Our first picks for the New Year!

Happy 2019! Hope everyone is doing well and starting off the new year on the right foot.

First up, we have a short piece from Forbes. The Financial Times newspaper in London recently created a bot that detected when a journalist was disproportionately quoting men in their writing. Apparently, 79% of people quoted in the Financial Times were men! With the implementation of this bot, the goal is to break the tendency to rely on old habits and instead have journalists branch out in their sources and create a more diverse, vibrant culture. With companies taking progressive actions like these, it evokes a sense of hope for gender-balance.

However, even with the most progressive companies, there is a sneaky clause called "forced arbitration" buried deep within employee and consumer contracts. Essentially, if there is any grievance or dispute within the company, the employee or consumer is required to waive their right to sue, participate in a class action lawsuit, or appeal. Basically, it's up to the company how they want to settle a dispute, and they don't have to document their resolve or make it public to anyone! You can see how this could be problematic in a variety of cases, and in particular, sexual harassment. Read more about how this unjust clause if negatively affecting the gender balance we strive to achieve.

An in depth post from Buzzfeed introduces us to 5 feminist academics spearheading the rights of transgender people in Britain. These women discuss why trans rights are feminist rights, why they feel the need to take action, and tackle the misconceptions we often hear surrounding the topics of transgender people. Is biology at odds with society? How do you address children who are questioning their gender identity? Who can make the decision in such cases? What does the future hold? Read on to understand the issues at hand and how these women are fighting to make the world a better place.

Next, a study found that when leaders take sexual harassment seriously, so do their employees. This makes sense, right? I know we're all upstanding citizens of the world, but say we started to stroll in late to work every other day and your boss never takes action to correct this behavior, what's the big deal? But if we know our employer will enforce promptness and take action if the offense gets to be too much, we're gonna make sure to be on time. On a much grander scale, with something as serious as sexual harassment, it's incredibly important to let your employees know that there is no room for such behavior and that serious consequences will be implemented. Read on here!

The Chronicle Review asked presidents, adjuncts, scientists, humanists, senior scholars, and junior professors the write about woman and power in academe. Read the plethora of different perspectives here. 

That's all for this week! Thanks for stopping by!