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- Cressida, Head of Content

QUICK FIRE NEWS 🧨

😤 1864 law upheld in Arizona keeps abortion a felony

📝 New review of gender identity services published

🫄 New redundancy protections for pregnant people

💼 Scheme supports young low-income people into jobs

💭 Could a 4-day workweek widen inequalities?

LET'S GET INTO IT 🤓

The South Korean feminist movement boycotting men

The 4B movement swears off men entirely to escape Korea's patriarchal society.

Isn't that a bit extreme? It may sound over the top, but widespread misogyny can make Korea a frightening place to live as a woman. The incidence of domestic abuse (41.5%) is well above average; Korea has the largest gender pay gap in the rich world; and discrimination is rife. By and large, women are expected to adhere to men, maintain rigid beauty standards, and trade a career for child-rearing and housework.

What does 4B actually mean? The movement is named after four words that start with bi-, or “no” in Korean:

✋ Bihon = refusal of heterosexual marriage

✋ Bichulsan = refusal of childbirth

✋ Biyeonae = refusal to date men

✋ Bisekseu = rejection of heterosexual sex

In practice, this also often means cutting your hair short and not wearing make up - a rejection of beauty norms.

Is it really necessary? In the UK, it is easy to disregard this movement as extreme and unproductive; we would probably say that boys and men need to be educated and brought into the feminist movement too. But there is a very different culture in Korea. For women practicing bihon, it has become a refuge.

Pronouns on CV? You're less likely to be hired

This study - the first of its kind - was conducted by PhD student Taryn Eames. Their research centred on the US across six major cities and involved submitting thousands of fictitious CVs to job vacancies. The CVs were paired so that one version stated pronouns and one didn't.

The results:

👉 Non-binary pronouns (they/them) received notably fewer responses

👉 Pronoun disclosure, even binary, led to less responses

“Pronoun disclosure carries political signals that are communicated regardless of implied gender identity,” the report said.

On the plus side, for applicants that want to work for an employer that values LGBTQIA+ identies, sharing pronouns can be a good way to filter out discriminatory employers.

Is AI exploiting diversity? 🫥

Consider the models below. Would you know they are AI generated?

AI is developing scarily fast, infiltrating more and more of our lives. One of the latest concerning additions? AI-generated avatars and models in fashion and the media.

What's happening? AI is threatening work opportunities for models. There are situations where AI has created virtual avatars of real models - without their permission - and used this digital replica instead of employing the model, and by extension photographers, make-up artists, etc. This especially impacts people of colour; with AI avatars, companies can profit off diverse communities without actually paying them...

Can we see examples? Last year, Levi collaborated with AI model platform Lalaland to "create hyper-realistic models of every body type, age, size and skin tone." Vogue Brasil and Vogue Singapore have both featured AI-generated models on their covers. AI influencers, like Aitana, are infiltrating social media, including official versions from M&S and Pretty Little Thing.

How does this connect to D&I? Most of these AI avatars seem to be people of colour. And brands are being open about this, claiming they are being more representative of diverse body types and ethnicities. But the thing is - these people exist! Not just in the metaverse but as real, breathing humans. It is ironic that even now with the demand of diverse models, brands have still found a way not to employ these communities.

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