“For most of history,” wrote Virginia Woolf, “Anonymous was a woman.” For centuries, women have been ignored by history or simply written out of it. The problem with anonymity is that no one knows who you are; your talents cannot be recognised; nor can you receive the credit that is your due. As a result, you cannot progress in life or your career – that is, if you have one. You are, to all intents and purposes, a nobody.
Look at the women who made contributions in fields such as science. It is only relatively recently that attempts have been made to redress the balance by honouring those whom the history books have omitted or erased from our story of collective human achievement.
When it came to authors, female writers in the West often wrote anonymously, or under noms de plume that were either masculine or obscured their gender, to get published and be widely read in male circles.
These biases against women are not entirely a thing of the past. They persist against women in every sphere, whether that's representation, pay disparity, access or leadership. Next week at the Abu Dhabi Diplomacy Conference, for example, experts will be gathering to discuss why so few women worldwide take up diplomatic posts and represent their countries overseas.
Pinpointing the deep-seated prejudice that influences people’s opinions is difficult. They might not even be aware of the fact that they carry a bias based on gender or ethnicity. And suggesting to those making choices that they are guilty of bias is a minefield in itself as few people would want to be accused of discrimination. Add to that the fact that those who rise to the top are unlikely to accept that they might have done so because the system is weighted in their favour, both at a structural and individual level. Everyone wants to believe they have got to where they are based on merit - but the huge discrepancies demonstrate that is not always the case.
We need systems in place that can eliminate these biases. Making CVs anonymous is now increasingly common practice; studies show that can make a difference, both in terms of who is selected for interview and offered a job.
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Read more from Shelina Janmohamed:
We need an end to the Disney myth in which girls are defined by their looks
From Congress to cosplay, women are shattering stereotypes
Jacinda Ardern is a model for all working mothers
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The great shining light on the horizon should be the use of artificial intelligence. Machine learning is seen as a panacea to many of our issues of in-built discrimination. A number of organisations have been actively developing AI that can help with recruitment by sifting through job applications and CVs to select the best candidates.
But things are not quite as rosy as they might seem. Amazon announced last month that it was scrapping an AI tool it had been developing for recruitment purposes as it had been rejecting women wholesale. Candidates were given scores by the AI machine but a year into its development, the company realised it was not rating them in a gender-neutral way. Because its algorithms had been developed based on CVs submitted over a 10-year period, most of which came from men, it automatically rejected any resumes that contained the word “women”.
In a world where AI tools are being developed to help those involved in fighting crime and establishing law and order, it is even more imperative to ensure they are built without discriminating based on gender, race or colour. Diversity recognition and equality must be at the forefront of any new developments.
In the USA, facial recognition software is being used to find criminals. Research has found that they can be accurate – but primarily for white men, with accuracy as high as 99 per cent. But when it comes to women – and black women in particular – it can drop to as low as 35 per cent, meaning there is a very real threat of wrongful arrest, prosecution and punishment based on false data.
There is a lesson to be learned from the erasure of so many people from our collective past, as well as the discrimination that is still being perpetuated today – by both humans and machines. We need new ways to redress the balance and new mechanisms to do so too.
We are standing on the cusp of an exciting new future. It cannot be tainted by the very worst of human nature. If machines are learning those traits from us, we need to tackle our own prejudices first and foremost, no matter how painful that might be.
Shelina Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World
World Cup warm up matches
May 24 Pakistan v Afghanistan, Bristol; Sri Lanka v South Africa, Cardiff
May 25 England v Australia, Southampton; India v New Zealand, The Oval
May 26 South Africa v West Indies, Bristol; Pakistan v Bangladesh, Cardiff
May 27 Australia v Sri Lanka, Southampton; England v Afghanistan, The Oval
May 28 West Indies v New Zealand, Bristol; Bangladesh v India, Cardiff
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
Company%20profile
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Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
The%20specs
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Scoreline
Germany 2
Werner 9', Sane 19'
Netherlands 2
Promes 85', Van Dijk 90'
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
