(토요모임) [7. Dec. 2019] Saturday meeting topic

[Scarlet]

Howdy !  It's me Scarlett !   

This week we have 3 categories of topics. 

◈ Small talks : 

- Culture of Europe

- Morning Special Global Headlines

◈ Gender and Generational Equality :

- Gender equality in STEM is possible. These countries prove it

- Hidden Figures Movie Exposes A New Real Figure

- Closing the STEM Gender Gap: Why Is It Important and What Can You Do to Help?

◈ Cybersecurity for Kids :

- Here's how we make the internet safer for children

◈ Global Economy with New Paradigm :

- Why we need the 'Davos Manifesto' for a better kind of capitalism

- Go game master quits saying machines 'cannot be defeated'

Hope you enjoy the topics. 

With luv 

Scarlett

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The ‘gender-equality paradox’ in STEM fields – BBC News night

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David Attenborough and Greta Thunberg's plea for the planet

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Small Talks - Culture of Europe

Europe map 2018 from magical planet 4

Europe map 2018 from magical planet 421464 ~ Europe Map 2018. Archived on world map and published on June 3rd, 2019 by Dom Newt is one of best Europe Map 2018 with 58/100 rate from 4 user. For more pictures, check out our gallery below!

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Europe Map

About Europe

Europe is the 6th largest continent, comprising 4,000,000 sq mi (10,360,000 sq km) including adjacent islands (1992 est. pop. 512,000,000). It is actually a vast peninsula of the great Eurasian land mass. By convention, it is separated from Asia by the Urals and the Ural River in the east; by the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus in the southeast; and by the Black Sea, the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles in the south. The Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar separate it from Africa. Europe is washed in the north by the Arctic Ocean, and in the west by the Atlantic Ocean, with which the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are connected.
The huge Alpine mountain chain, of which the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Carpathians, the Balkans, and the Caucasus are the principal links, traverses the continent from west to east. The highest points are Mt. Elbrus (18,481 ft/5,633 m) in the Caucasus and Mont Blanc (15,771 ft/4,807 m) in the Alps. Europe's lowest point (92 ft/28 m below sea level) is the surface of the Caspian Sea. Between the mountainous Scandinavian peninsula in the north and the Alpine chain in the south lie the Central European Uplands surrounded by the great European plain, stretching from the Atlantic coast of France to the Urals.

A large part of this plain (which is interrupted by minor mountain groups and hills) has fertile agricultural soil; in the east and north there are vast steppe, forest, lake, and tundra regions. South of the Alpine chain extend the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas, which are largely mountainous. The Po plain, between the Alps and the Apennines, and the Alföld plain, between the Carpathians and the Alps, are fertile and much-developed regions. Among the chief river systems of Europe are, from east to west, those of the Volga, the Don, the Dnieper, the Danube, the Vistula, the Oder, the Elbe, the Rhine, the Rhône, the Loire, the Garonne, and the Tagus.

Europe can be divided into seven geographic regions: Scandinavia (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark); the British Isles (the United Kingdom and Ireland); W Europe (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Monaco); S Europe (Portugal, Spain, Andorra, Italy, Malta, San Marino, and Vatican City); Central Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary); SE Europe (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and the European part of Turkey); and E Europe (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, the European portion of Russia, and by convention the Transcaucasian countries of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan).

Article source : https://www.infoplease.com/atlas/europe

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< Questions >

Q1. How many countries are in Europe?

Q2. What is Europe most known for?

Q3. Which country do you want to visit in Europe? Why?

Q4. How many countries did you visit in Europe? What do you know about it?

Q5. Above maps show us some of interesting traits of European countries in 2018. Which country shows least English proficiency? what is the reason for that?

Q6. What is the biggest differences between USA and Europe?

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Small Talks - Morning Special Global Headlines

▶Touch! Global Headlines (2019. Dec. 02. Mon. ~ 2019. Dec. 4. Wed.)

HEADLINE 5 (2019. Dec. 02. Mon.)

Seoul has kicked off a “fine dust tackling” measure which bans drivers of vehicles that are categorized as Grade 5 in terms of emission from the areas within the Seoul City Wall.

HEADLINE 2 (2019. Dec. 03. Tue.)

With the U.S. Congress seemingly unable to pass a bill to fund President Trump’s border wall proposal, concerns are mounting over another government shutdown.

HEADLINE 3 (2019. Dec. 03. Tue.) 

A deadly clash between Mexican security forces and drug-cartel gunmen took place over the weekend leaving at least 21 people dead.

HEADLINE 4 (2019. Dec. 03. Tue.)

Moody’s Investors Service has forecast a GDP growth of 5.8% for China next year.

HEADLINE 3 (2019. Dec. 4. Wed.)

U.S. Homeland Security has announced plans to expand facial recognition checks for travelers arriving to and departing from the country to also include U.S. citizens.

HEADLINE 4 (2019. Dec. 4. Wed.)

The Indian Navy has welcomed its first woman pilot.

HEADLINE 5 (2019. Dec. 4. Wed.)

Dictionary.com has chosen “existential” as its 2019 Word Of the Year.

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▶News Focus 1 (2019. Dec. 02. Mon.)

Several thousand people marched in France on Saturday to protest against alarming levels Where do you safely bury more than 28,000 cubic meters of deadly radioactive waste for the next million years?
This is a pressing issue facing Germany as it closes all of its nuclear power plants in the coming years, and experts are now hunting for somewhere to bury almost 2,000 containers of high-level radioactive waste. The site must be beyond rock-solid, with no groundwater or earthquakes that could cause a leakage.
Currently, high-level radioactive waste is stored in temporary facilities, but these facilities were only designed to hold the waste for a few decades.
-pressing / rock-solid

▶News Focus 1 (2019. Dec. 03. Tue.)

People in China are now required to have their faces scanned when registering new mobile phone services, as the authorities seek to verify the identities of the country's hundreds of millions of internet users.

When the regulations were announced in September, the Chinese media did not make a big deal of it.  But online, hundreds of social media users voiced concerns about the increasing amount of data being held on them.

Facial recognition is becoming a part of daily life in China, however there has been some blow-back. Earlier this year, a university professor sued a wildlife park for making facial recognition mandatory for visitors - sparking a wider debate about the state's mass collection of data on its citizens.

-a big deal / blow-back

▶News Focus 3 (2019. Dec. 03. Tue.) 

An Italian MP has asked his girlfriend to marry him during a parliamentary debate on post-earthquake reconstruction.

Flavio Di Muro, a member of the far-right party the League, made the proposal on Thursday as MPs prepared to vote on measures to assist central Italian regions struck by earthquakes in 2016.
"Elisa, will you marry me?” the MP asked, producing the ring while looking at his partner, Elisa De Leo, as she watched on from the public gallery above.
However, the Speaker of the chamber was less enthusiastic and reprimanded Di Muro.“I understand this, however, I don’t think it’s appropriate to use an intervention for this.”
But if you’re wondering, she said yes.

-enthusiastic / reprimanded

▶News Focus 1 (2019. Dec. 4. Wed.) 

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki revealed in an interview Sunday with CBS’ 60 Minutes that she doesn’t allow her kids to use the main version of the video streaming site, allowing them only to use YouTube Kids.

YouTube has come under fire in recent years for promoting inappropriate and sometimes disturbing videos to children through its algorithm. The Kids version of the site, which launched in April, provides a curated experience to children that walls them off from adult content.

The company has since clamped down on search terms that bring up videos of young kids, and has eliminated creeps’ abilities to post comments on them.

-walls them off / clamped down 

Article source : https://home.ebs.co.kr/morning/board/6/502387/view/10010626029?c.page=1&hmpMnuId=101&searchKeywordValue=0&bbsId=502387&fileClsCd=ANY&searchKeyword=&searchCondition=&searchConditionValue=0&

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< Questions >

Q1. Do you concerned about other country's news? Why or Why not? 

Q2. What do you think of  “fine dust tackling” measure of Seoul? Is it workable? 

Q3. What do you think of Trump’s border wall proposal? If our government set up border wall plan, what would you say about it? 

Q4. If nuclear power plant is built up and all the radioactive waste is buried safely in your backyard. I think the government would pay a lot of money for it. Well.... But there are only one worry, which is that we have earthquake more frequently. would you agree with plan? 

Q5. People in China are now required to have their faces scanned when registering new mobile phone services, as the authorities seek to verify the identities of the country's hundreds of millions of internet users. What do you think of this facial recognition application policy ?

Q6. Have you ever worried about the criminal use of facial recognition technology ?

Q7. According to news, an Italian MP has asked his girlfriend to marry him during a parliamentary debate on post-earthquake reconstruction. What do you think of his attitude? If it happens in Korea what would be the other politician's response to it? What would be the citizen's response to it ? 

Q8. If you have your kids, would you let your kids to watch YouTube?

Q9.Currently, kids' YouTuber was very sensational because they can make lots of money and can gain fame as an influencer. What do you think of kids' YouTuber ? Do you agree or disagree? 

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Gender equality in STEM is possible. These countries prove it

05 Mar 2019/ Alex Thornton/ Senior Writer, Formative Content

There should be no shortage of inspirational role models for young girls dreaming of a career in science. Women have been responsible for some of the most important scientific breakthroughs that shaped the modern world, from Marie Curie’s discoveries about radiation, to Grace Hopper’s groundbreaking work on computer programming, and Barbara McClintock’s pioneering approach to genetics.

But too often their stories aren’t just about the difficulties they faced in cracking some of the toughest problems in science, but also about overcoming social and professional obstacles just because of their gender. And many of those obstacles still face women working and studying in science today.

Globally 72% of scientific researchers are men. Only one in five countries achieve what is classed as “gender parity” with women making up 45%-55% of researchers. And in only a handful do women working in science outnumber men – with distinct regional variations.

In the EU 41% of scientists and engineers are women. But women outnumber men in those professions in Lithuania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Portugal and Denmark, as well as in non-EU member Norway.

But less than a third of researchers are women in Hungary, Luxembourg, Finland and, perhaps most surprisingly, Germany, which is actually led by an accomplished female scientist, Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Across Europe as a whole, men dominated high and medium high-technology manufacturing: 83% of scientists and engineers are male in those sectors, compared with 55% in scientific services.

In Asia, women make up the majority of researchers in Azerbaijan, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia and Kuwait.

In the Americas, Bolivia, Venezuela, Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala, Argentina and Panama all have more than 50% female researchers, as do New Zealand and Tunisia.

So what is special about these countries?

For some, especially in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the gender parity in science is a legacy of their membership of the Soviet Union and its satellite bloc, where female participation in science was actively encouraged, often in government-funded facilities. Others, like the Nordic countries, lead the world in gender equality thanks to ambitious welfare and social policies that help women in the workplace.

Globally, women tend to be employed more in the public sector, while even in countries with gender parity, such as Latvia and Argentina, men are over-represented in the private sector, where wages are often higher.

Women are also better represented in the health sector, as opposed to engineering and information technology, so that countries with more prominent medical research tend to have a better balance of women.

All over the world, there is the phenomenon of the “leaky pipeline” of lost talent. Girls are attracted to science at school, and actually make up the majority of science graduates with bachelor’s degrees. Even at master’s level women are in the majority.

But there is a dramatic drop in numbers at PhD level, and the discrepancy gets wider still at researcher level.

Even when women are employed, they often face significant glass ceilings. In the UK, for example, the proportion of women at management level in science and technology is just 13%. The effect is found in academia as well. One study found that while 61% of bioscience postgraduate students were women, just 15% of their professors were. There is also evidence that women are typically given less money in research grants, and find it harder to obtain venture capital for science and technology start-ups.

Some women are put off careers in science because of the difficulty of combining work with family life – although, as in many other professions, those issues can be addressed with changes in policy and workplace behaviour. But deeper cultural stereotypes play a significant role too. UNESCO has pointed to a “persistent bias that women cannot do as well as men” that is self perpetuating, and often informs women’s view of their own capabilities and achievements.

But these stereotypes can be overcome. India has seen a substantial increase in women studying and working in engineering, once seen as a “masculine” discipline. Parents often encourage daughters into engineering because of good employment prospects, and a perception it is a “friendlier” area than computer science. The role India’s female engineers – the “rocket women of ISRO” – have played in the country’s space programme has been widely celebrated. 

Increasing the number of women in science isn’t only about harnessing the best talent to tackle the challenges facing humanity. Science is often a foundation for well-paid careers that boost the economic security of women, and in turn give them a greater social and political voice. And as the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report makes clear, the benefits this can bring are shared by society as a whole, whatever one’s gender.

Article source : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/03/gender-equality-in-stem-is-possible/

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Hidden Figures Movie Exposes A New Real Figure

Jan 07, 2018 /Olympia LePoint/ Rocket Scientist, TED Speaker & Author

When I saw Hidden Figures, two thoughts entered my mind. I experienced gratitude, and I felt shock. To further explain, Hidden Figures is receiving many stellar as well as controversial reviews.  From its Oscar talk to its soundtrack discussions, Hidden Figures is a movie that is stirring up major conversations in the entertainment and science worlds. And it is a film that I personally felt compelled to review.  For I am a real life “hidden figure.”  I am a real female rocket scientist of color. While watching the film, I was simultaneously inspired and surprised by what I relived through its scenes. 

Directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Theodore Melf and Allison Schroeder, the Hidden Figures film depicts the real life struggles of three genius women Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (played by Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (played by Janelle Monáe),  who were instrumental in  launching astronaut John Glenn (played by Glen Powell) to space and changing the way NASA viewed the technical competence of African-American women.  The film is set during a time where racial segregation, sexual segregation and educational segregation posed great hindrances to not only women, but especially to women of color.  Through the character’s struggles brilliantly portrayed in the 20th Century Fox film, the audience is cleverly hypnotized into fully understanding the racial challenges of three separate segregation stories interwoven into one uplifting plot.  The film does an extraordinary job in honoring these three women who helped reenergized the world as  the first African-American Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) experts during the American Space Race in the specific year 1961.  To add, the math in the film was accurately applied. Naturally, these aspects of the film are inspiring.  However, some movie scenes left me unsettled.

I am a young “hidden figure” who is choosing to be exposed. I helped build and launch NASA rockets through mathematical calculations as a rocket scientist for nearly ten years at a major aerospace company. I won many awards as a rocket scientist.  And Hidden Figures reintroduced a bit of shock to me. I was surprised that my experiences were almost identical to Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson’s stories. When I watched the struggles these ladies faced in the film, tears ran down my face. I intimately knew how they felt.  Despite being a scientist nearly 40 years after these ladies’ stories, I was brought back into time where my experiences were being reenacted in this film.  Three personal experiences jumps from the screen onto this page.

1. Women bonded together in the bathroom to for a powerful purpose.

A moving scene in Hidden Figures surrounds a bathroom scene.  Katherine Johnson is newly assigned to a work group with only white men, and the “colored ladies bathroom” is nearly a half mile away from her work station.  She runs there, because no other colored women’s restrooms are near. When she arrives, the restroom is her safe haven.  It remains so until she is caught in the rain. She returns to her desk late and soaking wet.  From her experience, her NASA boss, Al Harrison (played by Kevin Costner) makes a leadership move to passionately remove segregated restrooms from his NASA locations.

My real life experience is very similar to the bathroom scene which happened nearly 20 years ago.  When I was first hired as a rocket scientist, I received the best piece of advice in the ladies’ bathroom. On my second day, this man (who later would become one of my biggest supporters and professional leads) walked passed me and his mouth dropped open.  He looked at me puzzled.  He began walking slowly around me as if I was a museum exhibit.  I was new scientist, and I honestly did not know how to respond to his actions.  He circled me again, never saying a word. He looked at me as if I was an alien from another planet.  At the time, I was unaware that he was surprised that a woman had been hired into the engineering group.  But soon after, I discovered he was one of the “supportive guys.”

Moments later, some of the administrative assistants in clerical roles, motioned for me to join them in the ladies’ bathroom.  They introduced themselves and told me that they were supporting me, because they were awaiting to see another female engineer. And they told me that whenever I am upset, never let the male engineers see me cry.  When I asked why, they explained that a couple of the men would do anything to provoke emotion from some women. They needed reason to suggest giving a man the job instead of a woman. It was not everyone, but just a few men. These particular men would label the women as “too emotional to handle the work.” These ladies encouraged me go to the ladies room whenever I felt emotional. 

I was in disbelief, until I witnessed this fact for myself.  Numerous times I saw other women challenged.  I was often challenged too.  But I always remained calm and took their advice. In the process, I unknowingly turned off my feelings in order to execute the work.  I did this action for the sake of science. My love of science overruled any experience, and it gave other women hope. And in turn, these ladies gave me hope. Later, several administrative assistants asked me to mentor their young daughters who have since become young scientist, doctors, lawyers and civic leaders as a result. 

2. Extra challenges still exist for women of color in STEM.

There was a scene in the movie where Katherine Johnson is told that “there is no protocol for women to give technical briefings” by Paul Stafford (played by Jim Parsons).  Yet through the support of her executive boss, she is invited into a boardroom to explain the last necessary calculations to successfully help the Friendship 7 mission land given its reentry trajectory. When she enters the room, men look at her in shock, because she is a young woman of color. Equally she looks like a deer caught in headlights, until she relies on her mathematical skills to calm her and prove her value on the NASA Friendship 7 program.

When I saw this scene, tears ran down my face.  I literally knew how Katherine Johnson felt in the inside. I thought to myself, Katherine went through this too?

Through watching this scene, I relived my character-defining moment as a scientist. After much hard work, I became an expert in knowing how explosions could occur within and outside of rockets.  I understood rocket designs and authorized engine tests. I stayed at work for long hours after everyone left because I knew I had to perform twice as hard, like the character Katherine Johnson. 

Olympia LePoint performs mathematical calculations. Image courtesy of

California State University Northridge Alumni Association.

As an expert, I would attend design briefings with over 200 men. I was lucky if I saw another woman in the room. And the most defining moment is when a program manager suggested that he present my work instead of me.  Like in the movie, he said, “There is no protocol for a young woman like yourself to give these technical briefings.”

Thankfully two weeks earlier, one of the more seasoned female African-American engineers took me aside and warned me that there had never been an African-American woman to present the work that I was creating. And fortunately, she gave me empowering words to use. 

I said to this program manager, “There may not be a protocol.  But I am fully prepared to give the presentation of my work that I have created within the last 6 months.  I am the author of the work, no one else.” 

Olympia LePoint used mathematics to helped launch 28 NASA Space Shuttle Mission

 to Space. Image courtesy of California State University Northridge Alumni Association.

He did not anticipate my response, and he miraculously agreed. I gave the presentation to 500 NASA officials. The mathematics gave me comfort as I presented. Later he thanked me for my presentation. And other engineers called me the “Engine News Reporter,” because my presentations were the most organized anyone had ever seen. Through being the first African-American female at the age of 23 to give a NASA briefing of this type, I inspired other program managers to give opportunities to other young engineers. 

3. True leaders are individuals who stand up to inequality and promote knowledge in the face of challenge.

Katherine Johnson shakes John Glenn’s hand in the movie Hidden Figures.

All characters give a stunning performance in life-transforming scenes paired with well-placed soundtrack music produced by Benjamin Wallfisch, Pharrell Williams and Hans Zimmer.  In the movie, Dorothy Vaughan oversees the calculation area despite not being a supervisor.  She foresees that the new IBM machine will replace all her co-workers’ jobs. Courageous, she learns a new programming skill and shares her knowledge within her group. Further, Mary Jackson realizes that in order to become the first African-American design engineer, she must petition a court to attend a segregated school for engineering classes.  Al Harrison dismantles segregation activities in his offices to promote team knowledge. And Jon Glenn stands up for Katherine in making sure she returns to the program.

Leadership is standing up for what is right, even though it is easier to run away.

I too had a defining leadership experience through an unconventional occurrence. I am truly thankful for the various managers, directors and CEOs who supported me. They did their best to guide me given that I was unique.  But one day, my experience almost turned fearful.  Not everyone was excited to promote knowledge. I just won Engineer of the Year Modern Day Technology Leader Award, and I was the youngest from the company to receive that type of award.  Then one day after work, I went outside to find my car deeply scratched from end to end with racial slurs, in anger from my award. I reported it.  The company did everything it could. Unfortunately the person was never caught. But, I had a choice.  I could become angry. Or I could become powerful.

Olympia LePoint supported Mission Control from her R.O.S.C. desk,

now an exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California. 

 Image courtesy of California State University Northridge Alumni Association.

I will always thank my manager Steve for helping me be courageous during that time. He told me that terrible things may happen in life, but I show my strength by how I respond.  He said that I was at the company for a powerful reason.  And it was my job to keep my head focused on the science.  And my work will always speak for itself.  He did everything he could to provide access to higher training for me.  And I will always be thankful for Steve’s executive mentoring. Although I had to repaint my entire car and be escorted at nights, I realized that sometimes we must go through challenging situations to become the leaders we wish to become.  With Steve’s leadership and support, I later channeled my emotions into producing life-changing science that changed how NASA views System Safety and Reliability practices. This work later landed me into a new leadership role where I supported Mission Control during Space Shuttle launches.  It was in that room where I was helped launch my dear friend, retired NASA astronaut Robert Curbeam to space, who flew John Glenn on his last mission to space.  Sometimes life comes back around in a full circle.

In conclusion, I highly encourage audiences to watch Hidden Figuress.  Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Jim Parsons and Kevin Costner all give phenomenal performances.  They honor the women who made my career as a rocket scientist possible. I honor Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson’s courageous life stories, and I am thrilled that this film was made.

Article source : https://www.huffingtonpost.com/olympia-lepoint/movie-review-hidden-figur_b_13997592.html

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Closing the STEM Gender Gap: Why Is It Important and What Can You Do to Help?

11/10/2013 11:16 am ET Updated Jan 23, 2014 

Celia Islam/ Contributor/ High school senior in Vienna, Virginia; President of Children’s Trust Fund

If you asked my 9-year-old niece what she wants to be when she grows up, she would quickly answer that she wants to be a writer or teacher. If you asked my 7-year-old nephew what he wants to be when he grows up, he would proudly tell you that he wants to be a scientist or an engineer. These answers make sense considering that my niece loves reading books and taking care of her American Girl doll while my nephew enjoys looking up science experiments and making Coke bottles explode with Mentos. 

What’s so wrong about this story? After all, we need teachers and writers as much as we need scientists and engineers. Besides, what a kid wants to be when he or she is in elementary school isn’t necessarily indicative of their future career choices... right?  

Fast-forward eight years. My junior year of high school, I took both IB Biology and IB Physics. The number of girls in my IB Biology class was about the same as the number of boys in the class. On the other hand, the number of girls in my IB Physics class was significantly smaller than the number of boys in the class. Similarly, in the Intel Science and Engineering Fair, the world’s top science and engineering competition for high school students, women made up 54 percent of the finalists in the biochemistry category but only 17 percent of the finalists in the computer science category. 

Fast-forward eight more years. In 2010, women received on average about 14 percent of computer science undergraduate degrees at major research universities, and that number has not changed much since then. The trend that started in elementary school that encourages girls to go into the humanities and boys to go into engineering and mathematics has prevailed throughout high school, college, and well into the workplace.

The stereotypes we ingrain into our children at as early an age as four or five don’t just magically disappear when they get older. Instead, those stereotypes strengthen as children grow older and continue to explore the society that continually reinforces these stereotypes. 

Why is it so important that we encourage more women to go into the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)?

Many of my friends, classmates, and even adult teachers and neighbors (both male and female) whom I have spoken to about this issue don’t seem to understand what the big deal is. So what if women hold less than 20% of computer science or engineering degrees? So what if fewer and fewer female students are enrolling in physics and technology classes as the years go by? We’ve come a long way since the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, they tell me. Maybe it’s time to give it a rest. 

Here’s why it’s so important to encourage more women to go into STEM fields. In a country in which the average women still earns 77 cents for every dollar that a man earns, and in a country in which the majority of single parents are single mothers, getting more women into STEM could both reduce the gender wage gap and ensure that single mothers don’t have to struggle to put food on the table. Not only are there currently more jobs in STEM than in any other industry, but most of these high-tech jobs are high-paying, as well. According to the National Council for Women and Information Technology, there will be around 1.4 million computer specialist job openings expected in the U.S. by 2020. Women have the capability to hold 50 percent of those jobs. Yet, in order to get to the point where women earn fifty percent of STEM degrees and hold fifty percent of STEM jobs, we need to start at the very beginning. 

By the very beginning, I mean pre-K, when kids are just beginning to learn basic math and science skills and most likely have not yet been exposed to the stereotypes regarding men and women in STEM. By the time women reach college, or even high school, it may be too late to change their minds about going into STEM. After all, choosing a major or a career is a lifelong process of determining what we enjoy doing. And much of what we enjoy doing is determined early on by outside forces such as parents, teachers, and society’s general expectations. 

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer, recently mentioned that of the 35 kids in a Stanford technology camp for young children, only five were girls. Of those five girls, Sandberg herself had enrolled two of them (her niece and her niece’s friend). What does this say about the parents of the girls who could have been in that camp? If a girl’s parents don’t believe in their daughter’s ability to succeed in engineering and technology, how can we expect that girl to grow up and believe in it herself? In order to get more women into STEM, we need to start by eliminating our subconscious attempts to gear our young boys towards STEM and keep our young girls in the dark. 

Now, what about those of us who don’t have children yet? Can we do anything to help the gender gap in STEM? Yes, yes we can. According to Jocelyn Goldfein, the director of engineering at Facebook, the reason there aren’t more women computer scientists is “because there aren’t more women computer scientists.” If girls see that most of their female mentors and older female friends aren’t going into STEM, they are less likely to go into those fields themselves. Part of the reason behind this phenomenon is the stereotype threat, which states that if we are aware of a stereotype, we are more likely to act in accordance with it. In order to help our young girls to not be afraid of STEM fields such as engineering and computer science, older girls and young women need to show that we are not afraid of these fields ourselves. 

Individually, we can’t change the fact girls make up a very small percentage of the programmers, engineers, and scientists shown on television and in movies, nor can we change the way the media portrays girl “geeks.” What we can do, however, is make a difference in the lives of the young girls we know personally. And one day, the young girls we help will grow up to cure diseases, write computer programs, discover the next technological advances, and ultimately change the world.

Article source : https://www.huffpost.com/entry/closing-the-stem-gender-g_b_3779893

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< Questions >

Q1. What is the gender-equality paradox? 

Q2. Please describe your discussion members in detail !

Q3. What do you think of current status of gender parity in your country? 

Q4. How many career women who have a high degree could you find around you? 

Q5. Could you find any successful woman role model in our society?

Q6. Why do we have glass cealing for women in Korea? Where does it originated from?  

Q7. If your daughter want to study doctors degeree in engineering dept., would you let her do it? 

Q8. How do reduce the gender gap in engineering dept.?

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Q1. What images are coming up when you heard about below words? 

Stereotype	NASA	Gender role	Racism	Math
Scientist	Spacecraft	Hidden figures	Novel prize	Sexism

Q2. In your country, do you have gender specific jobs?

Q3. In your country are the responsibilities of a mother the same as the responsibilities of a father to their families?

Q4. The University of Texas professor became the first woman to win the Abel Prize, considered the “Nobel Prize of Math,” on Tuesday. Do you know any women Novel prize winner? 

Q5. Are there different expectations for sons and daughters?

Q6. What jobs are deemed as appropriate for men but inappropriate for women?

Q7. Is it common for women and men to take part in sporting activities? Do they take part in the same type of sporting activities?

Q8. Have you been the victim of discrimination? What kind of discrimination?

Do you have many friends of a different race or ethnicity? Are these differences meaningful?

Q9. What are traditional male and female social roles and responsibilities? Are you a traditional person?

Q10. Do you trust men or women more in any particular profession? How do you feel about male nurses? How about a female president?

Q11. Women are on average paid less than men for doing the same job. Why is this?

Q12. When you are with your friends of the same gender, do you complain about the opposite gender? What kind of complaints do your friends have?

Q13. If someone tells a racist or sexist joke, how do you react? If you laugh, does that mean you are racist or sexist?

Q14. What do you think about gay marriage? Should gay couples be allowed to adopt children?

Q15. Who suffers more discrimination on the basis of age? Old people or young people?

Q16. Are you a member of a religion? How does your religion treat members of other religions?

Q17. Which types of people suffer the least discrimination? Are you one of them? If not, do you envy those people?

Q18. Is the level of discrimination in the world rising or dropping? What makes you think so? 

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Here's how we make the internet safer for children

29 Nov 2019 / Joanna Rubinstein / President & CEO, World Childhood Foundation, USA
Lina Fernandez / Special Projects Manager, World Childhood Foundation USA

The internet can be a place of play or peril for children

This year the World Wide Web celebrates its 30th anniversary. In that time, the internet has transformed every facet of our lives, from how we learn and work, to stimulating economic growth and increasing access to markets.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most widely ratified convention in the world. As we mark both birthdays, it is important to take stock of how this transformational technology impacts children. There are many benefits: it provides children with access to information, education and entertainment, and serves as a great communication tool. But like any technology, it can be misused and expose children to risk and harm. We have to ask ourselves, is the digital world today a safe environment for children?

Today, more than 50% of the world’s children experience violence every year. In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by all the world’s nations, representing a global commitment to a better future for all. SDG 16.2 calls for an end to all forms of violence against children by 2030; target 9.C calls for the expansion of broadband to reach the unconnected in the developing world where most of the world’s children live.

In order to achieve these two targets, we urgently need to prioritize children’s safety online. Every day, children are exposed to more atrocities online and we learn how connectivity enables the violation of children’s rights. It is our duty to find a way to keep our children safer online without denying them access to the benefits of the digital world.

■ What are we doing to keep children safer online?

Some countries have put in place a regulatory framework to control the online space that's similar to the regulation of offline spaces. The UK and Australia lead the race in protecting children online. They have developed a safe per design and by default code that companies must follow, created child-friendly terms and conditions and appointed special commissioners in charge of protecting children’s rights in the digital space.
Experts in the field have developed different initiatives and tools to guide countries and companies’ decision-making processes towards a safer online space. Some of these initiatives are the WePROTECT Model of National Response framework and the Children’s Rights and Business Principles (CRBP), developed by Save the Children, UNICEF and UN Global Compact, and the ITU’s Child Online Protection guidelines, to name but a few.

Companies like NetClean have developed tools that help detect images and videos of child sexual abuse on computers in business environments. The NGO Thorn developed a tool that can be deployed directly onto a company’s platform to identify, remove and report child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Thorn also organizes hackathons to fight child sexual abuse and exploitation. A different product, Griffeye, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to scan for previously unclassified content, compare it with the attributes of known CSAM content and flag suspect items for review by an agent, helping to speed up investigations.

Elsewhere, Microsoft has developed PhotoDNA, a tool that creates hashes of images and compares them to a database of hashes already identified and confirmed to be CSAM. Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Google work closely with law enforcement, governments and NGOs to develop tools and approaches for combatting child abuse and exploitation online.

■ Are we doing enough?

Early this year, The Economist Intelligence Unit launched the Out of the Shadows Index to measure the response of 60 countries to child sexual abuse and exploitation. This new tool also looks at the response of the ICT industry to child online sexual violence. The index and the survey of some of the broadband commissioners indicate that we are not doing enough; no country has a perfect child online protection system in place.

The amount of child sexual abuse material on the internet grows every year and just last year, technology companies reported 45 million photos and videos that depicted child abuses. We don’t even know what proportion of all the images they constitute.

A recent investigation by The New York Times suggests that “many tech companies failed to adequately police sexual abuse imagery on their platforms or failed to cooperate sufficiently with the authorities when they found it.” Unfortunately, there is no mandatory reporting for companies in the majority of the countries.

■ What can we do to make the digital world safer for all children?

Based on the recommendations of the new Child Online Safety report we need:

- a robust, effective and enforceable legal framework that protects children’s rights;
- a company culture that actively promotes child safety;
- the education of children on their online and offline rights;
- the education of children, parents, family, caregivers, educators, health professionals and community leaders in how to stay safe in the digital world;
- age-appropriate online products and services to mitigate risks (this includes all solutions that are being used by children).

We need to keep in mind that children and perpetrators are not virtual, but real people. We also need to support law enforcement agencies with technological solutions and funding so they can rescue more children and apprehend more perpetrators as quickly as possible.

We need a multi-prong approach to improve child online safety with the cooperation of all stakeholders. More support, investment, engagement and technical expertise from the private sector is also required.

We have an opportunity and an obligation to save millions of children from unnecessary suffering. Failing to do so will render our societies incapable of deriving the maximum benefit from the digital transformation. A safer online environment will only exist if everyone plays their role.

Article source : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/11/internet-safer-for-children-web-parents-digital/

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< Questions >

Q1. Did you heard about the sexual harrasment between kids at the kindergarden? What do you think of this news? 

Q2. Do you let your kids watch YouTube at home? 

Q3. If your kids watch inappropriate materials through the internet, how would you deal with it? 

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Why we need the 'Davos Manifesto' for a better kind of capitalism

01 Dec 2019 / Klaus Schwab / Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum

The Davos Manifesto: "We should seize this moment to ensure that stakeholder capitalism remains the new dominant model."

■ 'Stakeholder capitalism' is gaining momentum, in part thanks to the 'Greta Thunberg effect'
■ It offers the best opportunity to tackle today's environmental and social challenges
■ The World Economic Forum is launching a new 'Davos Manifesto'

What kind of capitalism do we want? That may be the defining question of our era. If we want to sustain our economic system for future generations, we must answer it correctly.

Generally speaking, we have three models to choose from. The first is “shareholder capitalism,” embraced by most Western corporations, which holds that a corporation’s primary goal should be to maximize its profits. The second model is “state capitalism,” which entrusts the government with setting the direction of the economy, and has risen to prominence in many emerging markets, not least China.

But, compared to these two options, the third has the most to recommend it. “Stakeholder capitalism,” a model I first proposed a half-century ago, positions private corporations as trustees of society, and is clearly the best response to today’s social and environmental challenges.

Shareholder capitalism, currently the dominant model, first gained ground in the United States in the 1970s, and expanded its influence globally in the following decades. Its rise was not without merit. During its heyday, hundreds of millions of people around the world prospered, as profit-seeking companies unlocked new markets and created new jobs.

But that wasn’t the whole story. Advocates of shareholder capitalism, including Milton Friedman and the Chicago School, had neglected the fact that a publicly listed corporation is not just a profit-seeking entity but also a social organism. Together with financial-industry pressures to boost short-term results, the single-minded focus on profits caused shareholder capitalism to become increasingly disconnected from the real economy. Many realize this form of capitalism is no longer sustainable. The question is: why have attitudes begun to change only now?

The Greta Thunberg effect

One likely reason is the “Greta Thunberg” effect. The young Swedish climate activist has reminded us that adherence to the current economic system represents a betrayal of future generations, owing to its environmental unsustainability. Another (related) reason is that millennials and Generation Z no longer want to work for, invest in, or buy from companies that lack values beyond maximizing shareholder value. And, finally, executives and investors have started to recognize that their own long-term success is closely linked to that of their customers, employees, and suppliers.

The result is that stakeholder capitalism is quickly gaining ground. The change in direction is long overdue. I first described the concept back in 1971, and I created the World Economic Forum to help business and political leaders implement it. Two years later, attendees at the Forum’s Annual Meeting signed the “Davos Manifesto,” which describes a firm’s principal responsibilities toward its stakeholders.

Now, others are finally coming to the “stakeholder” table. The US Business Roundtable, America’s most influential business lobby group, announced this year that it would formally embrace stakeholder capitalism. And so-called impact investing is rising to prominence as more investors look for ways to link environmental and societal benefits to financial returns.

Stakeholder capitalism at Davos

We should seize this moment to ensure that stakeholder capitalism remains the new dominant model. To that end, the World Economic Forum is releasing a new “Davos Manifesto,” which states that companies should pay their fair share of taxes, show zero tolerance for corruption, uphold human rights throughout their global supply chains, and advocate for a competitive level playing field – particularly in the “platform economy.”

But to uphold the principles of stakeholder capitalism, companies will need new metrics. For starters, a new measure of “shared value creation” should include “environmental, social, and governance” (ESG) goals as a complement to standard financial metrics. Fortunately, an initiative to develop a new standard along these lines is already under way, with support from the “Big Four” accounting firms and led by the chairman of the International Business Council, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan.

The second metric that needs to be adjusted is executive remuneration. Since the 1970s, executive pay has skyrocketed, mostly to “align” management decision-making with shareholder interests. In the new stakeholder paradigm, salaries should instead align with the new measure of long-term shared value creation.
Finally, large companies should understand that they themselves are major stakeholders in our common future. Clearly, all companies should still seek to harness their core competencies and maintain an entrepreneurial mindset. But they should also work with other stakeholders to improve the state of the world in which they are operating. In fact, this latter proviso should be their ultimate purpose.

An incredible opportunity for leaders

Is there any other way? State capitalism, its proponents would say, also pursues a long-term vision, and has enjoyed recent successes, especially in Asia. But while state capitalism may be a good fit for one stage of development, it, too, should gradually evolve into something closer to a stakeholder model, lest it succumb to corruption from within.

Business leaders now have an incredible opportunity. By giving stakeholder capitalism concrete meaning, they can move beyond their legal obligations and uphold their duty to society. They can bring the world closer to achieving shared goals, such as those outlined in the Paris climate agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda. If they really want to leave their mark on the world, there is no alternative.

Article source : https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/why-we-need-davos-manifesto-for-better-kind-of-capitalism/

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Go game master quits saying machines 'cannot be defeated'
Lee Se-dol retires from Chinese strategy game after playing against Google algorithm

The fourth showdown between Lee Se-dol (right) and AlphaGo, the artificial intelligence designed by Google’s London-based firm DeepMind, in 2016. Photograph: EPA

Agence France-Presse in Seoul/ Wed 27 Nov 2019 11.59 GMT

The only human ever to beat Google’s algorithm at the ancient Chinese strategy game Go has said he decided to retire because machines cannot be defeated.

Lee Se-dol’s five-match showdown with Google’s artificial intelligence program AlphaGo in 2016 raised both the game’s profile and fears of computer intelligence’s seemingly limitless learning capability.

The South Korean 18-time world champion lost all but one encounter in the series, but remains the only person to have won a game against AlphaGo. The machines have since developed much further – a self-teaching version of the algorithm beat its predecessor 100 games to none.

“Even if I become the number one, there is an entity that cannot be defeated,” Lee, 36, told Yonhap news agency. “With the debut of AI in Go games, I’ve realised that I’m not at the top even if I become the number one,” added Lee, who retired from professional Go competition last week.

Go originated in China 3,000 years ago and has been played for centuries, mostly in China, Japan and South Korea. The rules are simple – two players take turns placing black or white stones on a square board with a 19x19 grid. Whoever captures the most territory wins.

But the strategies needed to secure victory are complex, and there are said to be more possible move configurations than atoms in the universe.

Considered one of the greatest Go players of the modern era, Lee started playing at the age of five and turned pro just seven years later.

But he attributed his AlphaGo win to a bug in the program’s response to his “tricky” play. “My white 78 was not a move that should be countered straightforwardly,” he said.

Article source : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/27/go-game-master-quits-saying-machines-cannot-be-defeated

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< Questions for 'Davos Manifesto' >

Q1. What is the meaning of  'Davos Manifesto' ?

Q2. How the 4th industiral revolution change the scenary of economic paradigm? 

Q3. How the Sustatainable development concept and Climate change advocay change the scenary of economic paradigm? 

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< Questions for Go game between Human and AI >

Q1. Are you good at playing board games?

Q2. How dangerous do you think AI is?

Q3. What is the most popular game in your country?

Q4. Will computers ever beat us at games like football and tennis?

Q5. Would you rather play against a person or computer?