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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: gender gap

gender gap stories: 17 news summaries

(Newser) - Anorexia might not be a social or psychological malady but rather an inherited genetic problem, Time reports. Furthermore, researchers see commonalities between that condition and autism. “Both autism-spectrum conditions and anorexia share a narrow focus of attention, a resistance to change and excellent attention to detail,” one doctor... More »

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(Newser) - Many Asian American parents' strong bias for sons is beginning to emerge in US birth statistics, reports the New York Times.  Chinese, Korean and Indian immigrant families are more likely to abort female embryos and use in-vitro fertilization to have a treasured boy, particularly after the first or second... More »

ANALYSIS

Gender Gap in GOP Is Striking, Problematic

Women compose 10% of GOP House, Senate; Dems are 23% female

(Newser) - Women may make up the majority of America, but they comprise just 10% of the GOP House and Senate—compared to about 23% for Dems—and that gender gap "could make the Republicans’ climb back to power even steeper," writes Erika Lovely in Politico. It's not that the... More »

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 Boys Outnumber Girls 
 in China by 32M 

Sex ratio poses looming security concerns

(Newser) - China's one-child policy has left the nation with 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20, a new study says. The greatest imbalance is among kids ages 1 to 4, which likely means bigger problems down the road, the New York Times reports. Researchers said China could... More »

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China baby gender gap sex ratio one-child policy boy

 US Women Set to Surpass  
 Men in Labor Force 

Rise of working females may change office, family life

(Newser) - As unemployment rises, the US is on the verge of a surprising milestone: for the first time, more women than men will be on the nation's payrolls. As the New York Times reports, 82% of the people who have lost their jobs in the recession are men, who have substantial... More »

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OPINION

 Female Perspective 
 Sorely Lacking at Davos 

Gender equality slow to scale the Alps forum—and everyone's the worse for it

(Newser) - Women may be the ticket out of the global recession, but World Economic Forum leaders wouldn’t know it. The predominantly male organizers have invited few women—5% of announced attendees—to the exclusive Davos forum, a misstep for a meeting billed “Shaping the Post-Crisis World,” Morice Mendoza... More »

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women Switzerland world economy gender gap World Economic Forum Davos weakening economy financial crisis

GLOSSIES

Women Drink Men Under Table 

Alcohol consumption by the once-mostly teetotaling crowd is closing gender gap

(Newser) - More women are bellying up to the bar, and those who consume alcohol are consuming more than ever before, Alex Morris writes in New York. As men cut back, women are picking up the slack. The numbers of women drinking and those whose call themselves “moderate-to-heavy drinkers” have risen... More »

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Gender Pay Gap Persists
at CEO Level, Too

Women CEOs still earn up to two-thirds less than male chief execs

(Newser) - When it comes to equal pay for equal work, female CEOs have yet to level the playing field, either, blogs Jena McGregor in BusinessWeek. Women at the top today earn 85% of what their male counterparts make—$1.75 million compared with $2.1 million at the median—even though... More »

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Critics Rip Gender Gap in Health Insurance Charges

Advocates call for an end to higher premiums for women

(Newser) - Health advocates and some politicians are crying foul over the huge price difference between men's and women's health insurance, the New York Times reports. Healthy young women are regularly charged up to 50% more than their male counterparts, even when maternity care is excluded. The practice is prohibited under job-based... More »

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ANALYSIS

Six Key Misconceptions About Women Voters

Top of the list: females not a unified voting bloc

(Newser) - The campaigns are desperate to know what makes women voters tick, but much political thinking is still marred by gross misconceptions about the key group. MSNBC lists the most egregious:
  1. Women are a homogenous voting bloc. Not only do they not share a common geography, attitude or philosophy, but
... More »

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 Gaming Industry Slow 
 to Find Its Feminine Side 

Under 20% of workers are women—a demographic games have barely tapped, either

(Newser) - The video-game industry has yet to really tap into the female audience, the Los Angeles Times reports, and a big reason looks to be how male-dominated the business is. Women make up fewer than 20% of the industry’s total workforce, and a mere 3% of programmers. Some fault education,... More »

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US Culture Stifles Girls' Math Skills

Smaller countries
that nurture students have more prodigies

(Newser) - The women who have won the world's most elite math competitions come disproportionately from small countries with computation-friendly cultures, such as Bulgaria and Romania, a new study finds. The reason the US lags isn't related to talent, but rather to culture. Americans don't value math enough to put kids on... More »

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 Girls=Boys in Math, Says Study

Gender gap discovered in the 1970s has been closed, researchers say

(Newser) - Girls are just as good as boys at math, says an exhaustive study of 7 million test scores from elementary through high school students, the San Jose Mercury News reports. The findings, to be published tomorrow in Science, are at odds with 30-year-old studies—and a view entrenched in... More »

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 More Women
 Remove Tattoos
 Than Men 

Social stigma may play a role in pressuring ladies to de-ink

(Newser) - About 6% of tattoo recipients will eventually remove their ink, and the great majority of those are women, a new survey shows. Although women make up about half of the body art market, 69% of those undergoing laser removal are female, reports the Washington Post. That may be due to... More »

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Norway
Shatters Its
Glass Ceiling

Nation requires 40%
of big companies' boards to be female

(Newser) - A state-mandated shattering of Norway's glass ceiling is drastically changing gender balance in boardrooms there—and not without some resistance, the Guardian reports. A law that 40% of non-executive board directorships at larger firms must go to women went into effect Feb. 22—and though a dozen Norwegian companies failed... More »

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Girls Take Top Science Honors for 1st Time

They beat the boys
in prestigious
Siemens contest

(Newser) - For the first time in the 9-year-old contest, high school girls have won both top honors at the Siemens Competition in science. The individual prize of $100,000 went to a Pennsylvania girl whose research into bone growth was deemed to be at graduate student level by the judges. She... More »

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So Many Men, So Much Frustration

Asian gender gap will see millions without mates, stall economies

(Newser) - A growing gender gap spells trouble for Asian markets, where scholars predict that a glut of men without partners—Chinese and Indian men will outnumber women by more than 20 million each in 2030—will have a cascade of unintended consequences, economic as well as social.  Sexual violence and... More »

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17 Stories