In 1977, Rosabeth Kanter published her book, Men and Women of the Corporation, introducing the concept of “tokenism” as she covered women’s general negative experiences working ‘non-traditionally female’ jobs and, particularly, their inability to achieve equality in the workplace, despite their capabilities due to their attributed token status, i.e. their low proportion in a workplace dominated by men. Over the years, the term has expanded to also incorporate workplace policies with voluntary or mandated quotas, especially towards minority groups and/or women, in ways that will not change (gender or ethnic) […]
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Social Context and One’s Religious Experience
Today, around two billion people identify as Muslims across the world. They live in various parts of the world, from North America to Southeast Asia, in addition to regions we may not associate with a Muslim presence, such as Eastern Europe, South America, and North Asia. The cultural expressions of Muslims in the world are as varied as their geographical distribution. One element of cultural expression is language. A Malay Muslim in Singapore and a Muslim in Pakistan may share the same faith but may not necessarily understand one another (unless the two of them are accomplished polyglots in Urdu and Malay).
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Quiet Quitting: The Beginning of a Revolution for Better Workplace Boundaries
‘Quiet quitting’ has become the latest online buzzword that has set the internet ablaze. A quick Google search of the term will open a sprawling list of articles, but where did it originate?
The term started from a Tiktok video posted in early 2022 by career coach and YouTuber Brian Creely. Summarising an Insider article written by senior correspondent Aki Ito with the headline, “My Company is Not My Family”, Creely stated that employees are taking greater control over their working schedules to find a healthy balance between their careers and personal lives.
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Staying Sane in an Insane World: Performance and Academics
THE PHD FACTORY
When I first heard the term ‘PhD factory’, it took me a few seconds to realise what it meant and was immediately privy to the precarity of academia. A Doctor of Philosophy or PhD degree connotes a certain level of prestige. It is the pinnacle of learning. You might make friends for life, and friends who challenge your way of thinking. You get to meet and work with professors whose interests align with yours. Securing an opportunity to do a PhD is not easy.
He is Different But Never Less
One of the things I most look forward to during each year-end is the Individualised Education Programme (IEP) meetings with my son’s teachers. It gives me a better idea of what has worked regarding teaching strategies and interventions, and whether he has achieved some of the goals we had planned for the year.
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Employing Gen Z: Opportunities and Potential
Today’s professionals have reason to be hopeful. Despite the unprecedented impact of a global pandemic, work as we know it has changed for good. Now is a chance for all to hit refresh as the first of Gen Z joins the workforce. Also known as zoomers, these youth have never known a world without the Internet – born from 1995 to 2012, they learnt to walk as technology took great leaps to fit an entire world in the palm of their hand. Even the youngest of this cohort enjoys almost uninterrupted access to devices, learning as much from influencers as they do from school.
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Humanism in Community Advocation
Community advocation is a term that is of much relevance today – it signifies a continuous and laborious activity with the intention of implementing positive change based on a specific worldview. It is therefore reformistic in its essence. With the advent of social media that brings much exposure to both knowledge and current happenings of the world, it is to be expected that man with his gifts of criticality and creativity would feel called upon to seek change. But creative intellect is not the only factor in the psyche of man for him to willingly bear this responsibility. Such a burden can only be borne by a being that possesses a moral conscience.
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The Death of Expertise: Examining Anti-Vaccine Sentiments
In the 18th century, the Baghdad-based Armenian merchant Owannis Moradian attempted to convince the people of Baghdad of the necessity of vaccination. His fervour for scientific developments and technology made him eager to spread the culture of vaccination in Baghdad as he was convinced that it would protect them from smallpox. However, he struggled in his initial attempts due to widespread misinformation based on religious convictions that made the people of Baghdad hesitant to accept this novel medical innovation.
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Woke Culture: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ‘WOKE’, ANYWAY?
Before 2014, the call to ‘stay woke’ was, for many people, unheard of. Within the Black communities, however, it had been around for a while – commonly referring to the notion of staying alert to the deceptions of other people as a basic survival tactic. In 2014, following the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, ‘stay woke’ symbolically came to be the cautionary watchword of Black Lives Matter activists on the streets as they urged one another to ‘stay woke’ against police brutality and unjust police tactics[1].
Fathering: Seeing Beauty in Imperfections
Imperfection is perfection in the wisdom of creation. If Allah swt so wishes to make His creations as perfect beings, He could have possibly and willingly done so. Nonetheless, He decided otherwise, all with a vision of the Perfect Creator.
In fact, what He asserts is that He creates human in the finest state, namely ahsan taqwim, not a perfect state. Allah swt says in the Quran, “We have certainly created Man in the finest state. Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low. Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they will have a reward never ending.” (Surah al-Tin (95): 4-6)
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