Sorority Admission Secrets: Highlights | Japan's Patriarchy Challenge | Taliban's Surveillance Plan | Ending Child Poverty

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The secrets to sorority admission? Perfect highlights and an image consultant - The Economist    As the clock struck five, shrieks could be heard in the distance. Outside a red-brick mansion at the University of Texas in Austin, a crowd of young women looked expectantly up the road. They had been singing and waving paper fans, hoping to slow their make-up’s inevitable slide down their faces in the oppressive heat. “This is the kind of material that shows sweat,” said one woman, inspecting her pink shirt with disapproval. The shrieking grew louder. Kristin Wallach, a woman in her 50s standing on the edge of the group, started filming on her phone. “Here they come,” she said. As a pack of girls ran towards the house, the welcome party whooped with anticipation. When they got there, both groups of women fell on each other, screaming with delight. It was like a medieval battle scene – chainmail and crossbows replaced with sundresses, designer trainers and expensive handbags. I was in Austin to witness Bid Day – when students find out whether their application to join a sorority has been successful. Fourteen percent of undergraduates at the University of Texas belong to a sorority or fraternity (at other universities the figure is much higher). Across America, these single-sex clubs, steeped in ritual and tradition, give their members opportunities to socialise and network. Sororities and fraternities are national organisations, with branches at various universities, and membership lasts a lifetime. Their secrets are keenly guarded, as is their privilege. In 2013 the University of Alabama ordered its sororities to stop segregation based on race, after an outcry when two of its black students were allegedly excluded from a sorority (in response the sorority said it “prohibits discrimination on the basis of race”). Continued here Don't like ads? Go ad-free with TradeBriefs Premium So Many Women, So Little Time For Japan's Economic Patriarchy - Forbes    Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida raised the number of women in the cabinet to five. His belated embrace of the idea that Japan must harness female talent is welcome, of course. The biggest surprise of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's latest cabinet reshuffle is his sudden embrace of "womenomics." For 20-plus years now, Japanese leaders have flirted with the idea of empowering the female half of the nation's 126 million people. Economists everywhere, after all, agree that countries and companies that best utilize female talent are more productive, innovative and prosperous. Continued here Exclusive: Taliban weighs using U.S. mass surveillance plan, met with China's Huawei - Reuters    Taliban fighters stand guard while people wait to receive sacks of rice, as part of humanitarian aid sent by China, at a distribution centre in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 7, 2022. REUTERS/Ali Khara/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights KABUL, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The Taliban are creating a large-scale camera surveillance network for Afghan cities that could involve repurposing a plan crafted by the Americans before their 2021 pullout, an interior ministry spokesman told Reuters, as authorities seek to supplement thousands of cameras already across the capital, Kabul. The Taliban administration — which has publicly said it is focused on restoring security and clamping down on Islamic State, which has claimed many major attacks in Afghan cities — has also consulted with Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei about potential cooperation, the spokesman said. Continued here Yes, We Can End Child Poverty if We Want To - The New York Times    The annual Census Bureau report released earlier this month revealed that child poverty more than doubled in the United States last year, the largest single-year increase on record. The news feels less like a surprise and more like a confirmation, if not a deliberate choice. Many federal pandemic relief programs in health care, food assistance, housing and child care — most notably the expanded child tax credit — have either expired or are set to expire, which in all likelihood will ensure that child poverty will continue to accelerate. The list also includes emergency rental assistance, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program emergency allotments and Medicaid continuous coverage. The implications of letting these policies lapse without replacement, one after the other, will likely be felt for years to come. A significant blow arrives on Sept. 30, when child care emergency-relief funding terminates. According to a Century Foundation report, 3.2 million children are expected to lose access to care in the coming months. Seventy thousand child care programs are likely to close, and more than 200,000 industry workers could lose their jobs. Child care and preschool costs have been soaring faster than inflation, and the surviving centers could be forced to raise their fees. The lack of accessible and affordable child care could pull more women out of the work force, potentially leading to higher inflation and a slower economic recovery. Continued here

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