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Whether you’re the “golden child” or the “problem child”, anyone with siblings will be familiar with the rivalry and competition that comes with growing up together – and it doesn’t necessarily end when you form relationships and families of your own.
For many young women in China with brothers, this is made even harder by the cultural preference for sons and the remnants of the country’s one-child policy. As researcher Chihling Liu found in thousands of posts on Chinese social media, daughters are discriminated against in their own families, and yet are expected to financially support their parents and brothers. These expectations, which leave women socially isolated, under financial pressure and even
suicidal, should be of great concern in a country with a declining birth rate and huge gender imbalance.
Also today, read our coverage from Johannesburg of a fire that killed dozens in the city last week, and while it might seem like a hassle to get regular COVID boosters, here’s why older adults should make those
appointments.
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aslysun/Shutterstock
Chih-Ling Liu, Lancaster University
Many young women feel trapped and indebted to their families.
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South African police officers at the scene of the burned building in Johannesburg.
Luca Sola/AFP via Getty Images
Richard Ballard, University of the Witwatersrand
Inner city occupations and shack settlements alike are the inevitable consequence of the fact that huge populations of people have to get by without a living wage.
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After winning a third term, Ali Bongo has been ousted as president of Gabon by a military coup.
EPA-EFE/stringer
Folahanmi Aina, Royal United Services Institute
Ali Bongo is the latest in a string of leaders to be ousted in military coups since 2020.
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Dawn ME Bowdish, McMaster University; Andrew Costa, McMaster University
We still have much to learn about many aspects of COVID-19 — including its lingering health effects and the mechanics of its endless mutations — but we do know one thing: we can’t let our guard down.
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Paul Lashmar, City, University of London
Some UK families whose wealth largely derives from the transatlantic slave trade have agreed to pay reparations.
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Caroline Smith, University of Westminster
We can predict hair and eye colour with reasonable accuracy from DNA, but other characteristics are being investigated.
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Jorge L. Contreras, University of Utah; Dave Fagundes, University of Houston Law Center
Publishers and studios routinely pay large sums to acquire ‘life story rights.’ Two law scholars explain why the phrase is misleading.
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Paul Cureton, Lancaster University
The drones are light, cheap, easy to transport and have proved to be highly effective as a weapon of war.
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Meisha Lohmann, Binghamton University, State University of New York
A lecturer in English literature gets her students to examine children’s books through the lens of race, class and sexuality.
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