At the ‘after party’

I was at the after party of the Miss Universe contest at the newly opened Okada that has been the talk of the world of gambling. I wanted to see the Okada spruced up more than I wanted to see beauty contestants. I have been writing unfavorable reviews about beauty contests in general so I thought I should at least go and see what the Okada looked like and the “after party” of a beauty contest.

I must immediately clarify I am not against beauty contests but I don’t think it should be headline news nor a national concern. That is putting priorities in the right order. Anyway I was there.

As we approached the Okada it did look to me like fantasy land, the building shaped like a circular cone with pink (pink or was it velvet?) lights. There was a slight traffic at the main entrance but what caught my mind’s eyes was the crowd who were roped out as invited guests arrived to walk on the red carpet. I looked at the crowd and they were ordinary people, perhaps office workers who wanted to see the reality behind the hype. In the middle of the long walk on the red carpet were a bunch of photographers who were ready to take pictures of fans of the Miss Beauties from all over the world. Sorry, but I was not a fan although my sister was and she wanted to stop and have her picture taken with a Miss Beauty.

It was a long wait as we sat down on a sofa at the center of the hall thanks to the thoughtfulness of my Okada guide Neric. With the music  blaring we could not talk or hear each other. So we gave up and just drank the champagne instead and people-watched hoping to see Miss France who was crowned Miss Universe because the judges said she was not only beautiful but bright, giving the right answers to the QandA part of the contest.

Not like the Miss Philippines Maxine Medina who was criticized for being so unintelligent. The question which sunk her was “what is the most significant change you’ve seen in the world in the last 10 years?”

Maxine’s answer: The last 10 years of being here in the world is that I saw all the people being in one event like this in Miss Universe, and it’s something big to us that we are one, as one nation, we are all together.” Whew. I think she was more sincere than the other beauties who attempted to answer tough questions on world and current events like about the presidency of Donald Trump, the prevalence of violence in society, and the worldwide refugee crisis.

It took time before Miss France appeared and security was battling to stop crowds getting near her. The main event of the “after party” was that Mr. Okada himself would give her a bouquet of roses. There was so much hustling and pushing I am afraid we left before the big event.

I was surprised why Miss Philippines should be criticized for her answer. It was sincere and fit for what beauty contests are all about. It is the organizers who are confused trying hard to justify what a beauty contest was all about.

Happily women have other examples to look up to like the AP story on “the First Woman to win the “Nobel Prize in Mathematics.” That is unmistakably a brain contest “ so we do not take offense even if she was not a Filipina or a beauty.

The news story is about “Maryam Mirzakhani who became the first woman in 78 years to be awarded the prestigious Fields Medal, considered the highest honor in mathematics.” She was selected for “stunning advances in the theory of Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces.”

I know nothing about mathematics but I wished I had the background to understand it.

But this story caught my attention because it is a woman who won it.

“The Fields Medal is awarded every four years by the International Mathematical Union to outstanding mathematicians under 40 who show promise of future achievement. With the announcement of Mirzakhani and this year’s other awardees – Arthur Avila, Manjul Bhargava, and Martin Hairer – there now have been 54 male and one female medalists.”

“Many hope Mirzakhani’s Fields medal is a sign of change to come. “I will be happy if it encourages young female scientists and mathematicians,” she said in a press release. Christiane Rousseau, vice president of the International Mathematics Union, told the Guardian this is “an extraordinary moment” and “a celebration for women,” comparable to Marie Curie’s barrier-breaking Nobel prizes in physics and chemistry in the early 20th century.”

And as Canadian math professor Izabella Laba wrote: “Mirzakhani’s selection does exactly nothing to convince me that women are capable of doing mathematical research at the same level as men. I have never had any doubt about that in the first place…What I take from it instead is that we as a society, men and women alike, are becoming better at encouraging and nurturing mathematical talent in women, and more capable of recognizing excellence in women’s work.”

“Mirzakhani’s accomplishment is all the more groundbreaking in light of the well-documented disadvantages and biases women face in math and science. According to the National Academy of Sciences, there are no significant biological differences that could explain women’s low representation in STEM academic faculty and leadership positions (although that doesn’t stop prominent people from making claims otherwise.) Instead, NAS says we can thank bias and academia’s “outmoded institutional structures.”

“For example, in a 2008 Yale study, professors were asked to rate fictional applicants for a lab manager position. When given an application with a male name at the top, professors rated the candidate more competent and hirable than when given an otherwise identical form with a female name. This bias was found in both male and female faculty members.

And that’s not all women in STEM fields have to contend with: A July report found that a full 64 percent of women in various scientific fields were sexually harassed while doing fieldwork.

These disadvantages – along with a history of men getting the credit for discoveries and inventions made by women – help explain why only 9 to 16 percent of tenure-track positions in math-intensive fields at the top 100 US universities are held by women.

According to the American Mathematical Society, the share of women earning PhDs in math has remained stagnant for decades:

Women never accounted for more than 34 percent of math PhD recipients in any year from 1993-2012.”