It’s Halloween week, so we decided that, in keeping with the season, we’d offer some of our own saints and scaries. There’s a lot to wade through in gender equity news each week and we hope to simplify by finding the good and the ghoulish to share with you.

Scaries

Death Threats over Bathrooms

Pickens County School District in Georgia has reversed a progressive bathroom policy after students and staff received death threats and verbal and written harassment related to the policy. The district has a number of trans students, who will go back to using single-stall staff bathrooms rather than using the student bathrooms that match their gender identity. Though some community members expressed their frustration and sadness about the district’s move backward, others said that they felt that it was a good move. The reasons cited for it being good were the same ones we hear over and over in the news. And yet, there have been no instances cited of any issues around trans people using the bathroom for their identified gender. In fact, more likely than not, you have used a bathroom with a trans person and had no idea. I can’t understand why, as a country, we are so preoccupied with where people go the bathroom and why we would allow our own misunderstandings and biases to hinder someone’s day-to-day existence in such a profound and dangerous way. This is a disappointing move from this district and I hope that they can find their way back to the more humane, progressive policy very soon.

Why do Algorithms Replicate Inequalities in Gender and Race?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere and, in many cases, makes our lives better: it signals us when we miss something in the car’s blind spot, curates our news feeds, prompts us to exercise, and makes Netflix recommendations. However, Machine Learning is one branch of AI that can go very wrong. Machine Learning involves exactly that—machines learning, and usually from the humans who signal that the computers’ choices are right or wrong. So, machines can learn to replicate biases held by their human teachers. This article provides a couple of examples: an Amazon program learned to rank women’s CVs lower than men’s for programming and technical labor and one facial recognition software had a 31% error rate when recognizing the faces of Black women (and a less than 1% error rate for recognizing white men’s faces). While AI and Machine Learning can streamline some of our decision-making, it is frightening to think that, without careful monitoring, algorithms can, in fact, perpetuate and concretize existing inequalities.

Saints

An End to Gendered Homecoming Titles

Shout out to Milford School District in Ohio, which has decided to remove gendered titles from the homecoming court. Now, instead of kings and queens, they will use the phrase “homecoming royalty”. The move, they say, allows students to celebrate their peers, regardless of gender identity, and will make for a more inclusive court. The district is following the lead of some other educational institutions, such as Northwestern and Purdue, who have moved away from gendered titles. This is an awesome step forward and I, for one, would not miss hearing gendered titles at my school’s homecoming rally. What a great way to make all students feel accepted and celebrated, no matter what their gender identity!

Pixar Takes on Toxic Masculinity in the Workplace with Latest Short

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a short film about toxic masculinity can make a substantial contribution to the ongoing conversation about “bro” culture in the workplace. In Pixar’s latest short, Purl is a pink ball of yarn who takes a job at B.R.O. Capital. Purl doesn’t fit into the culture of her new company because the dirty jokes and established networks keep her on the outside. Yet, when another ball of yarn is hired, the company culture becomes more open, collaborative, and supportive. This animated story takes on a number of issues women face in the workplace daily—lower pay, reduced access, and lack of support—and offers us one possible solution in a palatable and understandable narrative format.

-Lauren and Amy