5 ms·

My favorite video of his: A huge chunk of the women in the world spend a depressing amount of their time washing clothes. The washing machine has done more for

My favorite video of his: A huge chunk of the women in the world spend a depressing amount of their time washing clothes. The washing machine has done more for women than anything else: http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_and_the_magic_washing_machine http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_and_the_magic_washing_...

soheil 10y ago
There was actually a guy in the washing machine, that just made me completely fall in love with that talk and I already liked it a lot.
- neogodless 10y ago
  Actually a woman!
hashhar 10y ago
I find this [1] one quite amazing as well. 1: http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_y...
a_ight 10y ago
that idea is an old idea predating Rosling, that the automation or labor-saving in the home and, more or less at the same time, women working in factories while the men fought WWII, was what led to women being recognized as "economically capable" and having a lot of free time as soon as they were done baby booming. Also, with the shifting and opening of roles for women, education of children plummeted because "teacher" used to be the most acceptable role for an educated woman, and quality dropped dramatically when the most talented women funelled into the economy to become scientists, doctors, lawyers, etc. It's a serious question, this is a real "technical debt" style tradeoff, and it's not a question of "pay teachers better" or "treat them differently", it's a quality question (this view is not popular within teachers' organizations)
- eru 10y ago
  Paying teachers better might attract more people to become teachers instead of lawyers? Just nitpicking your argument here. I think there are empirical studies looking at things like impact of teacher pay, teacher prestige in society, teacher selection etc on student learning; and teacher pay doesn't actually have that much of an impact (and neither does class size). But I would need to look that up to be sure.
  - geon 10y ago
    Perhaps not from lawyer specifically, since that tends to be a much more ambitious goal, but yes in general.
YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago
I'll confess I don't know who Hans Rosling was, but if that's what he really said, I can't muster much admiration for him. What is really depressing is that "a huge chunk of women in the world" are expected to do the washing, while the men are working or getting an education etc. Having a machine do the washing for you under the circumstances simply frees your time so you can spend it in more house chores. After all, there's not a big difference between "woman, go to your washing" and "woman, go to your washing machine". I mean, alright, I get it- it can save time and all. But personally, I can't think of a context where I wouldn't find the association of washing machines with women to be humiliating.
- aaron695 10y ago
  I find this statement horrific. You would condemn the women of the world, the poorest of the poor to backbreaking work because you won't identify with reality? Even amongst the ultra rich, aka you (given you are on HN, most likely), women do more house work. Yet you expect people who dedicate their lives to the ultra poor and get things done to be careful of your sensibilities?
  - YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago
    And I, in turn, find your outrage misplaced. I am certainly in no position to condemn anyone to anything. Most women in most of the world are in a social situation that forces them to be domestic slaves. So what's the solution to that? To automate their domestic slavery, by buying them washing machines? Well duh, of course not. The solution is to change their societies so that they don't have to be the ones who do all the bloody washing. Until then, selling them washing machines is primarily of benefit to the people who sell them the washing machines.
    - kalleboo 10y ago
      > Until then, selling them washing machines is primarily of benefit to the people who sell them the washing machines Have you ever done all your laundry by hand? I have, and it's a MASSIVE waste of time. As long as someone in the family has to do it manually (along with cooking with fire, carrying water, sweeping, etc), it will keep someone in the home to do all that work. You should definitely actually watch the video. It's only 10 minutes.

soheil 10y ago

There was actually a guy in the washing machine, that just made me completely fall in love with that talk and I already liked it a lot.

neogodless 10y ago
Actually a woman!

hashhar 10y ago

I find this [1] one quite amazing as well. 1: http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_you_ve_ever_seen http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_rosling_shows_the_best_stats_y...

a_ight 10y ago

that idea is an old idea predating Rosling, that the automation or labor-saving in the home and, more or less at the same time, women working in factories while the men fought WWII, was what led to women being recognized as "economically capable" and having a lot of free time as soon as they were done baby booming. Also, with the shifting and opening of roles for women, education of children plummeted because "teacher" used to be the most acceptable role for an educated woman, and quality dropped dramatically when the most talented women funelled into the economy to become scientists, doctors, lawyers, etc. It's a serious question, this is a real "technical debt" style tradeoff, and it's not a question of "pay teachers better" or "treat them differently", it's a quality question (this view is not popular within teachers' organizations)

eru 10y ago
Paying teachers better might attract more people to become teachers instead of lawyers? Just nitpicking your argument here. I think there are empirical studies looking at things like impact of teacher pay, teacher prestige in society, teacher selection etc on student learning; and teacher pay doesn't actually have that much of an impact (and neither does class size). But I would need to look that up to be sure.
- geon 10y ago
  Perhaps not from lawyer specifically, since that tends to be a much more ambitious goal, but yes in general.

YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago

I'll confess I don't know who Hans Rosling was, but if that's what he really said, I can't muster much admiration for him. What is really depressing is that "a huge chunk of women in the world" are expected to do the washing, while the men are working or getting an education etc. Having a machine do the washing for you under the circumstances simply frees your time so you can spend it in more house chores. After all, there's not a big difference between "woman, go to your washing" and "woman, go to your washing machine". I mean, alright, I get it- it can save time and all. But personally, I can't think of a context where I wouldn't find the association of washing machines with women to be humiliating.

aaron695 10y ago
I find this statement horrific. You would condemn the women of the world, the poorest of the poor to backbreaking work because you won't identify with reality? Even amongst the ultra rich, aka you (given you are on HN, most likely), women do more house work. Yet you expect people who dedicate their lives to the ultra poor and get things done to be careful of your sensibilities?
- YeGoblynQueenne 10y ago
  And I, in turn, find your outrage misplaced. I am certainly in no position to condemn anyone to anything. Most women in most of the world are in a social situation that forces them to be domestic slaves. So what's the solution to that? To automate their domestic slavery, by buying them washing machines? Well duh, of course not. The solution is to change their societies so that they don't have to be the ones who do all the bloody washing. Until then, selling them washing machines is primarily of benefit to the people who sell them the washing machines.
  - kalleboo 10y ago
    > Until then, selling them washing machines is primarily of benefit to the people who sell them the washing machines Have you ever done all your laundry by hand? I have, and it's a MASSIVE waste of time. As long as someone in the family has to do it manually (along with cooking with fire, carrying water, sweeping, etc), it will keep someone in the home to do all that work. You should definitely actually watch the video. It's only 10 minutes.