Some Qs people asked me on life issues and my replies to them - part 17

Manly? Oh, come on. Science and engineering are not manly. People simply put a ‘manly’ stamp on them. This is the main reason why they stay that way.

I contest the words, ‘even when given the full choice’.

Who gave a full choice to whom? For centuries women were made to sit at home. Then how can new circuits form in the brain to deal with ‘new things’?

In many regions of the world, girls are still not allowed to get education. According to global statistics, just 39 percent of rural girls attend secondary school. This is far fewer than rural boys (45 percent), urban girls (59 percent) and urban boys (60 percent).

Facts & Figures

60 percent of chronically hungry people are women and girls. (Source: WFP Gender Policy and Strategy.). How can you study without food?

Almost 70 percent of employed women in South Asia work in agriculture as labourers, as do more than 60 percent of employed women in sub-Saharan Africa. Women in sub-Saharan Africa collectively spend about 40 billion hours a year collecting water. When do they get time to study?

Women make up more than two-thirds of the world's 796 million illiterate people.

• While progress has been made in reducing the gender gap in urban primary school enrolment, data from 42 countries shows that rural girls are twice as likely as urban girls to be out of school.
• In South Asia a half-kilometre increase in the distance to school will decrease girls' enrolment by 20 percent. Because it is not safe and sound for them to travel such long distances.
• In Cambodia, 48 percent of rural women are illiterate compared to 14 percent of rural men.

A large gender gap remains in women's access to decision-making. Women make up fewer elected representatives in most rural and urban councils.They will have to listen to the male members of their families. Who gives choices to girls and women?

Even if some women manage to get higher education in science, Women are also less likely to be cited in science papers written by men. They get less grants, awards, prizes than men. The Matilda effect is a theory that addresses sexist discrimination in the world of science.

https://exploringyourmind.com/

the-matilda-effect-women-

science-and-discrimination/

Each day girls/women face a slow death. People killing her and her interest in science from bottom to top since birth.

Okay, I am an exception but exceptions are rare.

Very few girls can overcome so many obstacles at each step. No wonder they fall behind.

Given full opportunities and real choices, women too can excel. Who says they can’t?

Don’t try to create a pseudo-world of ‘equal opportunities’ when nothing like that exists in reality and ask a question that shifts the blame to the women. That is toxic patriarchy.

Oh by the way this space on quora Science Communication is being administered by a woman. Any objections following it? :)

Q: What do you make of the following:

'A gender equality paradox': Countries with more gender equality ha...

Krishna: 

While the world has achieved progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment under the Millennium Development Goals (including equal access to primary education between girls and boys), women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in ‘every part of the world’. UN says this.

Gender equality and women's empowerment

There are controversies around credibility of the index of gender equality., stemmed mostly from misunderstandings. On 2014, for example, JTBC News Channel in South Korea described the reason why South Korea had such a low rank. According to the news, some of the raw data used to calculate the index do not reflect the country's unique situation accurately, and that partially accounts for their rank. This conclusion is, while not entirely wrong, somewhat misleading. Since the final index is calculated by weighted averages of fourteen ratios, tweaking one or two ratios to be a little bit higher does not affect the result much.The index is designed to "measure gender-based gaps in access to resources and opportunities in countries rather than the actual levels of the available resources and opportunities in those countries.". It is not necessarily true that highly developed countries should have higher scores.

The US still can’t elect a woman president, whereas India did despite what some people claim! :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gl...

Yes, the constitution and law give it in some countries. But on the ground, it is rarely seen. Although the law says gender equality has been achieved in some countries, the ground situation tells a different story. Women still complain . Just because a few parameters say the equality has been achieved, there are several others that show a deplorable situation in the same countries. In reality it is an illusion.

Moreover, the so called ‘gender equality’ is a recent advance in some countries. As soon as you achieve something, if you want to see changes in every thing related to it, it is expecting too much. Let ground realities too change. Let psychology of people change. Give women time to cope with new changes. Let new circuits form in their brains so that they can deal with new subjects ( to women) with efficiency.

The Gender-Equality Paradox in Science, Technology, Engineering, an...

Women in less developed countries have to fight several things more than their counterparts in developed countries. So their adversities make them more strong and resilient and therefore they might accept challenges ( if they are allowed to) without complaining much.

These are the reasons I think for the things mentioned in the article whose link you gave.

But after listening to thousands of women in STEM fields ( I am a member of several of these groups) from all parts of the world, I have my own reservations about the things mentioned. The ground realities are quite different, women say.

The person who questioned: Fantastic! I don’t even know where to start praising it. Thanks so much, especially the links.

Q: What is the reincarnation rate?