also develop a pipeline of women candidates to run for elected office. This paper is the first scholarly work to assess if gender balance legislation (GBL) increases the number of women candidates and women legislators within a state. I use a nonparametric generalization of the difference-in-differences estimator and find very little evidence that GBL significantly impacts women's representation at the state level. Results are consistent across multiple outcome variables and different model specifications, including two-way fixed effects, generalized synthetic control, and synthetic control models. The insignificant impact of GBL speaks to the need to thoroughly investigate which institutional reforms adequately feed the female candidate pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how women and men participate in irrigation activities in Egypt, drawing from a survey administered to 200 men and 202 women and qualitative information from 150 interviews. Women participated in irrigation activities in 78% of the 402 households surveyed, suggesting that women are far more actively engaged in irrigation efforts in Egypt, and possibly in the wider MENA region, than is generally assumed. The diffusion of certain irrigation technologies such as drip, sprinkler and tatweer in recent years has made irrigation more socially acceptable for women to perform although some women had also been irrigating land long before these technologies became available. We identify land ownership, educational attainment, institutional support from government, donors and NGOs, and access to training in irrigational technologies as factors that enable women to optimally undertake irrigation. These factors enabled women to participate meaningfully in public institutions related to irrigation, such as water user associations (WUAs). Finally, we discovered that desire and ability to participate in WUAs declined dramatically for both women and men when institutional support was withdrawn or eroded. Thus, the paper concludes that we must look at a variety of social categories and relationships to understand women's involvement in irrigation and to identify ways to strengthen it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Woman licks gold onto paper. Woman is where the edge of the cliff (A snowcapped mountain, a guess of a person) meets dead air (I). [Extracted from the article]

Incorporating space methodology and combining it with gender studies, this article looks at how German-Jewish men, in a space-specific environment, prewar Nazi concentration camps, came to adjust their understandings and practices of masculinity. The paper argues that performing pre-learned forms of military masculinity inside the camps vis-à-vis Nazi personnel, while simultaneously maintaining conventional gender norms in their letter exchanges to their families and spouses in the outside world, were of fundamental importance. Jewish men's ability to adjust their practice of masculinity represented a defiant attempt of survival and control over their lives under an increasingly oppressive regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa has taken centre stage in most accounts of the synergistic potential of law and politics: it is seen to be a case which demonstrates that human rights can be made real, with the favourable combination of institutional and political conditions. Among these conditions, from a feminist perspective, are the inclusion of equality and socio-economic rights in the Constitution, high levels of representation of women in parliament and the bureaucracy, and a strong and free civil society. The country is often invoked, in comparative social science, as an example of a democratic and relatively peaceful transition from authoritarianism, in which the breakdown of institutions was avoided; rather, it is seen as an example of successful institutional redirection from supporting an authoritarian state to advancing a democratic project. However, the Constitution is coming under increasing attack. It is not only conservative forces that seek to undermine rights in the name of culture, or wealthy elites concerned about defending their rights to property through rule of law and opposing high taxation, that are critical. It is also challenged by radical voices that aim at creating a society free of oppression. For the latter actors, the Constitution is less a tool of change and more an example of coloniality, or the imposition of a Western discourse on Africa. These arguments about decolonising political projects require more careful engagement, as the project of decoloniality is one that is in many respects allied to the project of feminism, whose own history required the disabling of the invisibilised male norm on which much legal and political theory was founded. This paper addresses the decolonial critique by showing the radical roots of the equality clause in a century-long history of struggles by black women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relevance and the appropriateness of Turing-style tests for computational creativity. Design/methodology/approach – The Turing test is both a milestone and a stumbling block in artificial intelligence (AI). For more than half a century, the “grand goal of passing the test” has taught the authors many lessons. Here, the authors analyze the relevance of these lessons for computational creativity. Findings – Like the burgeoning AI, computational creativity concerns itself with fundamental questions such as “Can machines be creative?” It is indeed possible to frame such questions as empirical, Turing-style tests. However, such tests entail a number of intricate and possibly unsolvable problems, which might easily lead the authors into old and new blind alleys. The authors propose an outline of an alternative testing procedure that is fundamentally different from Turing-style tests. This new procedure focuses on the unfolding of creativity over time, and – unlike Turing-style tests – it is amenable to a more meaningful statistical testing. Research limitations/implications – This paper argues against Turing-style tests for computational creativity. Practical implications – This paper opens a new avenue for viable and more meaningful testing procedures. Originality/value – The novel contributions are: an analysis of seven lessons from the Turing test for computational creativity; an argumentation against Turing-style tests; and a proposal of a new testing procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the key theoretical and meta-theoretical issues at stake in the analysis of the political and economical dynamics of neoliberal governance on the basis of feminist critiques. More particularly, it problematizes the gendered and racialized dimensions of the changing processes of social reproduction in this context. It stresses the density of the power relations constitutive of these processes and, more significantly, argues that gender relations are not constituted independently of these specific dynamics of power. On the contrary, the paper argues that they must be understood as a constitutive dimension of these transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a meta-analysis on the idea of greater male variability in animals, which references a research paper by Lauren Harrison et al., published in an issue of "Biological Review." Topics discussed include a comparison between variability and spectrum in terms of personalities, the theory by Charles Darwin on variability in animals, the behavioral traits in animals examined by the team, and the conclusion of the study.

The feminization of nouns denoting professions and positions held by women is a gradual process that is influenced by different areas: linguistic, social and institutional. The media reflect a daily variation that occurs between the resources used for the formation of the feminine gender of nouns of this type. In this paper we have analyzed the way this phenomenon is manifested in the field of journalism, which is the filter for general linguistic habits and one of the main references for shaping the current purism. To achieve this objective we have selected a representative group of professions, with particular emphasis on the analysis of those cases where linguistic variation was found and comparing the results obtained with their lexicographic treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fight to water has been recently recognized as a fundamental human right by the United Nations, thereby clarifying its status as 'legally binding', making it 'justiciable' and enforceable. This development has been heralded as a key that holds great potential to change the lives of the billions who still lack access to clean water. Many of those deprived of enjoyment of the right are children, who constitute up to a third of the population in the developing world. What is the value added of the fights-based approach for access to water, especially for children? Would recognition of the fight to water as legally binding deliver real benefits to children in improving their access to water? Does it really offer anything new that can help them realize their fight to water more effectively? These questions will be explored in this paper using empirical evidence from India, where water has been legally interpreted as a fundamental fight, and as a welfare state, where there has been consistent effort on part of the state to improve children's access to water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the leadership styles of women in the field of journalism, focusing on American women journalists such as Jill Abramson, the first women executive director of the news paper the "New York Times," and Charlotte H. Hall. The author examines the experiences of women in journalism, which the author indicates has traditionally been a field dominated by men. The idea that female journalists do not possess a different interest in news stories than men is debated in light of statements made by Abramson in an article in which she argued that gender does not play a role in men's and women's reporting. The perspectives of other women journalists are presented, including Karen Magnuson, Sandra Mims Rowe, and Diane McFarlin.

This paper examines the question: how effective is a community driven development (CDD) approach to rural water supply? Some theoretical advantages of CDD approaches include: ( 1 ) community choices are more attuned to local needs; (2) sustainable O&M is more likely; (3) social capital is built: (4) more participation yields better oversight and less corruption: and (5) communities become active partners in development, itself a worthy objective. Using quantitative and qualitative data from a water supply and sanitation project in Punjab, Pakistan, the study finds that the CDD approach, consistent with expectations, has done well in extending water supply, drainage, and sanitation coverage to the poor rural communities, and demonstrated outcomes that are only achievable through CDD including water tariff and cultural changes. The project was also effective in promoting local participation and ownership, particularly by women's groups, and is therefore likely to have sustainable operation and maintenance (O & M). This study uncovers two dimensions of CDD in water and sanitation as means to an end: political reform, by proposing implementation strategies of decentralisation; and cultural reform, by providing an approach to break cultural barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the value of an improved domestic water supply was investigated for economic development and gender relations in rural households in a drought-prone area. A comparative study executed with participatory rural appraisal (PRA) methods with groups of women from 11 micro-enterprises in ten villages and five control villages showed that,when an improved domestic water supply does not function, the entrepreneurs groups have a statistically higher loss of the economic use of water and time than the control groups. The extra income that women gain when the supply works and is used economically helps poor families to bridge the dry season. It could further be quantitatively proven that male female gender relations were significantly better in the entrepreneurs group. This was not so for mother-daughter relationships, which gave new insights into the need to address gender equality issues with the women themselves and with SEWA, the supporting agency. These findings support the view that rural poverty and the status of women would receive a significant boost if policy makers focused on providing employment opportunities for women along with improved water supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author and his four close friends collaborated on a collective biographical performance project in late December of 2002 which resulted in a performance piece entitled "The Body Politic: Common Conversations on Gender and the Nation." This paper documents the process undertaken as they prepared to represent their personal and collective memories of immigration, integration and assimilation into Canada's multicultural mosaic. Biographical performance provides an art form and a platform for individuals marked as visible and invisible minorities. When it crosses and blurs the borders between separate minority discourses, it has the potential strategically to unsettle dominant interpretations of Canadian identity.

The article reports on the release of the "Recommendations on Partner Accommodation and Dual-Career Appointments" by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Committee on Women in the Academic Profession in 2010. The paper is part of AAUP efforts to promote gender equity and work-family balance in the academy. The aim of the paper is to aid colleges and universities in addressing issues raised by dual-career academic appointments. The paper is available on the AAUP Web site.

The article focuses on the trend for the creation of gender cakes in a consumer-driven baby industry. It says that ultrasound technicians ask expectant parents to write down the sex of their baby on a piece of paper to be taken to a bakery. It states that television (TV) personalities Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar of the television program "19 Kids & Counting" have made the gender cake popular. It adds that the concoction has quickly had its mainstay in gender-reveal parties and baby showers.

After the newspaper "San Francisco Chronicle" readers' representative Dick Rogers received an inquiry from a reader asking about the newspaper's accuracy in reflecting the makeup of the community it serves, Rogers embarked on an analysis that led him to believe the paper was underperforming in the area of inclusion. Rogers asked his editorial assistant, Shelah Moody, to count "every face that appeared in every photo on the front of the Chronicle sections for a month," he wrote in a February 25 2004 column. "We randomly picked December. Nearly 2,000 images were categorized by race and gender. The results were eyeopening," Roger said. By gender, the newspaper's Datebook section came closest to balance, and it still had an 18-point disparity, 59% male, 41% female. Next was Bay Area at 68% male and 32% female, the front page at 72% and 28%, Business nearly the same at 76% and 24%, and Sports a whopping 90% male and 10% female. Moody and Rogers looked at race as well as gender. Rogers points out in this column that numbers alone don't explain much and by themselves, shouldn't dictate news coverage.

The article presents a study which reveals the four-variable screening tool for screening obstructive sleep apnea within 90 days of stroke. The researchers refer the predictors of sleep apnea to the variables including body mass index, gender, blood pressure, and snoring. It implies that the four-variable screening tool may be an accurate predictor of sleep apnea compared to other paper-based tool.

The article lists various papers that were published in the March 2013 issue of the periodical including "Gender and Education," "History of Education" and "Education Economics."

Smuggling Jewish children out of the Warsaw ghetto was by necessity quiet work. It was invisible work. And it was largely women's work. For Irena Sendler, a Catholic Pole in her 30s, and for the dozens of women in her underground network, gender was as crucial as code names, secret hand signals, safe houses and smuggling routes in a conspiracy that would save at least 2,500 young lives. A woman in the underground could carry a swaddled baby from one safe house to another and look like any other mother with a child. She could board a train with a 5-year-old girl bearing forged identity papers, bound for a convent that hid hundreds of Jewish children, and claim they were heading to visit relatives in the countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the highlights of the 2007 Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) annual meeting in San Diego, California on November 14-16, 2007. Egalitarians presented papers on topics related to gender and the Bible. The Evangelicals and Gender Study Group's focus for this year was on gender and missions. Professional violinist Corrie Covell came straight to Christians for Biblical Equality's (CBE) booth each day of the convention to help out.

The article focuses on Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has been a diagnosis predominantly identified with prepubescent boys and the majority of studies have reported that boys' diagnoses exceed those of girls by a ratio of 2:1 to 3:1.

This article reports on a study on an association between chronic exposure to pollutants and an inverted sex ratio. Conducted by James Argo, a medical geographer with the IntrAmericas Centre for Environment and Health, the study found that residents of Canadian communities who were exposed to emissions from nearby polluting industries gave birth to more females than males, a reversal of the normal sex ratio. Argo examined the genders of children born to parents who lived within 25 kilometers of a polluting industry, such as an oil refinery, metal smelter, or pulp mill.