Canada has a new minister of digital government, again. You won’t believe who’s telling you to delete Facebook now. And just when you think we’ve overcome the patriarchy, another reason that women will have a harder time in the workplace.
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Update: Justin Trudeau appoints Joyce Murray as president of the Treasury Board and minister of Digital Government. https://t.co/tvCfBYlpA6
— Twitter Moments Canada (@CanadaMoments) March 18, 2019
Trending on Twitter, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed a new cabinet minister yesterday. Vancouver MP Joyce Murray will be the Treasury Board President and the Minister of Digital Government.
She becomes the third minister for this portfolio in less than a year. Scott Brison was the first to hold the post. He announced he’ll be leaving politics in January. Then Jane Philpott resigned from the post in February, saying she’d lost confidence in the government following the revelations about SNC Lavalin. So now Murray will become responsible for overseeing the delivery of digital government services, including the Canada.ca website.
Trending on Reddit, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton once again encouraged people to delete Facebook. It’s quite the statement from someone who sold his firm to the social network for $19 billion. Acton made the comments during a guest lecture to a classroom at Stanford University, his alma mater. He departed from Facebook in November 2017, in a dispute over the introduction of ads into the messaging platform. Since then he’s been a vocal critic of how Facebook, and other Silicon Valley firms, turn a profit.
Trending on LinkedIn, the trend of automation in the workforce is harder on women than it is on men. A study from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research shows that almost half of all U.S. occupations could be replaced by AI by 2026. Now, it’s also estimated the total number of jobs will grow, but the fact is that many of the jobs we’re doing today just won’t exist in the near future. Many of the job functions that are likely to be eliminated soon are those typically staffed by women. To name a few: administrative assistants, receptionists, and information clerks. Women make up half the labor force, but make up 58 per cent of the workers at highest risk of automation. And if you’re a hispanic woman, you’re at even more risk.
A quick thank you to Shireen Jeejeebhoy, who gave us a shout out on Twitter. She says Hashtag Trending is “a fun, informative podcast to start the day off.” Thanks Shireen!