Employment, Skills and Human Capital
This article is part of the World Economic Forum’s Geostrategy platform Where women lead: the countries with the most women in parliament. ⇒ Explore: Civic Participation The world’s rivers, in gorgeous detail. Art meets Geographic Information Systems. ⇒ Explore: Arts and Culture Consider this: Nigeria’s government raked in an astonishing $33 billion from oil exports in 2017– more than the entire GDP of 89 countries. Such resource bounty is common phenomenon in emerging economies. For example, 7 of the top 10 countries for natural resource wealth are emerging economies and, of the top 30 countries which rely most on natural resources for their GDP, over half are in the bottom quarter poorest countries. The obvious question is how such riches can be converted into socio-economic prosperity? To the uninitiated, mangroves might appear to be merely coastal cousins of inland forests, but these rich ecosystems support the planet and people in unique ways, from providing breeding grounds for fish to carbon storage, to protection against flooding. The US is potentially facing another federal government shutdown. President Donald Trump wants $5.7 billion to fund a border wall with Mexico. The Democrats who took control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections are refusing to give it to him. But how does political disagreement over a single issue bring the federal government grinding to a halt? Romania boasts the highest productivity of leading world economies, according to the latest available data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The eastern European nation recorded the highest “GDP per hour” rate of any OECD country in 2017, at $142.1 (converted to US dollars based on 2010 PPP), closely followed by Ireland, with Turkey in third place. At the other end of the scale, the productivity rate for Greece was just 92.8, due in part to factors like declining economic competitiveness and low rates of participation in the workforce. The Green New Deal means different things to different people. In some ways, that’s part of its appeal. On the other hand, a Green New Deal can’t mean anything anyone wants it to, or it will come to mean nothing at all. Solar power companies in Southeast Asian that are competing for land with agriculture, industry and expanding populations have found an innovative alternative: placing floating panels in lakes, dams, reservoirs and the sea. Homework Helper While IKEA is primarily known as that overwhelming warehouse with great deals on build-it-yourself furniture, the international retailer has also been making itself known in the sustainability space. Most recently, IKEA announced two initiatives to help support a circular economy. In Scotland, IKEA will be expanding its used furniture exchange system, and in Switzerland, the store is testing out furniture and kitchen rentals. Finland’s education system enjoys a lot of buzz lately. It is considered one of the best education systems in the world. It routinely outperforms the United States in reading, science, and mathematics. And it has been a top performer since the first Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) triennial international survey back in 2000. Every year, approximately eight million metric tons of plastic enters the world’s oceans – the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic every single minute. Around 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to electricity, with a majority living in rural areas. Given that electricity is essential for economic development, education, health and poverty alleviation, efforts to expand access around the world are critical. Yet simply extending the electricity grid is not always the most physically or economically viable way to increase access, especially in remote rural areas. What to do with the mountain of garbage a major metropolitan area produces is an age-old question. Copenhagen has come up with a brand-new answer: ski down the mountain. For decades, oil and gas companies and utilities dismissed electric cars. Now, the old petroleum and power giants are muscling into the driver’s seat of the “new fuels” industry. “Sexist” data is making it harder to improve women and girls’ lives, the world’s leading philanthropic couple Bill and Melinda Gates have said in an open letter. We’re all familiar with the word empathy. We may not be as familiar with the name of the radical woman who brought the word into the English language. The humble honeybee can use symbols to perform basic maths including addition and subtraction, shows new research published today (7 Feb) in the journal Science Advances. Digitalization has created millions of new jobs in China, accounting for between one-third and one-half of employment growth in the world’s second-largest economy. Advances in technology, often referred to as “disruptive innovation” have changed people’s lives. Undoubtedly, they have led to better services and the quality of products being offered to consumers today. Many of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs are not known for their grace. Our culture associates a certain type of “robust” personality with business success: whether it’s the catchphrases of TV shows like The Apprentice (“you’re fired”), Dragon’s Den (“I’m out”) and Mad Money (“bulls make money; bears make money; hogs get slaughtered”); or the titles of business biographies (The Titan, The Patriarch, Make Trouble, The Power Broker); the role of grace in business leadership is treated as a lower order trait. Healthcare is rapidly moving towards precision medicine, which offers a deeper understanding of human physiology using genetic insights and advances in technology. This is pivotal in alleviating unnecessary suffering related to medical care, due to unintended side effects which can result from the current one-size-fits-all approach. It will also reduce the cost of treatment by eliminating ineffective treatment plans at outset based on data insights. Just imagine… It’s a sunny summer day, and you’re reclining on the grass by your local lake. The sun is glistening on the water. Ducks are happily gliding along with their duck pals. A cool breeze blows towards you, just as you were feeling a bit warm. Garbage is floating on the surface of the water, slowly poisoning fish and breaking down into micro plastics… Ah, what a classic 2019 image. These days, it’s hard to enjoy a serene body of water without coming across some sort of plastic pollution — and an Australian city has developed a local solution to that. The City of Kwinana recently installed drainage nets in its water reserve, and the innovative filtration system has gone viral for being so simple yet brilliant. The Big Apple has taken a bite out of Silicon Valley to become the world’s top tech city, according to a new index. On the long-running television series Star Trek, the characters were knowledge workers and did not seem to worry about food, lodging or acceptance. Theirs was an inclusive society, one that collaboratively practised sustainable innovation.Show Agenda posts
View more Employment posts
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Friday 15th of February 2019
Transforming emerging economies with Sovereign Development Funds
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5 reasons to protect mangrove forests for the future
Friday 15th of February 2019
Everything you need to know about the US government shutdown
Friday 15th of February 2019
These are the OECD’s most productive economies
Friday 15th of February 2019
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Friday 15th of February 2019
These solar panels float on water in land-scarce communities
Friday 15th of February 2019
Scientists have made an AI that they think is too dangerous to release
Friday 15th of February 2019
IKEA is now selling and leasing refurbished furniture
Friday 15th of February 2019
How does Finland’s top-ranking education system work?
Friday 15th of February 2019
This unique map shows which rivers are most polluted with plastic
Friday 15th of February 2019
Bhutan has achieved 100% electricity access. Here’s how
Friday 15th of February 2019
This waste treatment plant in Copenhagen has a ski slope on its roof
Friday 15th of February 2019
This is why oil companies and utilities are buying into renewables
Friday 15th of February 2019
‘Sexist’ data is holding women back, Bill and Melinda Gates say
Friday 15th of February 2019
Want to become more creative? Work on your empathy
Friday 15th of February 2019
You can teach a honeybee maths in as little as 4 hours
Friday 15th of February 2019
This is China’s digital dividend
Friday 15th of February 2019
How can we regulate disruptive technologies?
Friday 15th of February 2019
Most leaders are missing this crucial character trait
Thursday 14th of February 2019
Why precision medicine is the future of healthcare
Thursday 14th of February 2019
This Australian city has a simple way to stop waste reaching the water
Thursday 14th of February 2019
These are the best cities for tech
Thursday 14th of February 2019
Star Trek’s formula for the civilization of the future
Thursday 14th of February 2019
Gender Parity
“Sexist” data is making it harder to improve women and girls’ lives, the world’s leading philanthropic couple Bill and Melinda Gates have said in an open letter. Compared with the increasing participation of women in male-dominated occupations, the presence of men in female-dominated occupations remains low. While much scholarly attention has been devoted to explaining men’s reluctance to work in female-dominated fields, little is known about the occupational trajectories of men who beat a new path and enter female-dominated occupations. (See here and here for notable exceptions.) One of the few things that brought Democrats and Republicans together during US President Donald Trump’s recent State of the Union address was celebrating a record number of women in Congress. One hundred and two women were elected to the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms, taking 23.5% of the 435 seats. The Berlin Film Festival has made a pledge to promote gender equality, taking the first step toward that goal by screening almost an equal number of movies directed by women as by men. People with traumatic brain injuries are more likely to be violent, more likely to go to prison at a younger age (and have multiple convictions) and more likely to disobey prison rules. They are also more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs, more likely to have mental health problems and more likely to attempt suicide. Surprisingly, given the vast range of negative outcomes for this type of trauma, there have been few studies on brain injury among female prisoners. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cause of cancer-related deaths among women globally. Every year, 530,000 new cases are diagnosed, with approximately 270,000 deaths worldwide. Without any intervention, it is estimated that by 2050, patients diagnosed with cervical cancer will increase to 1 million per year with approximately 90% of the deaths occurring in developing countries. People in New Jersey can now mark their gender as “undesignated/nonbinary” on their birth certificates, the latest U.S. state to liberalise its policies. The burden of poverty weighs down heavier on girls and women in India than it does on the opposite sex. Taking selfies and posting them on social media is often derided as a narcissistic, self-absorbed and attention-seeking practice. Filters come in for particular disdain due to the role they play in reinforcing unattainable beauty standards, by making faces lighter, slimmer and wider-eyed than is natural. In the new movie The Kid Who Would Be King, the protagonist Alex thinks he’s just an ordinary schoolboy until he stumbles upon Excalibur, the legendary sword of King Arthur, in a building site. Having drawn the sword, he must unite his fellow students to form a new band of knights and, with the help of the wizard Merlin, defeat the evil enchantress Morgana. A single genius cannot power an entire company. The myth of the omniscient leader has been debunked and for success in this competitive world, entrepreneurial talent needs to hum through the organisation. Once thought to be the sole domain of start-ups or small companies, entrepreneurial talent is a vital engine for larger organisations. One definition is “the ability to discover, select, process, interpret and use the data necessary to take decisions in an uncertain world and, then, to exploit market opportunities”. Clearly, as transformation, digitalisation and globalisation continue apace, a lack of entrepreneurial talent would hobble organisations as they attempted to grow. Progress toward closing the gender pay gap, globally, is egregiously slow. This isn’t for lack of trying: Many companies and governments have gender equity high on their agendas and are making concrete efforts to solve it, launching pay reviews and implementing policies. It’s not working all that well, though. The regional parliament of the German state of Brandenburg voted on Thursday to make political parties put an equal number of men and women up for elections. In cities, access to parks is strongly linked with better health for both people and neighborhoods. Women’s rights advocates kicked off a campaign on Tuesday to light a new fire under a proposed U.S. constitutional amendment for equal rights that has been the subject of impassioned debate for decades. Youth in the US are far more comfortable than previous generations with people not identifying as either a man or a woman. Almost 60% of those aged 13 to 21—members of “Generation Z”—believe forms that ask about gender should include options besides “man” or “woman,” according to a recently released survey from the Pew Research Center. This compares to half of Millennials (aged 22 to 37) and just over 30% of Baby Boomers (54 to 72).1 Gender equality is often a much-talked about theme here at Davos. This year, the context was dispiriting, as the number of female CEOs in the list of 500 top US firms declined by 25%. Much has been made of the ways a four-day work week could increase productivity and worker satisfaction. But the shift could also be a huge win for gender equality. Multinationals play an important role in promoting equality and a culture of respect in the workplace, and this extends to the communities where they operate. Innovation has always been about generating good ideas by challenging the status quo with new viewpoints. That is why diversity is fundamental to the sustained success of any innovation ecosystem. Promoting diversity in entrepreneurship and technological innovation can deliver greater economic and societal value. What will this year look like? First, the economic landscape in 2019 will certainly be “wobbly” as detailed in the Economist. Protectionism, populism and anti-immigration continue to be top issues in many countries, along with increasingly turbulent financial markets and high levels of debt. China’s growth rate is predicted to slow down, while the economies of a range of countries including Argentina, Venezuela, Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Afghanistan and Italy are seen as fragile. Even the USA could see a recession towards the end of the year. A global economic slowdown is a strong possibility. We are caught in a circular conversation about why there aren’t more women in leadership. We bemoan the fact that there are only 24 women CEOs in the Fortune 500, that senior manager-level men outnumber women two to one, and that in the C-suite, just 23% are women. And the media continue to joke, pointing out that in top leadership ranks there are fewer women than people called John. Underrepresentation of women in business is a missed opportunity, from both social and economic standpoints. Women represent the largest market opportunity and control $20 trillion in annual spending. When we invest in women, their communities, states and countries prosper, which generates a multiplier effect and sets a positive example for the next generation of girls. In fact, it’s been shown that when women earn an income, they invest 90% back into their communities. As many workplaces, and even entire industries, continue to work on building inclusive and diverse environments, I am reminded of Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay elected officials in the United States. With the 40th anniversary of his assassination recently behind us, there still is much we can learn from him. Artificial Intelligence is either a silver bullet for every problem on the planet, or the guaranteed cause of the apocalypse, depending on whom you speak to. Show Agenda posts
View more Gender posts
‘Sexist’ data is holding women back, Bill and Melinda Gates say
Friday 15th of February 2019
Is social pressure making men leave typically ‘female’ jobs?
Wednesday 13th of February 2019
These countries have the most women in parliament
Tuesday 12th of February 2019
Berlin festival aims for gender equality with half of films by women
Monday 11th of February 2019
Traumatic brain injury in female inmates is taking a heavy toll – yet it’s overlooked
Friday 8th of February 2019
4 steps towards wiping out cervical cancer
Thursday 7th of February 2019
These 11 US states are now issuing third gender IDs
Thursday 7th of February 2019
India’s inequality crisis hurts girls and women the most
Wednesday 6th of February 2019
Indian women from the outskirts of Delhi are taking selfies to claim their right to the city
Wednesday 6th of February 2019
This Arthurian legend turned a powerful woman from healer to villain
Tuesday 5th of February 2019
These are the 10 most talent competitive countries in the world
Tuesday 5th of February 2019
Why you can’t solve the gender pay gap by focusing on pay
Monday 4th of February 2019
This German region has a new plan to tackle gender inequality in politics
Friday 1st of February 2019
Parks make city dwellers healthier and happier – but only if they can use them
Friday 1st of February 2019
US women’s rights activists seek new drive for constitutional amendment
Thursday 31st of January 2019
This is how Gen Z’s views on gender set it apart in the US
Friday 25th of January 2019
The duty of feminists, silence, snowflakes and other top gender quotes from Davos
Friday 25th of January 2019
Why the four-day work week is good news for gender equality
Thursday 24th of January 2019
Moving from commitment to action on LGBTI equality
Wednesday 23rd of January 2019
Here’s how to improve diversity in startups
Tuesday 22nd of January 2019
5 things for humanitarians to watch out for in 2019
Monday 21st of January 2019
What does real leadership look like in the #MeToo era?
Friday 18th of January 2019
Four ways to boost the number of women entrepreneurs
Friday 18th of January 2019
How do we solve LGBTQ+ discrimination? One word: visibility
Friday 18th of January 2019
Why AI is failing the next generation of women
Friday 18th of January 2019
