Families

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Bard College’s Levy Economics Institute Receives $500,000 Hewlett Grant for Its Gender Equality and the Economy Program

The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College is pleased to announce that it has received a two-year $500,000 grant from the Hewlett Foundation. The award will support the institute’s Gender Equality and the Economy (GEE) program and aims to generate new knowledge and share information about the economic empowerment of women, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
 
The GEE program focuses on the ways in which economic processes and policies affect gender equality, and examines the relationships between gender inequalities and economic outcomes. During the grant period from 2023–2025, the institute and its partners—including Levy scholars Thomas Masterson, Fernando Rios-Avila, Aashima Sinha, and Ajit Zacharias, alongside regional partners Abena Oduro of the University of Ghana and Nthabiseng Moleko of the University of Stellenbosch—plan to generate new research on gender disparities in employment security and welfare outcomes in Ghana and South Africa. The dominance of wage employment in South Africa versus self-employment in Ghana, for example, may present different labor market scenarios with potentially significant implications for employment security and welfare outcomes. The grant will also support continued research using the Levy Institute’s expanded measure of poverty: the Levy Institute Measure of Time and Income Poverty (LIMTIP). Inspired by feminist approaches to economics, the LIMTIP takes account of time for household production in order to create a more accurate reading of economic deprivation.

“We are grateful to the Hewlett Foundation for their generous decade-long support” said Ajit Zacharias, senior scholar and director of the Institute’s Distribution of Income and Wealth Program. “Inequality in earnings between men and women is an important and well-studied aspect of gender inequality. However, the gender disparities in child-rearing, care of dependent adults, and division of other family responsibilities often force women into less secure forms of employment than men with similar labor market profiles. The gender distribution of types of employment thus has a fundamental effect on current earnings differentials. Such disparities also drive the gender disparity in cumulative earnings, i.e., earnings over working life. They have gendered implications for old-age income security, e.g., by shaping private savings or eligibility for employer-provided pensions. We aim to provide fresh insights and evidence on these issues, hoping they will contribute to policies that promote gender equality and social justice.”

The award will facilitate two workshops in the region to disseminate its findings, along with related work by scholars in the region, and engage with policymakers and other stakeholders. Additionally, the institute will host an international workshop on gender and economic analysis featuring new research in feminist economics, providing a platform for new studies and mutual engagement with global research and policy community members.
 

Post Date: 12-07-2023

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“You Deserve a Great Nap:” Sara Mednick ’95 Talks to the New York Times about Maximizing the Health Benefits of a Midday Rest

Speaking with the New York Times, Sara Mednick ’95, professor and cognitive neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, says the best time to nap is about six to eight hours after you wake up in the morning. Mednick, who researches sleep and the autonomic nervous system, points out the benefits of napping even if you don’t actually fall asleep. We remain “somewhat conscious” in the early stages of sleep and “it’s still good rest,” says Mednick, who references a recent study that found that drifting into the lightest stage of sleep for even one minute during a 20-minute rest generated more creativity and better problem-solving in young adults.

Post Date: 12-05-2023

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“The Beauty Is a Strategy:” W Magazine Interviews Bard Artist in Residence Jeffrey Gibson

For W magazine, Camille Okhio interviewed Bard Artist in Residence Jeffrey Gibson about representing the United States in a solo exhibition at the upcoming Venice Biennale in 2024, his global journey as an Indigenous artist of Cherokee and Choctaw lineage, and his work. “Our motto in the Choctaw is self-determination,” says Gibson. “After college, my chief said to me, ‘You would be more effective out in the world; you don’t need to come back here. You are fulfilling what I have said our tribe will do one day if you go out and you are successful.’ I hope, through my practice, that I’m letting Indigenous people know they can move around the world freely.” Asked what has been left out of his narrative, Gibson answers: “The work is not beautiful for beauty’s sake. The beauty is a strategy.” 

Post Date: 12-05-2023