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As far as I can remember I have always been a fan of comic books. Some of my earliest childhood memories are of reading issues of my favourite Marvel comic heroes. So when the powers that be started making films based on those comics, I was one of the first in line to see them. For more than a decade Marvel movies have been the highlight of the year for millions of fans like me around the world. 

To see those heroes that we used to read about on the big screen was almost magical. Now, Marvel and its movies have become a more than a billion dollar franchise with their very own film production studio. The stories told in those films felt like they were made with us fans in mind, keeping close links to its comic book origins, as much as possible.

Which brings me to “Captain Marvel”, the newest Marvel comic movie released in time for International Women’s Day and the weakest of the franchise yet, but fortunately it is still an OK film. The story takes place in the mid-90’s where a Kree warrior known as Vers, played by Brie Larson (“Kong: Skull Island, Room”), finds herself in the middle of a war between two alien civilisations without any memory of her past. 

After being sent on a mission she discovers her past as US Air Force Pilot Carol Danvers and the truth about the war between the Kree and the Skrulls. With the help of Shield Agent Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson (“The Hateful Eight”, “Avengers: Infinity Wars”), she must fight to save earth and end the war.

There are three major reasons why I think “Captain Marvel” failed to deliver itself as a great comic book movie in league with the rest of the films in the franchise. First, our protagonist did not have a character arc — physical or emotional journey often against ones will that allows the character to accomplish certain tasks to bring the storyline to some sort of resolution. 

In “Captain Marvel”, Carol Danvers has no such arc — her character remains the same person throughout the movie, two-dimensional with no depth. 

Second, the hero does not go through trials and tribulations that are necessary for their deeds to be realistic and accepted by the audience. In every great action movie, especially a Marvel movie, a hero has to go through struggle and some failure before they rise up again to finish the mission they set out to achieve. The struggle makes the audience relate to the character and makes the character look more human. 

Brie Larson’s character goes through no such struggle, instead, she easily dispatches any enemy she encounters with no sign of weakness. Not once in the entire movie does she fail or at least seem to have great difficulty in achieving something which only further contributes to making it unrealistic, even if the hero is a fictitious comic book character, for the audience to swallow.

Third and probably the least important is having negative male stereotype characters, and anti-male jokes and symbolism drizzled in certain places in the movie that as far as I am concerned are useless and add nothing to the general storyline. They only make it seem as though the film is sending a message that most if not all men are either bad or weak. Even Nick Fury, one of the toughest characters in the Marvel comic and film universe, is rendered to the role of Captain Marvel’s comic relief sidekick.

Given that the majority of Marvel comic book and movie fans are male, such a message would be ill advised.

Despite its shortcomings, “Captain Marvel” still remains a watchable movie. You get to enjoy experiencing the film expand your knowledge of the Marvel universe and there are lots of exciting action sequences mixed with moments of comedy that will keep you entertained.

The actors give excellent performances worthy of their highly ranked portfolios. As always, the use of effects and animation bring the Marvel universe to the big screen in an amazing way, but the film could have given more depth to the main character. So if you have not seen it yet, I suggest you do and I hope you enjoy yourself.

Kids with asthma may struggle more in school when their symptoms are not well-controlled, and minority students with this breathing disorder are more likely to fall behind than their white counterparts, a US study suggests.

Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases in childhood. Severe asthma attacks and breathing problems are associated with an increased risk of health problems like obesity as well as academic challenges like chronic absences from school and cognitive impairments that can lead to lower grades and test scores; city kids with asthma are particularly vulnerable to flare-ups because they often live with worse indoor and outdoor air quality and have fewer safe places to play and exercise outdoors, previous research has found. 

For the current study, researchers looked at asthma and allergies, lung function, school attendance, and academic performance for 182 Latino school children, 182 black students and 81 white kids. All of the kids were between seven and nine years old and students in one of four large urban public school districts. 

“We found associations between poor asthma status, poorer asthma control, lower lung function, more asthma symptoms, and decline in academic performance,” said lead study author Daphne Koinis-Mitchell of Bradley/Hasbro Children’s Research Centre in Providence, Rhode Island. 

“These associations were stronger in ethnic minority children, particularly Latino children,” Koinis-Mitchell said. 

Compared to children with well-controlled asthma, students with more daily asthma symptoms missed more days of school, completed fewer assignments and had lower quality work, researchers report in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. 

The biggest indicator of poor school performance, however was asthma control. 

Poorly controlled asthma appeared to have the worst impact on academic performance for Latino students, although black students also fared worse than white students with the breathing disorder. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how asthma might directly impact school outcomes. It also was not designed to prove to what extent students’ racial or ethnic background might directly impact the connection between asthma and things like school attendance or grades. 

Kids with asthma may take a variety of daily medications to control the breathing disorder and also carry rescue inhalers to help restore their breathing when they have an asthma attack. 

Children may struggle to manage the condition when their parents have difficulty getting them to doctor checkups, paying for care, or affording medications. Children in poor urban neighbourhoods may also be more likely to attend schools without a nurse on staff or formal support programmes in place to help kids manage asthma and other chronic health problems. 

And when kids have severe asthma, it can impact their health and school performance even when parents and children do not see obvious symptoms, said Dr Jason Lang, a researcher at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, who was not involved in the study. 

“Good asthma control is not just important to reduce the risk for full-blown asthma attacks, but also because mild increases in asthma symptoms affect sleep quality, school attendance and academic performance,” Lang said by e-mail. “It’s hard for kids who are struggling with just minor breathing symptoms to concentrate and do their best in class.” 

People who suffer from a common chronic sinus disorder may be more likely than those who don’t to develop depression and anxiety, a Korean study suggests. 

Researchers focused on chronic rhinosinusitis, which happens when the cavities around the nasal passages are inflamed and swollen for at least 12 weeks. Symptoms can include facial pain and headaches, nasal obstruction and an impaired sense of smell. 

The condition has long been linked to a lower quality of life and problems with physical, social, emotional and cognitive functioning, researchers note in JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery. Even though depression and anxiety commonly accompany chronic rhinosinusitis, it’s unclear whether the mental health issues preceded or followed the sinus issues. 

Up to 15 per cent of adults suffer chronic rhinosinusitis at some point in time, previous research suggests. 

The current study focused on 16,224 South Korean patients treated for chronic rhinosinusitis from 2002 to 2013 as well as a comparison group of 32,448 similar people who didn’t have this issue. None of them had a history of depression or anxiety.

During 11 years of follow-up, patients with chronic sinusitis were over 50 per cent more likely to develop depression or anxiety.

“Despite receiving optimal medical and surgical treatment, some patients with chronic rhinosinusitis have repeated, persistent symptoms, which make this condition challenging to manage,” said senior study author Dr Dong-Kyu Kim of Hallym University College of Medicine in Chuncheon, South Korea. 

Patients who also have mental health problems “usually show significantly worse pain and energy levels, as well as difficulty with daily activities, than do patients… without mental health problems”, Kim said by e-mail.

Everyone with sinusitis in the current study had suffered from the condition for at least 12 weeks when they were diagnosed.

A subset of the participants — 5,461 patients — had nasal polyps, or noncancerous growths in the nasal cavity that can cause difficulty breathing. 

Compared to people without sinus issues, those with chronic rhinosinusitis and nasal polyps were 41 per cent more likely to develop depression after the sinus issue was diagnosed and 45 per cent more likely to develop anxiety, the study found. 

People with chronic rhinosinusitis without polyps were 61 per cent more likely to become depressed and 63 per cent more likely to develop anxiety than individuals without sinus problems. 

The study can’t prove whether chronic rhinosinusitis directly causes anxiety or depression. The researchers also lacked information about patients’ smoking or alcohol use — which could influence both their sinus condition and mental health issues — as well as data on the severity of sinus and mental health problems, which might affect the connections between the conditions. 

It’s possible that inflammation in rhinosinusitis leads to the release of certain neurotransmitters — chemicals that affect brain function — that may combine with genetics and other factors to cause psychiatric issues, said Dr Edward McCoul, director of rhinology and sinus surgery at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

“At this time, any connection is speculative and much more study is needed,” McCoul, who wrote a commentary accompanying the study, said by e-mail. 

“We don’t want to suggest… that if they don’t get their sinus infection treated then they’re going to go crazy, McCoul added. “But… chronic rhinosinusitis is a condition that is often unrecognised by the person who has it — they think they’re just having recurring sinus infections — and so, seeking competent care, preferably from an otolaryngologist, could lead to sooner diagnosis and control of the condition.” 

AMMAN — Among the last holdouts employing Mercedes’ naturally-aspirated big displacement 6.2L V8 engine, the previous AMG skunkworks division-developed C-Class junior executive saloon, estate and coupe versions – the C63 – were perhaps the German manufacturer’s then most compelling cars.

Thunderously vocal, lightning quick, rewardingly high-revving and with precise throttle, it was a modern muscle car oozing visceral old school appeal. Replaced with a downsized, yet similarly muscular top dog C63 with its own 4L twin-turbo V8 charms, the second generation C-Class line-up also received a more junior AMG.

More than sporty styling

Introduced not long after the current generation C-Class arrived in 2014, the C450 AMG 4Matic bridges the performance chasm between the maniacally muscular full-blooded C63 and the top garden-variety C-Class. Powered by an AMG-tweaked version of the C400’s V6 engine and chassis, the C450 AMG 4Matic harks back to less brutal late 1990s and early 2000s AMG C-Classes, and is designed to duke it out with near top-end compact executives like the Audi S4 and BMW 340i, rather than the mighty Audi RS4 or ubiquitous BMW M3.

More than just an AMG exterior design package, if not quite a C63 beast, the C450’s handsome core styling is accentuated with sporty details including AMG badges, rear spoiler, optional 19-inch alloy wheels and silver chrome flourishes, including integrated dual tailpipes and air diffuser-like lower bumper panel.

Completing its more athletic look are rear bumper vents,  low chrome front spoiler lips and a black diamond-like grille treatment with body colour outline, glossy black emblem, single chrome slat and chrome pin pattern for a sportier somewhat concave look.

Eager ability

Also competing with sportier versions of the Jaguar XE, Infiniti Q50 and Alfa Romeo Giulia, the C450’s AMG-tweaked twin-turbo 3L V6 has a raspier, more mechanical and higher pitched soundtrack than the C63’s more rumbling and bellowing bass-laden notes. It naturally lacks the prodigious punch and brutality of the 503BHP C63 super saloon, but the C450 is nevertheless a brisk and confident sports saloon performer. Dishing out 362BHP at 5,000-6,000rpm and 383lb/ft torque throughout 2,000-4,200rpm, it is just 0.9s slower through 0-100km/h at 4.9s, and is capable of 250km/h.

Urgent in delivery and seemingly eager and revvy despite not being particularly high-revving, the C450 AMG felt quick and zippy during the brief test drive. Quick spooling and with little turbo lag, it drives with a consistently progressive surge underwritten by a generously-broad torque-rich mid-range, if not the C63’s intensely explosive top-end- and deep mid-range brawn.

Driving all four wheels through a seven-speed automatic gearbox with different driving modes to tailor gear change swiftness and smoothness, the C450 can also be driven with manual input paddle shifters.

Agility and stability

Seemingly light on its feet and agile with a lighter V6 engine in front and stiff frame, the C450AMG 4Matic tucks into corners with nimble reactions and well-controlled body roll and light steering that is quick and direct, if not quite layered with too much textured road feel. Complementing its agility into corners, the C450’s four-wheel-drive distributes power with a nominal 67 per cent rear bias and 33 per cent sent to the front wheels. The result is a balanced and intuitive rear-drive feel, but with the advantage of added grip.

With 4Matic four-wheel-drive serving to counter its modern Mercedes’ drift-oriented handling traits, the C450 finds a nice, comfortable and reassuring balance between cornering commitment and balanced adjustability.

Different to its Audi rival’s tenacious traction and unwavering road-holding, the C450 AMG 4Matic’s character, however, remains that of rear-driver, but with improved grip and less reliance on electronic stability control interventions and management. 

Somewhat firm but and stable at speed, and with adaptive dampers, it felt comfortably settled, as driven on fast, smooth track conditions, rather than imperfect public roads.

Practical and pleasant

Featuring a sportier take on the standard C-Class’ pleasant interior with its high, ridged dashboard, good seating position and cocooning feel, the C450 incorporates darker trim and matt chrome tones, contrast stitches sports seats with supportive side bolstering, chunky flat-bottom steering wheel and deep user-friendly instrument binnacle with good shading.

A practical car with good levels of safety, convenience, assistance and infotainment features, including standard collision prevention, adaptive braking and stop/start systems the C450 offers good front and luggage room, and decent, if not class-leading rear seating.

Recently revamped and redesignated since the test drive from C450 to C43 to more closely integrate it with the AMG line-up, Mercedes’ warm skunkworks C-Class now develops an additional 23BHP from its engine and gains a nine, speed automatic gearbox for slightly improved efficiency and a 4.7s 0-100km/h time.

However, one wonders whether Mercedes missed an opportunity for a yet lighter, more agile and efficient, but no less powerful four-cylinder C450/C43 right from the beginning, which could have been powered by the 376BHP turbocharged 2L engine used for smaller AMG models.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3L, twin-turbocharged, in-line V6-cylinders

Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 362 (367) [270] @5,500-6,000rpm

Specific power: 120.8BHP/litre

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 383.5 (520) @2,000-4,200rpm

Specific torque: 173.5Nm/litre

0-100km/h: 4.9s

Maximum speed: 250km/h

Fuel consumption, combined: 7.6-lit/res/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 178g/km

Length: 4,699mm

Width: 1,811mm

Height: 1,443mm

Wheelbase: 2,840mm

Headroom, F/R: 1,039/942mm

Legroom, F/R: 1,066/812mm

Boot capacity, 480-litres

Kerb weight: 1,690kg

Steering: Power-assisted, rack and pinion

Suspension: Multi-link, adjustable damping

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 360mm/320mm

Tyres, F/R: 225/40R19/255/35R19 (optional)

Consultant Urological Surgeon And Consultant in Sexual Medicine

Many of us, at some point in our lives, experience negative body image.

It is very difficult to feel beautiful and sexy when we are bombarded daily with altered and unrealistic images of women’s and men’s bodies. Lack of self-confidence and poor body image can get in the way of intimacy. 

Body image has nothing to do with how your body looks. You may be a successful person with many friends and in a relationship with someone who sees you attractive, but still think you are not good enough because of a thwarted self-image. 

A negative body image can have a profound impact on your confidence and your marriage.

Effect of body image on sex

One strong component of sexual satisfaction is being comfortable in one’s skin. If you have convinced yourself that you are unattractive, it will be difficult for you to enjoy sexual intimacy. When your negative body image kicks in during sex, you will be focused on and anxious about sucking in your tummy, hiding your saggy breasts or turning the lights off to hide your body. These thoughts and actions lead to dissatisfaction — in and outside of the bedroom. People with negative body image tend to:

• Experiment less: Because you think your butt, thighs (you name it) are too big or too small, you experiment less in the bedroom and feel restrained and burdened instead of free and relaxed

• Insist that the lights be off: You feel terrible about yourself and figure that your partner would not want to see “these ugly parts” so you always insist on turning the lights off

• Complain a lot: “I am fat,” “I do not look good in this” and “Do not touch this part of me” all add up and slowly erode your self-esteem and kill your sex life

• Avoid sex: The less happy you are with your body, the less intimate you want to be with your partner. You try to avoid sexual relations, which inevitably has a negative impact on your relationship as a whole and can even lead to separation for some couples 

How to deal with body image issues

• Glow with self-confidence: It does not matter what size or shape you are, if you feel good about yourself, you will radiate with self-confidence and more people will find you attractive and want to be around you

• Stop negative self-talk: When you get dressed and look in the mirror, do you find yourself caught up in negative self-talk like “My thighs are big’’ or “My butt is so flat”? Those with body image issues only notice their flaws and imperfections and ignore their positive attributes. Try reframing your negative thoughts and focusing on what is good

• Seek expert advice: Not everyone with negative body image needs counselling but cognitive behavioural therapy may be helpful in helping you recognise your unhelpful thought patterns so you can challenge them and create new body positive thinking and habits

• Talk to your partner: People with low self-esteem tend to underestimate their partner’s love and view their spouse in more negative terms. Be open with your spouse about your insecurities as your assumptions about how he or she sees you are probably not based on reality but on your irrational and extreme thinking patterns. As you work on cultivating self-compassion and a healthier body image, you will find this adage to be true: ‘‘You have to love yourself before you can love someone else”.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

Trevor Noah

UK: John Murray, 2017

Pp. 288

Watching Trevor Noah host “The Daily Show”, one gets the impression of a rather cosmopolitan young man, but yet not one who is jaded. One might assume that his being cosmopolitan is a result of his successful career in the West, but his memoirs, as recorded in “Born A Crime”, attest to the roots of his sophistication as being genuinely South African.

Being born the son of a black mother and a white father made him something of an anomaly in a highly racialised society, but being an outsider also allowed him to move between various subcultures, racial categories, tribes and languages. How he navigated these makes for an exciting and sometimes hilarious story, full of adventure, danger and small, unexpected triumphs.

The book’s title stems from the fact that sexual relations between blacks and whites were strictly forbidden in apartheid South Africa, but the “crime” did not stop at birth. He and his mother had to sneak around to even visit his father, and he was out-of-place in both black and white society. Growing up in Soweto and different suburbs in the Johannesburg area, he was often treated as white in black society, and black in white society; the only category he appeared to belong to was coloured, which he actually had nothing in common with. At an early age, the illogic, arbitrariness and injustice of apartheid and its categories became obvious to him. His critique of the government’s Bantu education system designed for blacks is particularly searing, as is his condemnation of black-on-black violence, particularly the abuse of women.

The overwhelming presence in his memoir is his mother, and his early insights are almost solely attributable to her upbringing. Not only was she his primary caregiver, since his father could not live with them, she was simply an indominable woman who refused the limitations of apartheid to an unprecedented degree. This caused Trevor to identify with black society, even though he stuck out like a sore thumb. As a young woman, Patricia Nombuyiselo Noah fled her family in the township to live illegally in downtown Johannesburg, took a secretarial course, obtained a job normally ruled out for blacks, and met Trevor’s father. All this was forbidden, but she was intrepid.

Trevor’s memoirs are a case study in how apartheid laws trickled down to policing simple everyday things like who you walked in the park with. Just mother and son walking in the street could be cause for trouble, whether from the police or passersby. Anyone “born a crime” lived in constant peril. “A million things had to go right for us to slip through the cracks the way we did for as long as we did.” (p. 22)

Patricia was also deeply religious, and this sharpened Trevor’s debating skills when he did not share her literalist interpretations of God and Jesus. Due to his mother’s strict beliefs, he had little exposure to popular culture. Rather, he spent whole days at church activities and read voraciously, making him a self-taught intellectual.

Noah was five when Nelson Mandela was released from prison, so his growing up was a time of great upheaval and transition from strict apartheid to limited reforms and later relative democracy. His portrayal of these events is not in line with the usual overarching themes of popular struggle and democracy. While he does not dispute them head-on, his concern is over the deep tracks left in people’s consciousness by the racist system. “The genius of apartheid was convincing people who were the overwhelming majority to turn on each other.” (p. 3)

Indeed, many of the problems he faced were from his fellow blacks — the legacy of apartheid’s divisiveness, enforced poverty and ignorance. 

As a child and teenager, he was always in trouble and there are many graphic chase scenes, where he is running from his mother or the police. Each phase of his life was filled with new obstacles and problems which Trevor most often depicts with sly humour and irony. Yet, he was also perpetually inventive, earning pocket money and more by selling pirated CDs and being a DJ for street parties, a business conducted in the school yard, which grew exponentially on the streets when he graduated with no prospect for university or a better job. In his sidewalk business, he benefitted from international trends. “The walls of apartheid were coming down just as American hip-hop was blowing up, and hip-hop made it cool to be from the hood” — comparable to the townships of South Africa. (p. 204)

He continued making a living in this way until a policeman destroyed his computer and CD-writer.

Noah has a way with words, and his narrative is lively, street-wise lyrical and charming. Many terrible things happened to him and those around him, but this is not a sob sorry. Rather, it is a critique of apartheid and others forms of injustice from a very personal and down-to-earth angle. As the book ends, he is still in South Africa; he does not write about how he launched his successful international career, but the inspirational message of his rags-to-riches story is clear. Most admirably, he expresses only compassion for those victims of apartheid and other violence who did not make it to the top. 

“Born a Sin” is also available in audiotape, read by the author.

Patients with arthritic knees can add hip-strengthening exercises to their workout to improve the ability to walk and maybe reduce pain, according to a research review. 

Based on pooled data from eight clinical trials with a total of 340 patients, the study team concludes in the British Journal of Sports Medicine that hip strengthening exercises involving weights or elastic bands would help the most. 

“Despite knowing that exercise is beneficial, what type of exercise should be included in a thorough exercise programme remains largely unknown,” said lead author Andrew Hislop of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. 

Most international guidelines recommend exercise in the conservative management of knee osteoarthritis, a bone and cartilage disease that affects one in four people over age 55. However, many doctors do not follow up on this advice with patients or refer them to the proper physiotherapist for an additional appointment, Hislop noted. 

“With a growing population and increasing number of lower limb injuries, there is going to be an ever increasing burden on the health system to manage knee osteoarthritis,” he told Reuters Health by email. 

Hislop and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials that investigated the effect of adding hip-strengthening exercises to a regimen often prescribed to strengthen the quadriceps muscles at the front of the thigh for people with knee arthritis. 

The researchers looked at whether aspects of knee and walking function improved, as well as whether pain and quality of life were affected by the added hip-strengthening routine. 

They also evaluated three types of hip exercises to see which had the greatest effect: Resistance weight-lifting, functional neuromuscular exercises such as single-leg squats or stepping, and so-called multimodal exercise that combined these two. 

Overall, adding hip-strengthening significantly improved walking function, though it did not have a statistically meaningful effect on pain, stair function or the ability to stand from a sitting position. 

When researchers looked at individual types of hip exercise, however, they found that resistance exercises in particular were more effective than functional neuromuscular exercises for improving pain and functioning. Multimodal exercise had no added effect. 

“Strengthening the hip muscles, particularly the hip abductors, might improve pelvic drop and trunk control, lightening the load on the knee,” Hislop said. 

“Many health professionals are concerned only with the site affected by the disease, forgetting the regional consequences of the disease” at the hip or beyond, said Dr Jamil Natour, chief of rheumatology at the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, who was not involved in the study. 

“We should verify that the ‘normal’ hip of a patient with knee osteoarthritis is evaluated and possibly rehabilitated,” he told Reuters Health by email. 

Researchers also want to understand exactly how exercise influences knee osteoarthritis pain. The effect be physical, but could also stem from other factors such as a general improvement in wellbeing, attention from a healthcare professional or a placebo effect. 

Nearly 1,000 die in Madagascar’s measles outbreak

“Over the last decade or so, many researchers have looked for the optimal exercise program, but unfortunately, without luck,” said Marius Henriksen, head of the Physiotherapy and Biomechanics Research unit at Copenhagen University Hospital in Frederiksberg, Denmark, who wasn’t involved with the study. 

“To me, that suggests that the exercise that is effective is the exercise that is being done”, he told Reuters Health by email. “Go out there and exercise and be physically active, and do something that you find fun and meaningful.”

LONDON — Developed countries could add trillions of dollars to their economies by increasing women’s participation in the workforce and ensuring they earn as much as men, global accounting firm PwC said in a study on Tuesday.

Closing the gender pay gap could swell economies in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries by $2 trillion, the study found.

Increasing the female labour force to match that of Sweden — where 69 per cent of women work — would add a further $6 trillion to countries in the OECD, which is made up of 36 states with advanced economies, it said. 

“There are long standing societal reasons behind the gender pay gap in countries across the world,” said Laura Hinton, chief people officer at PwC, in a statement. 

“Businesses play a key role in solving this important problem by improving opportunities for women. From recruitment through to retirement, it is vital employers support all staff fairly at every stage of their career.”

The PwC report ranked 33 OECD countries according to how they fared on gender pay gaps, female employment rates and how many men worked compared to women. 

Iceland came out on top, followed by Sweden, New Zealand, Slovenia and Norway.

Iceland last January become the first country to make it illegal to pay men more than women, introducing fines on any company or government agency with over 25 staff without a government certificate demonstrating pay equality.

Italy, Chile, Greece, Mexico and South Korea were the worst performing countries, PwC said. 

Globally, women earn about half as much as men, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).

It will be 202 years before women can earn the same as men and have equal job opportunities, according to the WEF’s 2018 Global Gender Gap report, which found there were fewer women working than men last year, mostly due to the lack of childcare.

South Korea has one of the worst gender wage gaps among developed nations, and is ranked 115 out of 149 countries in the WEF’s 2018 gender gap report.

South Korean women could earn over 50 per cent more if the gender pay gap was closed, the highest proportion across the OECD, the PwC report said.

“There is still a long way before we can achieve a gender-equal workplace,” the report said.

PARIS — Between distractions, diversions and the flickering allure of a random suggestion, the major computer platforms aim to keep us glued to our screens come what may. Now some think it is time to escape the tyranny of the digital age.

Everyone staring for hours at a screen has had some exposure to “captology” — a word coined by behavioural scientist BJ Fogg to describe the invisible and manipulative way in which technology can persuade and influence those using it.

“There is nothing we can do, like it or not, where we can escape persuasive technology,” this Standford University researcher wrote in 2010.

All of us experience this “persuasive technology” on a daily basis, whether it is through the endlessly-scrollable Facebook or the autoplay function on Netflix or YouTube, where one video flows seamlessly into another.

“This was not a design ‘accident’, it was created and introduced with the aim of keeping us on a certain platform,” says user experience (UX) designer Lenaic Faure. 

Working with “Designers Ethiques”, a French collective seeking to push a socially responsible approach to digital design, Faure has developed a method for assessing whether the attention-grabbing element of an app “is ethically defensible”.

In the case of YouTube, for example, if you follow the automatic suggestions, “there is a sort of dissonance created between the user’s initial aim” of watching a certain video and “what is introduced to try and keep him or her on the platform”, he says.

Ultimately the aim is to expose the user to partner advertisements and better understand his tastes and habits. 

Dark patterns

UX designer Harry Brignull describes such interactions as “dark patterns”, defining them as interfaces that have been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things they may not have wanted to do. 

“It describes this kind of design pattern — kind of evil, manipulative and deceptive,” he told AFP, saying the aim was to “make you do what the developers want you to do”.

One example is that of the newly-introduced EU data protection rules which require websites to demand users’ consent before being able to collect their valuable personal data.

“You can make it very, very easy to make people click ‘OK’ but how can you opt out, how can you say ‘no’?”

Even for him, as a professional, it can take at least a minute to find out how to refuse.

In today’s digital world, attention time is a most valuable resource.

“The digital economy is based upon competition to consume humans’ attention. This competition has existed for a long time but the current generation of tools for consuming attention is far more effective than previous generations,” said David SH Rosenthal in a Pew Research Centre study in April 2018.

“Economies of scale and network effects have placed control of these tools in a very small number of exceptionally powerful companies. These companies are driven by the need to consume more and more of the available attention to maximise profit.”

Faure suggests that for a design to be considered responsible, the objective of the developer and that of the user must largely line up and equate to the straightforward delivery of information.

But if the design modifies or manipulates the user, directing them towards something they did not ask for, that should then be classed as irresponsible, he says.

French engineering student Tim Krief has come up with a browser extension called Minimal, which offers users a “less attention-grabbing internet experience” on the grounds that the internet “should be a tool, not a trap”. 

The extension aims to mask the more “harmful” suggestions channelled through the major platforms. 

An open source project, the extension should “make users more aware about such issues”, Krief says. 

“We do not attribute enough importance to this attention economy because it seems invisible.” 

Design as a defence

But is this enough to fight the attention-grabbing tactics of powerful Internet giants?

Brignull believes some designers can bring about change but are likely to be restricted by the wider strategy of the company they work for. 

“I think they will have some impact, a little impact, but if they work in companies, those companies have a strategy... so it can be very difficult to have an impact on the companies themselves.”

Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, former head of the French Data Protection Authority, also believes that design can be used to effect positive change. 

“Design could be another defence whose firepower could be used against making individuals the ‘playthings’” of developers, she said in January in a presentation on the “attention economy”.

Faure says he has seen a growing demand for an ethical approach to digital design and thinks his method could help “bring better understanding between users of services and the people who design them”.

This type of initiative “could be a way to tell the big platforms that such persuasive designs really bother us”, Krief says.