Here We Go Again

Gender-Neutral Parenting: The Upcoming Trend

Gender stereotypes have been practiced historically. Not only women but also individuals belonging to the LGBTQ community have been constantly struggling and have been facing bullying due to society, which is obsessed with a gender binary. Gender-neutral parenting is a new style of parenting among young millennial parents. People are always invested in whether one’s child is a boy or a girl. These urban millennial parents have adopted Gender-neutral parenting to break the norm that colours do not have to define them. Pink doesn’t have to be for a girl and blue doesn’t have to be for a boy. Parents expose children to toys and hobbies that are both traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine. The domestic chores are divided equally so that children can learn that there are no gender-specific duties. Hence, these children are not categorised under a particular gender and are termed as “theybies”. Gender-neutral upbringing can encourage children to be confident in their choices and expression. Children grow up to be open-minded individuals. According to a report by The Guardian, Sweden has launched several gender-neutral preschools. The teachers refer to students either as “friends” or “hen”, a genderless Finnish pronoun.

This gender-neutral trend has influenced many brands to act upon it. There has been an interesting shift by some of the biggest retail chains such as Target, Toys ‘R’ Us, and Walmart as they have replaced girl-boy toy aisles with gender-neutral toy sections. Lego and Mattel have also launched male dolls and female action figures. Gap-owned Banana Republic began a collection of genderless baby clothing. Last November, singer-songwriter Celine Dion launched a gender-neutral clothing line by collaborating with Israel-based unisex baby clothing retailer Nununu. In 2016, indie publisher Timbuktu Labs raised $675,614 to release Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, a book that redesigned fairy tales through stories of inspiring women. Also, Boy Story raised around $30,000 to create male dolls. Toymaker Brainsmith India, who also supplies retailers like Hamley’s reported that about 90% of customers don’t demand toys that indicate pink for girls or blue for boys anymore. Also, they are currently working on gender-neutral packaging. For example, a cover showing a boy playing with a kitchen stove. The Indian e-commerce company, Flipkart changed its gender filter in its toys sub-category to create a gender-equal store. Highgate School, in London, is planning to introduce ‘gender-neutral’ uniforms.

Gender-neutral parenting can help children fight gender biases as they grow up. With more parents adopting gender-neutral parenting, society may begin to see the changes and get accustomed to the change. This can help men in the future to feel more open to express emotion and women may discard society’s beauty norms and start feeling confident in their skin. There will be no gender-based decisions for career pursuing. And as for transgender children, Dr. John Steever, assistant professor of paediatrics at the Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Centre in New York, suggests this parenting style could prevent gender dysphoria, the distress a person feels when their gender does not align with their assigned sex at birth. This is important especially for transgender children as they can be accepted no matter their identity.

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The reality of our heroes

COVID-19 has created a brand new perception for the nurses- Heroes. The public perception of heroes has always been linked to doctors. Whereas, nurses have always been considered as those who solely work according to the guidance given out by the doctors. This course of the pandemic has made the entire world apprehend the value of the nurses. But do we appreciate them and are we grateful for the services they provide? Or is it just the need of the time making us address them as heroes? And how exactly are we showing our appreciation? By applause from balconies and streets.

Nurses have been dealing with a huge influx of patients and handling the patients along with the risk of infection transmission. The amount of deaths they face has been taking a toll on their mental health. Daniela Trezzi, a nurse at the San Gerardo Hospital in Monza, Italy was under heavy stress and committed suicide after being tested positive. According to the reports, she was terrified that she had infected others. Lack of sufficient and quality personal protection equipment (PPE) kits have resulted in many of the nurses testing positive. According to the reports, due to limited kits, one out of three nurses on a shift gets to use the complete kit, while others have to adjust with the usual gowns and masks.

Reports say nurses have been attacked and chased away from homes, suffered abusive and vulgar languages, and suffered an assault. At Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Tamil Nadu, a Covid-19 positive patient spat on a nurse treating him. There are many other cases similar to these. The accommodation facilities provided to nurses who are working or quarantined are horrific and disgusting. The Delhi government has given doctors the 5-starred Lalit Hotel for staying whereas, the nurses stay inside the hospital’s premises which has one common washroom for everyone and the beds are not arranged as per social distancing norms.

Lisha Jose, a nurse in New Delhi, who is eight months pregnant, was tested positive and had to wait for 24 hours for an ambulance to arrive. When she was leaving a crowd had come out to watch her. Many shot a video of her, while others stared. She said, “I felt like a criminal being taken away. What wrong had I done? I only did my duty.” While they fight against Covid-19, nurses like Jose are realising they have to pay a heavy price for doing their part. And for people over the world should respect them for their service and intend to mean it when the world addresses the nurses as “Heroes”.

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Crisis Masterclass with Saikat Datta

COVID-19 has got the government officials and the volunteering teams into crisis mode, as they rush to meet citizen’s needs and safety in our new socially distanced reality. I attended a webinar with Saikat Datta, South Asia Editor at Asia Times moderated by Amrit Ahuja and Vineet Handa where he shared his on ground experience and how he applied his experiences to help Gurgaon deal with the current COVID-19 situation. To start with, Saikat and his team created an integrated operation room to integrate different kinds of stakeholders. This helped every member assemble and the decision making process smooth. It made it more manageable for the commander to know what’s happening around. Since newspapers were not being circulated and television tends to give the bigger picture of stories he contacted Chander Mohan, IPS, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Gurgaon who is in charge of the east and the traffic zone. He then put Saikat in touch with the key administration. With the help of them and the backend data team, created a common platform to release official messages, an authentic channel where initial messages were sent to avoid fake news. They created the COVID-19 integrated command centre because everyone had to integrate and cooperate with each other to avoid duplication and repetition of the same tasks and duties someone else is already doing. Also, to document everything which can help them think through from all the learnings.

The team started mapping nearby communities and locations to deliver essentials and arranged several trucks that travelled 12 to 13 hours a day. The essentials included five kilograms of rice and wheat, oil, one kilogram of dal and sugar, one packet of salt and tea, one soap and sanitary napkins. According to their calculation, these were the basic necessities for a family of five to sustain for about ten days. The donations received were utilized for the fuels for the trucks. To perform the duty systematically and to avoid repetition of essentials, an app was created. The app documented the name, Adhaar number, and cellphone number of each household where a constable delivered. This mapping of districts helped them identify a lot of pregnant women and women whose husbands are stuck in someplace else.

District authority had one number which was overloaded with calls and for a few days, it was chaos. Saikat reached out to Bhairab Hazarika, DGM at Bharti Airtel Limited, to offer the team a couple of helplines to ease chaos at the command centre and within 24 hours two helplines were provided with 2000 minutes for three months absolutely free. With the help of the communication facility, they would filter the calls coming in and reached out to the most vulnerable people first.

A separate isolation team was created to help the families who are quarantined, keeping them in the loop. They created two data-backed teams: data-backed team 1 looks after the rations, where they are coming from, what and how it is being distributed. Data-backed team 2 records the donors and donations. A lot of important Twitter handles of Deputy Commissioners and IPS officers etc., were not verified. Mahima Kaul, Policy Head, Twitter India helped and got all the handles verified. This is because people are aware that messages from authorised handles are authentic.

Saikat mentioned that every day three briefing sessions are conducted:

The private session includes only officials where they discuss issues
The whole team joins, examining issues or suggestions or any information required for mass consumption
End of the day debriefing review sessions are be held

If to replicate this plan in a complex geography like Mumbai or Delhi, Saikat says he would first get done with proof of concept. The next challenge would be to increase the number of zones in one city and in that, each zone could establish a command centre. Another command centre would be built in the centre whose duty will be to recognize the issues of each zonal command centre.

During a disaster normal communication channels breakdown. At the time of any crisis, one has to be very quick and be open with information. Transparency fosters trust during a crisis. If that is achieved half the battle is won. Through the session I learned the power of collaboration. The session was truly inspiring. Kudos to Saikat and his team.

Work from home during lockdown

Due to the evolution of technology work from home hasn’t been a challenging task to adapt. Many institutions and organisations have made efforts to make work from home interactive and comfortable with the assistance of tools such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams. It is not as interactive as a lack of human connection is apparent. But during the lock-down period, virtual classes have kept us busy and rebooted our potential to continue learning. Virtual work life has also given one to save time which includes the absence of everyday commute to the workplace. Hence, this has given everyone time to discover, explore and redo all the activities one never got the opportunity to initiate. Therefore, one must utilise time to not only work but to do other activities and make the best out of it. Work from home life has to be balanced exactly like the office working hours. Institutions and organisations have to be mindful about the work assigned to the students and employees. Overloading with work can affect the mental as well as physical health of the people working from home. It can cause inefficiency and unproductive work.

But there are many universities and colleges that cannot conduct virtual learning sessions. Students from disadvantaged families or living in remote areas may not have access to the internet or to begin with, cannot afford a smartphone that has the ability include connectivity of data

The effects of lockdown in India

India is one of the countries currently facing severe crises. Since there is no vaccine or cure for the disease COVID-19 keeping social distancing is the only precaution one can undertake to avoid the epidemic to spread across.

Our Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi announced a 21 days lockdown in the entire country to maintain and practice social distancing. This means there are no factories operating, places of worship are now locked, means of public transport are suspended and construction activity halted. The conventional stores and markets are open only in the mornings. Indians tend to understand the severity of infection only when fear hits them which many of them haven’t understood. For example, after the latest Tablighi Jamaat’s Nizamuddin meet Delhi became the hotspot for coronavirus after several people who joined in a religious congregation at mosque tested positive. More than 2,000 people, including foreign delegates, attended the congregation. Another example is from Aatukal Pongala, Thiruvananthapuram where a 10-day-long temple festival commenced in the state of Kerala, with hundreds of thousands in attendance. This festival was held with the Kerala government’s permission.

How long the economic impact lasts depends entirely on how long the pandemic lasts which is why it is very important to stay indoors. In a TEDxGateway Webinar: Dr. Shashi Tharoor (Member of Parliament) in conversation with Govindraj Ethiraj which was conducted on the 30th of March,2020, Dr. Shashi Tharoor said that if the lockdown continues for three months continuously, India’s economy may fall down to minus. Multiple countries are facing a slowdown in the economies, if we fail to control the pandemic eventually, the whole world will fall into a deep recession.

COVID- 19 Positive Effect?

The pandemic COVID-19 has bought the world to a stop. Lockdown has been initiated by the government in our country, which means it brings a halt to travelling, industries, and factories, markets and shops are completely shut, construction work is at standstill. Even though our economy is struggling there has also been a positive effect. Practicing quarantine has bought a positive change in the environment. Data explains that in the urban cities there has been a decrease in the levels of harmful microscopic particulate matter known as PM 2.5, and of nitrogen dioxide, which is discharged by transportations and power plants. In New Delhi, government data reveals that in a week’s time the average concentration of PM 2.5 fell by 71% from 91 microgram per cubic meter on March 20, to 26 on March 27, after the lockdown started. In the same time frame, Nitrogen dioxide declined from 52 per cubic meter to 15. Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore have also reported a reduction in the pollution levels. During the first three weeks of the lockdown in March, the average nitrogen dioxide levels declined by 40-50% in the cities of Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad. According to a report by CREA, the nationwide curfew or “Janata Curfew” on March 22 also appeared to have the lowest one-day traffic pollution levels on record. Other hazardous pollutants, PM2.5 and the larger PM10, which are less than 10 micrometres in diameter, also decreased. Last year in 2019, New Delhi the environment was severely affected by air pollution and the city was covered in a dark haze. Similar to the pandemic people were stepping out with masks during that period. Couple of months passed, and now skies have cleared up. This cannot be described as the ideal way to control the pollution but it is a lesson learnt that pollution level can be managed by us.

Reference: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/31/asia/coronavirus-lockdown-impact-pollution-india-intl-hnk/index.html

Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO -By Fred Cook

Fred Cook is the current Chairman of Golin, one of the largest and most successful public relations firms in the world. Golin has its mark with 50 offices around the globe. Fred has advised companies like Nintendo, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart, BP, and Toyota, and has worked personally with Jeff Bezos, Michael Eisner, and Steve Jobs. He is the guy that introduced the world to Pokémon, the teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the seedless watermelon.

Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO is an inspirational book of how Fred Cook followed an odd yet captivating route from young adulthood to becoming the CEO of one of the best PR firms “Golin” in the world.

In his book, he shares his different vivid experiences from which he learned to where he is now. He talks about his various adventures starting from the bottom where he was on the Norwegian cruise ship sailing for Japan working as a cabin boy, Working in Italy as a salesman of leather goods, a doorman at a four-star hotel, traveling around the world to ending up having a successful corporate career, and many other experiences. His narration proceeds to make you keep going in life, improvise and learn from each experience. Because there is never a chance to not learn. Fred emphasizes on the importance of improvisation. He is telling his audience through his experiences how putting yourself in unpredictable or difficult circumstances shows you to think outside the box, come up with solutions and solve problems. Fred has never graduated from college, completed a business course, never had business connections, didn’t own a suit, experienced riding a motorcycle, was bullied constantly and arrested but he never stopped learning and improvising the skills he acquired from various encounters that ultimately directed him to achieve his goals. With so many qualified young professionals entering the marketplace you must build a better understanding of people to become a good communicator, carrying the right attitude and understand different perspectives. Fred has seen college students steadily under pressure on how to enter and survive the real world and completely understands the stress the students face to aspire professional goals, but according to him you should just worry less and experience more. It is a must-read for one who is starting their career. He explains that you should never dream small and if you aspire anything in life you must ask for it because life is simply not that easy. This book is for the people who don’t know the path they are following but to keep the faith and have the courage to figure out your journey.

Precautions to undertake during pandemic

We are correctly suffering from a pandemic. COVID- 19 has severely affected the world and its economy. 199 Countries and Territories around the world have reported a total of 597,458 confirmed cases of the coronavirus COVID-19 that originated from Wuhan, China, and a death toll of 27,370 deaths. India has reported a total of 906 confirmed cases of the coronavirus COVID-19 and a death toll of 20 deaths.

How did this happen? In 2019, in December, the Chinese government threw out a public alert notice that unknown flu had been identified in Wuhan, central China. On January 7th, scientists announced that a new coronavirus was the cause of the outbreak.

How does one get infected? The virus is spread between people who are in close contact with one another and through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes which can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

World Health Organisation has given us a few precautions measures. Which are the following:

Wash your hands frequently: Regularly and thoroughly clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or wash them with soap and water.
Maintain social distancing: Maintain at least 1 meter (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth
If one has fever, cough, and difficulty in breathing, seek medical care early
Wearing a facemask

Also, staying indoors and self-isolating is the mist crucial measure to undertake not only for yourself but for others as well.

How Brands Can Handle COVID-19

Corona Virus (COVID-19) bought the world to a halt. This will be the only incident that will be remembered for the year 2020. What a start to the year I must say. With 163,090 people tested positive for the Coronavirus, WHO has officially declared the Coronavirus as a pandemic. There is a wave of fear around and people are panicking. It has drastically affected the world and the economy. When I say that it has had a largely negative impact on some brands, some brands are booming.

Sectors like aviation, travel, and tourism, retail outlets have had a severe impact. Whereas, sectors like the hygiene market, video streaming platforms, the grocery retail industry are thriving.

Twitter has a word of advice for brands that have been directly or indirectly affected by the Coronavirus. On the 11th of March, Twitter posted a blog outlining the possible threats for brands trying to communicate while the entire world suffers a pandemic. Twitter did not say that brands should evade talking about coronavirus but they just have to be sensitive about the message they are putting out to the world. Brands like Netflix, online food delivery aggregator Zomato, Hindustan Unilever’s Lifebuoy and Amul are creating awareness about the disease by public service messaging campaigns. Besides, some brands are using the disease as an opportunity. In Italy, Pornhub is offering premium membership during the time of self-isolation and will be donating a percentage of its proceedings from Modelhub to local hospitals.

In the current situation, brands should communicate and they need to ensure that necessary precautions are taken. Brands should proactively create security for their employees whether it is granting them the opportunity to work from home or to ensure precautions are carried out for a safe working environment. Another important measure to undertake is to use social media to coordinate employees, consumers, and other stakeholders. The messages that convey should be thought through due to the sensitivity of the epidemic. And lastly, preparing for recovery is crucial. Brands must start developing their recovery plan while still dealing with the crisis.

40K IN CHARITY

In India, there are millions of children who are not able to go to school and obtain primary education for themselves. Under the Indian Constitution, free and compulsory education is provided as a fundamental right to children between the ages of 6 and 14. Besides these rights, there are at least 35 million children aged 6 – 14 years who do not attend school. 53% of girls in the age group of 5 to 9 years are illiterate according to the Smile Foundation. In my diploma course of 10 months, we were part of different NGOs for volunteering work. A part of my colleagues got to visit an NGO for children where we could participate in helping the children with education. That’s where the realization of reality hit me. Children in India are uneducated and our future is them. Children below the age of 14 are employed as laborers for domestic help including hazardous occupations for helping their own family for bread. If I had an opportunity for spending forty thousand rupees I would donate it to an NGO that ensures primary education for underprivileged children.

Hence, I would spend my forty thousand rupees for this cause and the PR I would opt for this would be social media platforms. NGO can run a campaign around this where people could sponsor and help these kids with books, stationary. I would connect with journalists that could cover stories of the good deeds of the NGO.

Like Alfie Kohn says, “If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.”

Therefore, we are the ones to provide children a safe environment where they are encouraged to learn and conquer the world.