Female Deficit Research Articles

Motivationally Appealing Computer Science e-Learning Games: An Inclusive Design Approach

Research has shown that e-learning games do not have the same level of appeal to girls, as they do to boys; particularly in the crucial 11-14 age group. In the United Kingdom, this is typically when they start to make subject choices that impact their future studies and careers. Given the shortage of females who choose computer science as a career, this study explores how e-learning games can be designed to be motivationally appealing to young learners. It further explores the role of game representations and its appeal to this age group. This empirical study addresses the research question: “Can we develop e-learning games which appeal and motivate girls of age 11-14 to study computer science concepts?” Two e-learning games were developed: one included game representations such as game colour, graphics, character, age appropriateness, storyline, number of players, violence, identified as appealing to young females and the other game included antithetical or neutral representations. The two developed prototypes were used to explore key e-learning game representations as used to teach computer science concepts. A total of 304 participants, comprising of 152 girls and 152 boys from a combination of same sex and mixed secondary schools in Southeast England, engaged with both experimental games. The experiment also elicited information on how learners interact with these games and the resulting game appeal, motivation and learning. The insight gained from the analysis of data captured during the experiments, provide the evidence to demonstrate that inclusive e-learning games which motivate and appeal to girls of age 11-14 can be developed. This can have a positive influence on their willingness to use such games to learn computer science concepts. This implies that the study found positive outcomes related to e-learning game appeal, motivation and the learning of girls of this age group. A follow-up longitudinal study could investigate the impact of significant e-learning game representations that appeal to the target group. This could provide additional evidence on the changes in the appeal of the investigated significant game representations over time, due to the influence of other factors such as socio-economic and socio-cultural differences. This understanding can further enhance inclusive e-learning strategies to improve diversity in computer science education and consequently the career pipeline.

Exploring The Factors Affecting Low Female Students’ Enrollment in The Hotel Management Department at Governmental Universities

Nowadays, there is a shortage of females with a higher level of education. Moreover, the number of female students begins to decrease as the grade level of education rises. As a result, females are still underrepresented in higher education, both as students and faculty members. Hotel education institutions are the main source of supplying qualified graduates in response to the growing demand of the industry. Recently, it has been noticed that the number of female students enrolled in the hotel management department has decreased in most Egyptian governmental universities. This study aims to explore the main factors that affect the low enrollment of female students in the hotel department in the Egyptian governmental universities. The study developed a measure of six main factors that may influence female students' choice to join the hotel management department. Only five universities were selected out of ten governmental Egyptian universities that have the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management. Online surveys were the best way to reach students easily, maintain social distancing and follow preventive measures against COVID-19. A scale of 19-items was developed, consisting of 6 dimensions represent the factors affecting the lack of female students' enrollment in the hotel department at the level of Egyptian tourism and hotel colleges. The results indicated that the job income dimension was the most influential factor among the universities' sample. While the job opportunities factor came in second place, followed by Socio-culture, Department image, Parental desires, and then Admission & learning was the least influencing factor.

Influencing middle school girls to study computer science through educational computer games

The shortage of females in computer science has been studied before. Computer games have long been one way teenage boys find an interest in Computer Science, but most of those games are not appealing to teenage girls. This paper describes the ongoing collaborative research project which is experimenting with the design of educational computer games. Our research has the objective to influence middle school girls to pursue computer science in high school and college. The games are designed to change the image of computing among middle school girls, and to instill confidence by teaching real computer science concepts through puzzles. Gail Carmichael and her team of graduate students at Carleton University designed and created an educational computer game (Grams House) in 2010 with a helping others story. The prototype game focuses on two computer concept puzzles. In summer 2012, two undergraduates Jennifer Latham, and Nathaly Lozano, at Kean University designed and created a companion game (Grams Grocery Shop) with more teen appeal, and two more puzzles. In fall 2012 the Kean University research team piloted the game pair in an after school program at Roselle Park, a local middle school, using attitude surveys and concept quizzes to determine the impact of the games among the students. The pilot games were successful with the middle school students. After they had played the games, many of the girls said they could see themselves studying computer science, even though before the games, very few girls had included computer scientist as one of their two hoped for careers. Statistics gathered during the pilot indicate the need to continue this research, with more students in different demographics, and with more researcher collaboration, in order to design more adaptive games, to determine what specifically about the games influenced the girls the most, and to gain insight into how they were learning the computer concepts in the puzzles.

Bride price in China: the obstacle to ‘Bare Branches’ seeking marriage

Throughout Chinese history, the country's patrilineal family system has lead to the practice of paying for brides, a social phenomenon closely related to the issue of surplus males in China. This article attempts to analyze the fluctuations in bride prices over the last 50 years, and at the same time investigate the two vicious cycles involving ‘bare branches’ and the ways in which they find money to pay a bride price. The following points are concluded: 1. The prevalence of paying a bride price is closely related to China's shortage of females. Due to the difficulty involved in finding a wife, bride prices have consistently risen since the 1980s. 2. Males in poor rural areas are afflicted by two vicious cycles. The first is the ‘poor—bare branch—poorer’ cycle. Specifically, poverty prevents them from finding a spouse; this effectively turns them into bare branches, after which they become even poorer. The second is the ‘inability to pay the bride price—bare branch—need to pay a higher bride price’ cycle. Unable to pay a bride price because they are poor, they are forced to postpone getting married to save enough money. After they become bare branches, they find themselves in a more disadvantaged position, and as a result must pay a higher bride price when seeking a wife. 3. In order to pay a bride price, many families are forced to scrimp and save for decades, to borrow money or to take out other types of loans. In extreme circumstances, they will even resort to obtaining money illegally in order to pay a bride price.

Lifetime patterns of pairing success in male Ortolan Buntings Emberiza hortulana

Analyses of lifetime fitness in birds are typically based on estimates of breeding success, in particular the number of offspring fledged. Small and isolated bird populations often have a male-skewed adult sex ratio, so that male lifetime productivity depends to a large degree on pairing success, but few studies have focused on patterns of lifetime pairing success. The Norwegian population of Ortolan Buntings Emberiza hortulana is strongly male-skewed, such that in any year about half of all males are unpaired. Pairing success of first-year males (16–44%) was significantly lower than for older males (52–89%). Lifetime pairing success was correlated with lifespan and was strongly skewed, with a majority of males being paired only once or never, and only 11% paired three or more times despite a stable lifetime annual survival rate of 63%. Males that were paired in one year were more likely to be paired the next year than males that were unpaired in the previous year. The shortage of females caused even the older males to have a substantial probability of becoming unpaired, and 49% of long-lived males (known as adults for at least 4 years) were unpaired after years in which they were paired. Pairing success in the Ortolan Bunting therefore follows similar age-related and lifetime patterns in breeding success documented in other species. However, even the older males ran a high risk of not being paired, contrasting with earlier distinctions between pre-breeding and breeding lifespans. I discuss the importance of knowledge of pairing success for the management of endangered and declining populations.

A scarcity of females may constrain population growth of threatened bird species: case notes from the Critically Endangered Raso Lark Alauda razae

SummaryDonald (2007) showed that the adult sex ratios of wild bird populations tended to be male-biased, and that this bias was stronger in threatened species than in those of least concern. Here we show that, in 2004, the world population of the Critically Endangered Raso Lark was 65 individuals, 70% of which were male (adult sex ratio 0.70). In 2008, the population numbered approximately 175 (including juveniles) and the adult sex ratio was 0.58. Both ratios were significantly different from parity. All adult females were observed to be both paired and holding a territory. The observations therefore support Donald’s (2007) suggestion that a shortage of females can be an important constraint on the growth of threatened bird populations, a constraint that needs attention in conservation planning.

Effects of remnant size and connectivity on the response of Brown Treecreepers to habitat fragmentation

We studied approximately 50 groups of the cooperatively breeding Brown Treecreeper (Climacteris picumnus) in connected and unconnected (isolated) woodland remnants in the New England Tablelands of northeastern New South Wales during 1996–98. Large and small, unconnected remnants were more likely to contain territories lacking females than were connected habitat remnants. Using General Linear Mixed Models to control for the non-independence of groups studied in the same remnants, we found that neither remnant size nor connectivity affected nest success rate, brood size, or fledgling production. Survival of females was lower in small remnants and greatest in large, unconnected remnants. Lower survival in small remnants suggests area-sensitivity, but this effect cannot explain patterns in recruitment of females because there was no shortage of females in small, connected remnants. We conclude that remnant connectivity influences dispersal success of Brown Treecreepers, with dispersal being disrupted when remnants are unconnected. Therefore, isolation-sensitivity, not area-sensitivity, is the primary basis of the species’ sensitivity to habitat fragmentation.

An Observation of Cooperative Breeding in the Ovenbird

During June and July, 1999, we observed two male Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapillus) caring for recently fledged Ovenbird chicks from the same nest in what we believe was the outcome of a polyandrous relationship. If so, the circumstances surrounding this observation are similar to the only other published account of polyandry in this species. We suggest that the reason for the adoption of this behavior may be related to a shortage of females. If this is the case, then polyandry may be more widespread in Ovenbirds than previously thought because we regularly observed unmated male Ovenbirds on our study plots, indicating that the conditions favoring polyandry (limited access to females) occur relatively frequently.

Survival and Recruitment of Captive-Reared and Wild-Reared Takahe in Fiordland, New Zealand. Sobrevivencia y Reclutamineto del Takahe Obtenido en Cautiverio y en Condiciones Silvestres en Fiordland, Nueva Zelanda

Captive rearing for release back into the wild is considered a useful management tool for endangered species because it can potentially increase the rate of recruitment by bypassing the early, high-risk stages in an individual’s life history. In evaluating the benefits of captive rearing to conservation, it is important to monitor the survival rate of animals after release, to be sure that they have the skills necessary for survival in the wild. Using radio telemetry, we compared the movement and survival of captive-reared Takahe ( Porphyrio mantelli), a large flightless rail endemic to New Zealand, to wild-reared Takahe in the rugged mountains of Fiordland over a 5–year period. The results indicated that captive-reared birds survived at least as well as wild-reared birds. Survival of wild-reared Takahe up to 1 year of age, which is prior to the release of captive-reared birds, was poor over two winters marked by particularly cold temperatures, which made the benefits of captive rearing more pronounced. Differences in post-release movements and habitat selection of the two groups did not have a detrimental effect on survival rate of captive-reared birds. Although there was no difference in the survival rate of captive-reared females versus males, eight out of nine (89%) surviving females have formed pairs since their release compared with only two of eight (25%) males. This unexpected result suggests there may be a shortage of females in the wild population. We conclude that captive rearing for release back into the wild increases the adult Takahe population in Fiordland. La reproducción en cautiverio para posterior liberación en áreas silvestres es considerada una herramienta de manejo muy valiosa para especies en peligro de extinción, puesto que potencialmente incrementa la tasa de reclutamiento al sobrepasar los estados de desarrollo temprano de la historia de vida de un organismo con altos riegos. Durante la evaluación de los beneficios de la reproducción en cautiverio, es importante monitorear la tasa de sobrevivencia de los animales después de ser liberados, para estar seguros de que han adquirido las habilidades necesarias para sobrevivir en condiciones silvestres. Usando radiotelemetría, comparamos el movimiento y sobrevivencia de organismos obtenidos en cautiverio del Takahe ( Porphyrio mantelli), un ave no voladora endémica de Nueva Zelanda, con organismos silvestres de las montañas de Fiordland, por un periodo de cinco años. Los resultados indican que los organismos obtenidos en cautiverio sobrevivieron al menos tan bien como los silvestres. Sobrevivencia de organismos silvestres por mas de un año de edad, el cual es previo a la liberación de aves cautivas, fue pobre durante dos inviernos marcados por temperaturas particularmente bajas. Este evento ocasionó que los beneficios de producción en cautiverio fueran mas pronunciados. Las diferencias en movimientos post-liberación y selección de hábitat de los dos grupos no tuvieron un efecto negativo en la tasa de sobrevivencia de organismos de cautiverio. A pesar de que no existió diferencia en la tasa de sobrevivencia entre hembras y machos de organismos de cautiverio, ocho de nueve (89%) de las hembras sobrevivientes formaron parejas desde su liberación, comparados con dos de ocho machos (25%). Estos inesperados resultados sugieren que podría haber una escasés de hembras en la población silvestre. Concluímos que la producción de organismos en cautiverio para liberación en condiciones silvestres incrementa la población adulta de Takahe en Fiordland.

Five Decades of Missing Females in China

This paper seeks to explain the dearth of females in the population of China in cohorts born from the late 1930s to the present. We demonstrate that in virtually all cohorts, the shortage of females in comparison with males is revealed when the cohort is first enumerated in a census. Subsequently it barely changes, an indication that female losses occur very early in life. Using the high-quality data from the censuses and fertility surveys in China, we show that many of the births of the girls missing in the censuses were not reported in the surveys because they died very young. The incidence of excess early female mortality (probably infanticide) declined precipitously in the Communist period, but not to zero. The recent escalation in the proportion of young females missing in China has been caused largely by rapidly escalating sex-selective abortion.

The population of a Wiltshire village in the nineteenth century: a reconstitution study of Berwick St James, 1841-71.

This paper reports an exploratory reconstruction of the village of Berwick St James in Wiltshire using nominative information from nineteenth-century English censuses and ecclesiastical registers of baptisms, marriages and burials between 1841 and 1871. The data are first described, and a procedure for sorting and linking records from different censuses, and for linking census records to registration records, is outlined. A detailed analysis of population turnover in the village reveals that after 1851 there was a period of heavy net out-migration. Those who left the parish were overwhelmingly young people, and females were more likely to move out than males: almost all the females born in the parish between 1841 and 1851 had moved away by 1871. A consequence of this pattern of out-migration was that by 1871 there was a shortage of females in the marriageable age-groups (15-29 years). It is clear that this method of reconstructing English village populations promises new insights into the demography of rural England in the nineteenth-century, including, in addition to population turnover and migration patterns, such aspects as fertility levels and trends. A number of problems with the technique remain, however, notably our ignorance of the typical length of the period between birth and baptism.

The Tasmanian native hen, Tribonyx mortierii. II. The individual, the group and the population

A partly isolated natural population of Tasmanian native hens was studied in southern Tasmania for 3 yr. The population contained about equal numbers of pairs and trios, the latter consisting of two males, often brothers, breeding with the same female. Trios appeared to depend on the observed shortage of females in the population, apparent even among juveniles, and did not appear to be the cause of this unequal sex ratio. Males and females shared all duties more or less equally within the group. The group was well integrated and there was little friction between its members. All groups defended permanent territories, to which they were restricted. The territories of older birds were larger than those of birds in their first year. Display was usually sufficient to make trespassers withdraw from the territory. Nevertheless actual fighting was quite common, although serious wounds were rare. Young birds left their parents spontaneously around the age of 1 yr. Most of them wandered ("roved") out of the study area almost immediately but some tried to form groups and establish territories there. Only a few succeeded in the face of the opposition from surrounding groups. Such conflicts were the most vigorous of those observed. Territorial behaviour greatly reduced the density of the population during the breeding season. The frequency of conflict per group doubled when the population doubled. There was some indication that this increased conflict reduced breeding success because of interference with parental care. Birds breeding in their first year were more sexually active but less sexually proficient than older birds. First-year birds laid slightly smaller clutches, and laid two clutches much less often, than older birds. Largely as a result of these differences, older groups reared more young in a season.