Friday news roundup June 14, 2019

Harmful gender stereotypes in adverts contributing to inequality to be banned. The UK’s advertising watchdog has introduced a ban on adverts featuring “harmful gender stereotypes” or those which might cause “serious or widespread offence” as it found some portrayals can potentially “limit people’s potential.” Guy Parker, chief executive at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), commented: “Our evidence shows how harmful gender stereotypes in ads can contribute to inequality in society, with costs for all of us. Put simply, we found that some portrayals in ads can, over time, play a part in limiting people's potential.” The new rules on adverts were outlined at the end of last year in order to prevent “specific harms” and advertisers had six months to prepare for their introduction.

School principals in Australia seek help on wellbeing. A new program aimed at improving the wellbeing of principals, who have been found to experience far higher rates of stress at work than the general population, has launched. According to an annual survey of more than 2,000 principals last year, one-third of Australian principals experienced physical violence and nearly half were threatened with violence. The new program teaches a range of techniques as to how to put boundaries between work and home, and how to improve principals’ skills when it comes to coping with work. A report written by the organizers for the NSW Department of Education has revealed that the surveys of participating principals before and after they completed the year-long program showed a 20% fall in stress levels and a projected 11.6% rise in job satisfaction.

Aviation has largely been left out of global efforts to rein in rising greenhouse gas emissions. The sector accounts for about 2.5% of global CO2 emissions and has grown by 5% last year but airline emissions are not covered by the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. Whilst emissions from other industries such as automotive and manufacturing are required to cut back, the schemes that try to address airline emissions largely aim at keeping them flat. In future, this means that the sector’s emissions will likely make up an even larger share of global emissions.

Read more articles on gender, inequality, wellbeing and environment.