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Celebrating International Women’s Day 2020

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Celebrating International Women’s Day 2020

The theme for International Women’s Day 2020 is #EachforEqual. At FutureLearn, we’re committed to forging a gender equal world and are proud to host a platform that enables our educators to share their knowledge with learners all over the world. 

We’ve been speaking to women who mentor courses on FutureLearn to find out about their careers and what led them there. We also spoke about drive, passion and inspiration.

A big thank you to Rebecca Gowland and Meg Pickard for sharing their wisdom with us. Rebecca is the lead educator on Durham University’s course Forensic Archeology and Anthropology and Meg leads the Institute of Coding’s online program Creating Digital Content. 

Feature: Rebecca Gowland, lead educator on the online course Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology, Durham University.

Please tell us a bit about yourself and your career so far: 

I’m a professor of bioarchaeology at Durham University and I’ve been fortunate enough to work in the Department of Archaeology here since 2006. I’ve always been fascinated by the depth of information that human skeletal remains can reveal about the lives of past peoples and I feel really privileged to be able to research and teach this subject. I also work closely with forensic practitioners and human rights lawyers to apply these skills to the identification of people from modern-day forensic contexts.

Do you feel your gender has influenced any decisions you’ve taken in your career as a bioarchaeologist, or has challenged you in any way? If so, how did you overcome this?

Being a woman and a mother has certainly influenced and enriched both my research and teaching in bioarchaeology, but it’s also been an enormous challenge! Combining motherhood and a demanding job is incredibly difficult and tiring, particularly when my boys were very young. But it has also taught me to be a more resilient, empathetic and effective academic.  Plus, my kids keep me sane and stop me from becoming a complete workaholic!

Do you have any advice for women working in male dominated industries?

Men tend to be more confident in the workplace because they’re not taught to second guess themselves to the extent that women are. They are also more likely to be listened to. Don’t let this put you off – it does not mean that they are better at their jobs than you! Believe in yourself, prepare well for the tasks that come your way, be confident, calm and positive. The rest will follow!

Do you have any female inspirations?

My female students inspire me. They are full of hope, energy and intellect. It’s really invigorating!

The short course Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology is free to join, sign up here.

 

Feature: Meg Pickard, course educator on Creating Digital Content, Institute of Coding. 

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I am a digital content, community and transformation consultant, facilitator and trainer with 22+ years of industry experience.
Also passionate about neurodiversity and ethical business.

Meg, What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

I was born on one continent and have lived, worked and been educated on three others (and travelled to two more!), so I’ve always felt like a “woman of the world”. But my experience plus background in anthropology and interest in social issues really opened my eyes to the reality of women’s lives around the globe. Women are half the planet, but are still underrepresented, underpaid, undereducated and at greater risk of poverty, discrimination and more. So International Women’s Day is a celebration of all the amazing women of the world, but also a reminder that there’s still more to do.

Do you feel your gender has influenced any decisions you’ve taken in your career, or has challenged you in any way? If so, how did you overcome this?

I was lucky to enter the working world at a time when, in the field of “new media” (digital content and community when widespread domestic web access was still very new), nobody was an expert because it was all so new. So we were all slightly making it up as we went along, and everyone was a bit of an imposter. Looking back, I can see how lucky that was, because it levelled the playing field a lot, and meant I didn’t start my career already at a disadvantage because of my gender. 

Unfortunately, over more than twenty years in technology, I have witnessed and been subjected to gender discrimination and everyday sexism. My particular bugbear? Male colleagues who repeat or minutely rephrase what a woman’s just said in a meeting, and everyone around the table applauds HIM for the idea. The best way to tackle that is for others to act as allies and call it out when it happens. Don’t make it a woman’s job to defend her own relevance as well as everything else!

Do you have any advice for women working in male dominated industries?

My advice for women in male-dominated fields is: don’t allow yourself to be held back by your gender, and for goodness sake, don’t hold yourself back either. 

A research study at Hewlett Packard a few years ago revealed that men apply for a job when they meet only 60% of the qualifications or desired experience, while women apply only if they meet 100% of them. It’s easy to sabotage your own career with doubt, especially when so many male colleagues don’t seem to be troubled by imposter syndrome.

Have confidence in your ability and potential, and learn to communicate with conviction. Resist the urge to dilute your communications with qualifiers like “I was just wondering, maybe we might consider…”. but instead speak with the confidence of your experience and skills; “We should…”. 

At the same time, find female mentors in your industry or a related one, and connect with other women in your workforce to boost, support and learn from each other.

Do you have any female inspirations?

I’ve been lucky to know and work with a number of amazing women over the years, and I draw a lot of inspiration and strength from them. Emily Bell, my former boss at The Guardian (now a Professor at Columbia University and Director of the Tow Centre for Digital Journalism), Heather Champ (former community manager of Flickr, now community consultant, artist and goat farmer), Rachel Coldicutt (technology expert and ethicist, most recently CEO of responsible tech think-tank doteveryone) and Kass Schmitt (technologist, entrepreneur and aspiring trans-atlantic solo sailor) among many others. I’m proud and privileged to know them. I hope that I can encourage my two daughters to be a little bit like them when they grow up.

 

Creating Digital Content is a free program created by the Institute of Coding and the University of Leeds. On the program you’ll learn:

Do you have any advice for women in the workplace, or an inspiration you’d like to share? Tell us in the comments.

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Word + Quiz: gully

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Word + Quiz: gully

: a deep ditch that was created by running water

_________

The word gully has appeared in 18 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on July 26 in “Overcrowded and More Dangerous, Mont Blanc Faces a Crisis” by Paige McClanahan:

But the dream comes with its own set of dangers. More than half a dozen routes lead to Mont Blanc’s summit, but just two — the Three Mountains Route, which starts from Chamonix, and the Normal Route, which starts from the neighboring community of Saint-Gervais — are accessible to climbers with only a moderate amount of experience. While the majority return from the summit unscathed, both itineraries entail risk.

The Normal Route — chosen by about three quarters of the climbers aiming for the summit — goes across the Grand Couloir, a steep, narrow gully that acts as a sort of bowling alley for falling rocks. Near the top, the path leads onto a narrow ridge of snow and ice, about 100 yards long and just a couple of feet wide, that’s flanked by steep drops. If you stumble there, you can fall to your death.

_________

Lesson of the Day: ‘5 Takeaways From a Super Tuesday That Changed the Democratic Race’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘5 Takeaways From a Super Tuesday That Changed the Democratic Race’

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Featured Article: “5 Takeaways From a Super Tuesday That Changed the Democratic Race”

March 3 was Super Tuesday, the biggest day of the Democratic presidential campaign. The results increasingly suggested a two-person race between candidates representing competing wings of the party.

In this lesson, you will analyze the results from Super Tuesday by first looking at a map of the results, then reading an article that analyzes those results. Then, we invite you to make and share your predictions about the future of the race and post those predictions here, along with the source(s) of your evidence for them.

Have you been following the Democratic primary race? Did you have a favorite candidate going into this week?

Look at the map at the top of the featured article and answer these three questions:

  • What do you notice? If you make a claim, tell what you noticed that supports your claim.

  • What do you wonder? What are you curious about that comes from what you notice in the map?

Read the article, then answer the following questions:

1. Who are the two front-runners that emerged in the Democratic presidential race after Super Tuesday? Do you have a preference for which you hope to become the eventual party nominee? Is your preference the same as your prediction for who you expect to become the Democratic candidate who will take on President Trump in the general election?

2. Where did Joseph Biden perform well on Super Tuesday? What reasons does the article provide for why he did so well in those states?

3. Where did Bernie Sanders perform well? What reasons does the article provide for his electoral strength in those states?

4. The article includes five takeaways from Super Tuesday:

  • Black voters power a resurgent Biden.

  • Sanders retains strong support. And the race could soon be a slog.

  • Momentum, not political organization or money, is what mattered.

  • Warren and Bloomberg fade.

  • The results exposed the party’s generational divide.

Choose one of the five and explain, in your own words, what the takeaway means and why it is important.

5. What is your reaction to Super Tuesday’s results? Why?

Based on what you now know about what happened on Super Tuesday, what predictions can you make for what will happen in the race for the nomination in the days and weeks ahead? Why?

Make at least one prediction, but ground it in evidence from the map, the article, the three graphs featured in the article, or any other information you can find in The Times or elsewhere.

We invite you to post those predictions here, as comments on this lesson, but please remember to also cite the source(s) for those predictions.

Are You a Good Person?

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Are You a Good Person?

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

Has anyone ever said that you were a good person? Is being good something you strive to be or aspire toward?

In “How to Be Good,” Simran Sethi sought out a therapist, a scholar, a monk, a C.E.O. and others to learn about bringing our best to everything we do, every day. She begins by exploring the meaning of goodness:

Rachana Kamtekar, a professor of philosophy at Cornell University, explained goodness by way of ancient Greek philosophy: “For Plato, goodness is the same as happiness. We desire appetitively because of our bodies. We desire emotionally because of our sense of self in contact with other human beings. And we also have rational desires to understand how to do what’s best. Our goodness requires all of these capacities to be developed and then expressed.”

This can be a lifelong process — something that is never perfectly realized but should always be struggled for. “Goodness is impermanent and organic, meaning it can progress as well as regress,” said Chan Phap Dung, a senior monk at the Plum Village meditation center founded by the Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. And that is why, he said, we have to be steadfast in caring for ourselves and the world at large. “In politics and culture, in the media and corporations, we have cultivated conditions that have produced a lot of violence, discrimination and despair for which there is a collective level of responsibility.”

Because many of us have a complicated relationship with what it means to be good, it can help to reframe the subject and widen it. “Some people flinch when they ponder whether or not they or others are ‘good’ because the words ‘good’ and ‘goodness’ have long been associated with obedience,” the author and former “Dear Sugars” podcast host Cheryl Strayed shared in response to a query from The Times.

“I reject that definition,” she said. “Goodness is expressed through lovingkindness, generosity of spirit and deed, and the thoughtful consideration of others. It can be as simple as offering to let someone ahead of you in line and as complicated as making yearslong sacrifices of your freedom because someone you love needs your help. Over the course of a lifetime, most of us do both.”

Ms. Sethi shared the insights of a variety of people who think a lot about what it means to be good. Here are four of their suggestions:

Be kind.

Harriet Lerner, psychologist and author

“Kindness is at the center of what it means to be good. It may require very little from us, or the opposite. It may require words and action, or restraint and silence. Everything that can be said can be said with kindness. Every tough position we have to take can be taken with kindness. No exceptions. Being a good person requires that we work toward that unrealized world where the dignity and integrity of all human beings, all life, are honored and respected.”

Pay attention.

Brother Chan Phap Dung, senior monk, Plum Village

“In the Buddhist tradition, the training starts with learning how to stop and come back to the present moment and enjoy our breathing. We stop to recognize what is happening within us and around us: our feelings, our thinking, whether our body is relaxed or in tension, who is there in front of us or what are we doing. With repetition, we begin to see and understand ourselves better — and choose to do one thing rather than another.”

Ask hard questions.

The Rev. William J. Barber II, civil rights activist

“As a public theologian, I tend to look at what has lifted us when we found ourselves at our lowest — what has called us to a better place. How are we, as a nation and as a people, using life itself to create good for the poor and broken and captive and for those who are made to feel unaccepted? We must constantly raise that question as we live life — seeking to answer it not only individually, but together. We need to embrace those deepest moral values that call us to, first and foremost, seek love, truth, justice and concern for others.”

Hold yourself accountable.

Rachana Kamtekar, professor of philosophy, Cornell University

“You have to know what your different motivations are, know how strong they are and if you can get some of them to pull against the others. I was a smoker in my 20s and 30s. Like many smokers, I resolved to quit on multiple occasions. When I was 40, I told my son and his buddies that I had been a smoker and had quit. I knew if I ever smoked again, I was going to have to tell them. My aversion to those kids thinking of me as a smoker swamped any desire I had to smoke. When I added to my rational resolution this prospect of something like shame — that I was going to have to face these kids and say, “I am a smoker” — it changed.”

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • Do you feel you are a good person? Why or why not? Are there ways you wish you were better?

  • Cheryl Strayed said that goodness “can be as simple as offering to let someone ahead of you in line and as complicated as making yearslong sacrifices of your freedom because someone you love needs your help.” Do you agree? What is your definition of goodness?

  • Which insights and suggestions from the article resonated with you most? Explain why.

  • Where do your ideas about goodness, and morals more generally, come from? Have they been shaped by friends and family, culture or religious beliefs?

  • Has anyone ever said that you were a good person? If yes, what do you think they meant? How did that make you feel?

  • Nick Hornby said, “I think all one can ever really do is to try and keep goodness close to you as an ambition — make sure that it’s one of the ways in which you think.” Is goodness an important goal for you? Do you strive to be good?

  • What suggestions would you give to others who seek to be good?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Brick Wall

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Brick Wall

What is this illustration saying? How does it relate to or comment on society or the world today? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related Opinion essay to find out what it means.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Mall Rats

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Mall Rats

For decades, shopping malls were a bustling gathering place for millions of Americans. But 21st-century shopping habits have had a deteriorative effect on them, according to a recent Times article that reports on a spate of retail store closings nationwide.

How often do you go to the mall? What places do you visit when you go? How do you feel about them?

Do you think malls provide a novel shopping experience or are they unnecessary in the age of online shopping? Have you ever gone to the mall not to shop, but to hang out with your friends away from adults?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article about the current state of brick-and-mortar retailers.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Word + Quiz: chiaroscuro

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Word + Quiz: chiaroscuro

: a monochrome picture made by using several different shades of the same color

_________

The word chiaroscuro has appeared in 16 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on April 17 in “A Barnes Foundation Show Illuminates the Dawn of Photography” by Arthur Lubow:

Nadar was a technical innovator. The exhibition includes two photographs he shot in the early 1860s in the Paris catacombs, illuminating the subterranean cavern with a magnesium flash of his own design. For the Hugo portrait, he made early use of a photo enlarger, and the oversized gelatin silver print holds a wall at the Barnes — not simply by virtue of its size, but also with its commanding presence. By cleverly employing a mirror to reflect the glow of a streetlamp into the bedroom, Nadar created a chiaroscuro of light and darkness. Every strand of Hugo’s white beard glistens; his forehead is cooled with shadow.

_________

What Should #MeToo Mean for Teenage Boys?

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What Should #MeToo Mean for Teenage Boys?

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

In “The #MeToo Balancing Act in High School,” Andrew Reiner writes:

The #MeToo movement was a watershed moment, empowering girls and women to share their stories, and many boys and young men have told me in interviews that the greater awareness of and need to end sexual assault against females is “long overdue.”

But some boys and young men have also told me that they are worried about what the movement means for them.

Are you a teenage boy who has felt confused by what #MeToo means for you? Do you ask yourself questions like: When is it OK to make the first move? What does consent look like in the moment? How can you read girls’ nonverbal cues more accurately?

How comfortable are you having conversations about these kinds of topics in school, with friends, with family or with someone you’re in a relationship with?

Are you someone — of any gender — who wishes you could provide frank advice to boys confused by these issues? Do you feel frustrated by how many boys approach dating and intimacy? What do you think they could do better?

The article continues:

They feel their voices have been silenced in conversations around gender and they struggle to navigate damaging perceptions about masculinity, particularly in the realm of dating.

Many boys have told me of the “confusing messages” they are sent when it comes to expressing their romantic interest in a girl. On the one hand, boys are finally learning about the necessity of consent; on the other hand, they still face dated masculinity stereotypes that limit and confound them, including a culture that places pressure on men to initiate intimacy.

“I have friends, girls, who want the guy to be the sexual initiator, to be ‘the man,’ like in movies,” Jaden, a high school junior in Alexandria, Va., said. He said these are the same girls who, if a guy asks if he can kiss them, say: ‘That’s so lame. Why would you ask that?’”

Jaden said that he and his male friends want to be “absolutely respectful” of girls’ boundaries, but they also want to be “taken seriously” by the ones who expect them to behave in a stereotypically masculine way. In addition to deciphering this riddle, boys fear that one wrong move could ruin their present and future reputations in this age of swift, devastating social media justice, especially since many college admissions officers scan social media for black marks on candidates’ cyber-presence.

“Dating is just a huge scary maze,” Jaden said, adding that many of his friends have sworn off romantic entanglements for now.

One sexual assault accusation, even if a boy is absolved, is tagged to that person and hovers in cyberspace for life. “You’re guilty until proven innocent,” said Ben, a junior at Frostburg State University in Maryland.

Michael C. Reichert, head of the Center for the Study of Boys’ and Girls’ Lives at the University of Pennsylvania, said that “boys are behind #MeToo but feel overlooked and misunderstood” when it comes to their own needs.

“They feel nothing about their experience as males is being recognized or addressed,” says Dr. Reichert, the author of “How to Raise a Boy: The Power of Connection to Build Good Men.” Yet, he adds, “they are yoked with normative masculine expectations from both males and females.”

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • What advice would you give to fellow teenagers who are uncertain how to navigate boundaries and desires in dating and sex? Would you give different advice to boys and girls?

  • Do you believe there are “rules” or expectations around dating and sex? How did you learn what you know — or think you know — about dating and romantic relationships? From school? Friends? Parents? Online? Do you talk about sex, consent and dating at home? At school?

  • If you have a question about sex, where do you first look for the answer? Do you feel comfortable asking questions about expectations and boundaries when it comes to dating and intimacy? Do you think consent, and communicating actively about touch and sex, is something that is easy for teenagers to practice?

  • The featured article focuses on teenage boys and heterosexual relationships. However, do you perceive differences in how transgender, gender-nonconforming and L.G.B.T.Q. teenagers talk about consent, dating and sex?

  • In the article, Mr. Reiner says that many of the boys he spoke with wanted to respect girls’ boundaries and needs, but felt shut down when asking girls for advice or feedback about their behavior. What do you think about this dynamic? Is it something that you have been a part of or witnessed? Why do you think girls might not want to explain their boundaries to boys? Can you imagine a solution for having a more productive conversation?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Lesson of the Day: ‘Gender Pronouns Can Be Tricky on Campus. Harvard Is Making Them Stick.’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘Gender Pronouns Can Be Tricky on Campus. Harvard Is Making Them Stick.’

4. Why are some professors, colleges and universities resistant to the evolving uses of pronouns in their classrooms? Why did Nicholas K. Meriwether, 62, a professor at Shawnee State University, refuse to call a transgender student by “feminine titles or pronouns”? Do you agree that it would violate his religious convictions? How did the university respond to Mr. Meriwether’s claims?

5. Many professors and their students find themselves “gazing across a generational divide” when it comes to an understanding of gender identities, according to the article. What evidence does the author provide to support this claim? Have you ever experienced this divide?

6. What does recent research indicate about the effect of using chosen names and proper pronouns on transgender and nonbinary young people?

7. The article ends:

Flush with success, Mr. Garcia Blum is working on a plan to distribute the stickers schoolwide next year.

“The more that people do it, the more the peer pressure,” he said. “But also, the more the peer affirmation.”

What is your reaction to Mr. Garcia Blum’s efforts to make Harvard more inclusive, safe and welcoming for all students? Do you think that Harvard should adopt gender pronoun stickers for name placards throughout the school? Why or why not?

Choose one of the following activities:

1) Share your opinion and experiences.

  • What is your reaction to the article? Did it change how you understand the issue of gender pronouns?

  • What is the gender pronoun you want other people to use when referring to you? How important is it to you to have teachers and professors call you by your personal pronoun?

  • Do you, or does anyone you know, identify as transgender or nonbinary? Is your school a safe and welcoming space for you, or for transgender and nonbinary students? Does it have a pronoun protocol or policy? Do any of your teachers ever ask students for their personal pronouns?

  • Do you have a story or experience related to pronoun use in the classroom? If so, please share it.

2. Make a recommendation for your school.

What can students, teachers and administrators do to create a safe and inclusive climate for all students? What specific resources and support do transgender and gender-nonconforming youth need from their schools?

For example, should schools have a pronoun protocol like the ones described in the article? If yes, should they be voluntary or mandatory? Should all schools have gender-neutral bathrooms, L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ clubs and gay-straight alliances and a more gender-inclusive curriculum?

Here are some additional resources to help with your recommendations:

‘Bracelet of Silence’

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‘Bracelet of Silence’

How worried are you about technology listening to your conversations? Have you ever had an experience that made you think your phone, computer or smart home device was eavesdropping on you?

This “bracelet of silence,” developed by two computer science professors and an assistant professor, emits ultrasonic signals when activated, preventing nearby microphones from listening to the wearer’s conversations.

Would you wear this bracelet if it were to become widely available? Do you think devices like these are the future? Why or why not?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn more about this so-called privacy armor.

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