Welcome to ToffeeTV, this is the Everton News Daily. The draw for the FA Cup 4th round has been made. Let's get over to Ped to find out the latest on that. Thanks Baz, Everton will face Bolton Wanderers or Luton Town if they can get past Crystal Palace in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Everton's game of course is a week on Wednesday. The replay for Bolton Wanderers vs Luton is a week tomorrow so Everton will know who they'll face ahead of the game against Crystal Palace. The first game finished neil-neil at Kennewarf Road so could be a local derby or Everton will face Luton Town who obviously beat Everton at Gothersham Park this season so Everton will be seeking revenge. Of course if Everton can get past Crystal Palace in the 3rd round replay a week on Wednesday, back to you Baz. Thanks Ped, Alamires has reported that 777 partners have now put up to £150m into Everton Football Club since taking over the caretaker role that they seem to have after agreeing to deal with Farad Mishiri for the Football Club. That money has gone into the club to save the day-to-day run but also the ongoing stadium costs as Everton move towards completion of their new stadium down at Bramley Mordoch. The US Investment Group are expecting to hear any day now whether they have a full approval from the Premier League to complete their takeover of the Football Club. It's something that is neither, I think Evertonians need the finality to this whether it is a yes from the Premier League or a no from the Premier League because the club does feel like it's in a little bit of limbo at the moment. Arsenal are apparently interested in Everton midfielder Amadou O'Nana, that is according to reports today. With one report even stating that the two clubs are locked in talks for the 22-year-old Belgian international. Everton apparently wants at least £75m for O'Nana but reports coming out of London that Arsenal simply don't have that kind of money at the moment unless they sell a player so we'll have to wait and see whether there is any more to that one. On to an Everton in, or hopefully an Everton in, Everton are hoping to win the race for Manchester United midfielder Hannibal Medbury. The 20-year-old is also a target for Sevilla in Spain. He's played eight times overall for Manchester United, he's had five appearances this season and scored one goal. Last season he was on loan at Birmingham City where he made 41 appearances and scored one goal. He's been capped 27 times by Tunisia. And finally Stanley Mills has returned to Everton from his loan at Oxford United after suffering an injury in Saturday's 6-2 defeat in the FA Cup at Coventry City. Mills has made 24 appearances for Oxford this season, scored him one goal and has four assists but he returned back to Everton, he had his knee assessed yesterday and it is confirmed that he needs surgery and therefore is out for the remainder of the season. That's it for today's news, make sure you like and subscribe and if you want to become a Premier member then watch all our videos without any updates, the link is in the description and the QR code will be on the screen now. Thanks for watching, see you later.


this is my third lecture on polynomial regression and here is the content of this topic. So, polynomial models in one variable, orthogonal polynomials, piecewise polynomial fitting and polynomial models in two or more variables. So, we will be talking about this polynomials in two or more variable today. So, in the previous classes we have studied polynomial in one variable and we know that polynomials are used in situation when the response variable is non-linear and we have studied how to fit a kth order polynomial using orthogonal polynomials and also we have studied piecewise polynomial fitting. So, piecewise polynomial fitting is used in situation when a lower order polynomial does not fit the given data properly, but increasing the order of the polynomial does not improve the situation substantially. So, this indicates that the response function it behaves you know differently in different part of the range of x. So, what we do in a common approach to deal with such situation is that we divide the range of x into several segments and we fit an appropriate curve in each segment. So, we talked about all these things you know in the previous classes today we will be talking about polynomial models in two variables. So, polynomial models in two or more variables, the second order polynomial model in two variables is y equal to beta naught plus beta 1 x 1 plus beta 2 x 2 plus beta 1 1 x 1 square plus beta 2 2 x 2 square plus beta 1 2 x 1 x 2 plus epsilon. So, this is a second order polynomial model in two variables. So, here the linear effect parameters are beta 1 and beta 2 and then quadratic effect parameters are beta 1 1 and beta 2 2 beta 1 1 beta 2 2 and then the interaction effect parameter is beta 1 2. So, here we usually call the regression function expectation of y is equal to beta naught plus beta 1 x 1 plus beta 2 x 2 plus beta 1 1 x 1 square plus beta 2 2 x 2 square plus beta 1 2 x 2 x 1 x 2. So, this is called a response surface and so this response surface is used in industry to for modeling the response variable in terms of controlled variable like in the regressors variable. So, they have huge application in industry. So, we will be talking now how to fit a second order polynomial model in two variables. So, for that I will give an example. I will talk about the fitting of second order polynomial in two variables by using an example here. So, this is chemical process example and here x 1 is a regressor variable x 1 and x 2 are regressor variable. So, x 1 stands for the temperature reaction temperature and x 2 stands for concentration and the response variable y it stands for percent conversion of a chemical process. So, we have two regressor variable and we have one response variable and we have given some data. We have to fit a model like this. This is a second order polynomial model in two variables x 1 and x 2. So, this one is nothing but a multiple linear regression variable like y equal to x beta plus epsilon. So, here x is the coefficient matrix or design matrix sometime we say. So, here the first column is corresponds to beta naught I mean or say x naught here and then the second column is corresponds to x 1 and then x 2 then x 1 square x 2 square and then x 1 x 2. Then how do you get this matrix? You are given x 1 here. So, the first column is corresponds to this x 1 values. You are given the x 2 values also. So, the second column or the column associated with x 2 is corresponds to this column and then you can compute x 1 square you can compute x 2 square and you can compute x 1 into x 2. So, 200 into 15 for the first observation. So, this is how you get the coefficient matrix x and then this one is same as multiple linear regression y equal to x beta plus epsilon where beta is beta naught beta 1 beta 2 beta 1 1 beta 2 2 and then beta 1 2. So, you have to estimate this coefficients and you know how to do that. So, beta hat is nothing but x prime x inverse x prime y. So, you know x matrix you know y. So, you can compute beta hat. So, here is the fitted model now. So, these are the this is beta naught hat and this is your this is the fitted model for this chemical process example and then here is the ANOVA table for this one. So, we had their 12 observations. So, that is why SS total has degree of freedom 11 and as you can see here that there are 6 parameters 1 2 3 4 5 and 6 and that is why you will have 6 restriction on residuals. So, there are total 12 residuals because there are 12 observations and on this 12 residuals EI you have 6 restriction. So, you have the freedom of choosing 6 residuals independently and then the remaining have to be chosen in such a way that they satisfy those restrictions. So, that is why the residual degree of freedom is 12 minus 6 which is 6 again and the regression degree of freedom is 5. So, you know how to compute this residual you know how to compute this regression SS regression. So, this SS regression it involves sort of SS regression due to beta 1 plus SS regression due to beta 2 plus SS regression due to beta 1 1 beta 2 2 plus beta 1 2. So, this is the total SS regression and then you have the MS residual here and here is the F statistic. What it does is that it test this F statistic is used to test the significance of this model whether this model is significant that means whether the parameters are significant. So, test for the significance of regression whatever you have fitted which is same as testing the hypothesis that beta 1 equal to beta 2 equal to beta 1 1 equal to beta 2 2 equal to beta 1 2 is equal to 0. So, all of them 0 means the null hypothesis says that the regression fit is not significant and the alternative hypothesis H naught here sorry alternative hypothesis H 1 that says no H naught is not true that means the fit is significant. So, in order to test this null hypothesis you have the F statistic and which has value 58.86 and now this follows F with degree of freedom 56 and you get the tabulated value from the F table that is 4.39. So, the observed value is greater than the tabulated value that means H naught is rejected which says that the regression fit is significant. So, overall whatever model we have fitted like second order polynomial involving two variables that model is significant. Now what we are going to do is that we are we will be testing whether what is the contribution of the linear terms what is the contribution of beta 1 and beta 2. So, that is what we will test the significance of the linear terms in terms of beta 1 and beta 2 and then we will be testing the significance of the quadratic terms. So, to test the contribution or significance of linear terms of the model what we have to test is that we have to test the null hypothesis H naught that beta 1 equal to beta 2 equal to 0 because beta 1 is the coefficient of x 1 and beta 2 is the coefficient of x 2. So, if this is true that means if the null hypothesis is true then the contribution of the linear term is not significant against the alternative hypothesis H 1 that H naught is not true. So, to test this one we need to find S S regression due to beta 1 and beta 2. So, this is the contribution of beta 1 and beta 2 in total S S regression. So, S S regression due to beta 1 and beta 2 in the presence of beta naught. So, this measures the contribution of first order terms. So, how to get this one is that you fit a model you fit the model y equal to beta naught plus beta 1 x 1 plus beta 2 x 2 plus epsilon. So, you fit the this model to your given data x 1 x 2 y. So, you are given x 1 x 2 y for you have several observations on x 1 x 2 and y here specifically you have 12 observations on x 1 x 2 and y. So, you fit this model on the given observations and then the regression sum of square for this model is basically this quantity S S regression is beta 1 beta 2 given beta naught. So, how to get S S regression due to beta 1 and beta 2 given it is given that beta naught is in the model.  So, S S regression for this model is same as S S regression due to beta 1 beta 2 in the presence of beta naught for the model we consider like no second order model involving two variables. So, this can be found that this is equal to 914.4 with the degree of freedom 2 may be I will explain why it is 2. So, the F statistic is so why it is 2 you can construct an overtable for this one total degree of freedom is 11 that is total and then the residual residual has degree of freedom 12 minus 3 that is 9 that is why the regression degree of freedom is 2 for this model. So, the F statistic is 914.4 by 2 minus 2 by 5.89. So, but this test is for the full model and the MS residual for the full model is 5.89. So, this part is just to explain how to get S S regression due to this in the presence of beta naught. So, this is the MS residual and this is equal to 77.62 and you now this follows F distribution with degree of freedom 2 and 6. So, you find the tabulated value 0.0526 from the table that is equal to 5.14. So, you see that the observed value is greater than the tabulated value. So, which implies that H naught is rejected and H 1 is accepted. So, H naught is rejected means beta 1 and beta 2 are not equal to 0. That means the linear term contribution is significant. So, which implies linear terms contributed significantly to the. So, we observe that the contribution of linear terms is significant in the model. Now, we test for the significance of or the contribution of the quadratic term to test the contribution of linear terms. Quadratic terms given that the model already contains the linear term to test this thing the contribution of the quadratic terms given that the model already contains the linear term. We have to test the hypothesis that beta 1 1 is equal to 0. So, beta 1 1 is beta 2 2 is equal to beta 1 2 is 0 against the alternative hypothesis H 1 that H naught is not true. So, I hope that you can recall the model. So, the model we are considering is y equal to beta naught plus beta 1 x plus beta 1 x 1 beta 2 x 2 plus beta 1 1 x 1 square plus beta 2 2 x 2 square plus beta 1 2 x 1 x 2 plus epsilon. So, this is the full model. Now, you know how to test this hypothesis using the technique of extra sum of square. So, the F statistic for testing this hypothesis is equal to I will use the notation that S S regression due to beta 1 1 beta 2 2 beta 1 2. So, the S S regression due to beta 1 1 beta 2 2 and beta 1 2 is equal to beta 1 2 in the presence of the linear model linear terms in the model that is beta naught beta 1 and beta 2. This is what we want to test. I mean this is the notation for S S regression due to this quadratic term in the presence of linear term by M S residual and S S regression and of course, I need to divide this by the degree of freedom that is 3. I will explain why it is 3. Now, this one is this regression S S regression due to this quadratic term in the presence of linear terms. This can be computed using the extra sum of square technique. So, what you have to do is that you compute S S regression for the full model. So, you compute the S S regression for the full model. This is the full model and we already have that. We have a ANOVA table for this one. So, this is the S S regression for the full model. Now, what I will do is that this minus S S regression for the restricted model. What is my restricted model? My restricted model is the model under H naught that is Y equal to beta naught plus beta 1 X 1 plus beta 2 X 2 plus epsilon. So, S S regression due to this model is nothing but S S regression under the restricted model by M S residual. Now, you can see just now we have both the things. We have S S regression for the full model from the ANOVA table that is 1733.6 and for the restricted model also we have it that is just now we computed that is 914.4. Now, this has degree of freedom 5 and this has degree of freedom 2. So, the difference is 3 that is why you have to divide it by 3. So, this by 3 by M S residual is 5.89 which is equal to 46.37. Now, you check the tabulated value. This F follows F distribution with degree of freedom 3.6.05 level of significance. So, this one is nothing this is you will get this value from the table from the F table that is 4.35. So, you can see the observed value is greater than the tabulated value which implies that the null hypothesis is rejected that means this coefficients are significance. So, the final conclusion is that so, this implies that the quadratic terms contributes significantly to the. So, we have observed that you know well. So, we have observed what we have done is that we have studied how to fit a second order polynomial model involving two variables and then first we computed we fitted that model and then we computed the ANOVA table for the full model and then we observed that the model is significant by the F test and then once the model is significant that means all the regression coefficients are not equal to 0. Some of them are non-zero and then what we did is that we tested the significance of the linear term separately and we also tested the significance of quadratic term and we found that for this particular example both the linear terms and the quadratic terms are significant. So, you cannot remove any term from the from the model. So, the model is quite significant. So, that is all about the second order polynomial fitting involving two variables and now we will solve some problems on orthogonal polynomials. So, we have the problem. So, fit a cubic equation using orthogonal polynomials to the y values the values are 13, 4, 3, 4, 10 and 22. So, we have 6 observations for y corresponds to the x value minus 2.5 minus 1.5 so on and you can see that the x values are equally spaced. So, the question is we are asking to fit you a cubic equation. So, is the cubic term needed? If not what is the best quadratic fit? So, to solve this problem first what we have to do is that we have to fit 3 degree polynomial involving I mean using orthogonal polynomial because that is the orthogonal polynomial has some advantage and then we will test the significance of the quadrate significance of the cubic term. So, I wrote the observations here again. So, this is by x and y and I have 6 observations. And, the question say you fit a cubic model. So, basically you have to fit y equal to beta naught plus beta 1 x plus beta 2 x square plus beta 3 x cube plus epsilon. You have to fit this model and then we know that you know instead of fitting I mean we know how to use orthogonal polynomial to fit third order polynomial. So, instead of fitting this model we will fit this one. So, this one is this is also third order, but involving orthogonal polynomial. So, this is orthogonal polynomial of order 3, order 2, order 1 and we have 6 observations. So, you know how to compute this orthogonal polynomial for 6 observations. So, P naught, so here you have P naught x. So, you know that P naught x is always equal to 1 for all x and P 1 x is minus 5 minus 3 minus 1 1 3 5 right. I hope that you can recall that P 1 x is equal to lambda 1 minus 1 minus into x minus x i minus x bar by d. So, here you can check that x bar is equal to 3.5. I mean you do not need to consider this x value you can just replace them by 1 2 3 4 5 6 because they are all equally spaced. So, you can code them by 1 2 3 4 5 6. So, using those values my x bar is equal to 3.5 and then for 1 it is 1 minus 3.5 d is equal to 1 and I have to take lambda equal to 2 to make it integer. So, this is minus 2.5 and then I multiply by 2 to get minus 5. So, this is how you know you have to compute P 1 x and then you see the formula for P 2 x and P 3 x. Generally, during the exam you know this table is given. So, you do not need to memorize all these things. So, what I want to do is that suppose well. So, it says that you fit third cubic equation and then you know what is this alpha how to estimate this alpha. We know that alpha naught hat is equal to y bar and alpha j hat is equal to p j x i into y i and then you know what is this alpha how to estimate this alpha. We know that alpha naught hat is equal to y bar and alpha j hat is equal to p j x i into y i by p j x i square. So, you know everything. So, if you want to say compute alpha 1 hat if you have p 1 x you know y. So, you can compute alpha 1 hat and similarly alpha 2 hat and alpha 3 hat. So, that is not a problem. Now, the problem says that you have to compute alpha 1 hat and alpha 2 hat and alpha 3 hat. So, that is not a problem. Now, the problem says that you know you test the significance of the problem says that is the cubic term needed. So, that means you have to test the hypothesis that h naught alpha 3 equal to 0 is equal to 0 is the cubic term needed. So, that means you have to test the hypothesis that h naught alpha 3 equal to 0 against the h 1 that alpha 3 is not equal to 0. So, how to do that alpha 3? I think that you first compute the ANOVA table for this one and then come back to come back for testing this because anyway you have to estimate the SS residual. So, let me construct the ANOVA table first. For that I need SS regression due to alpha 1 and alpha 2 so that one is nothing but alpha 1 hat summation y i p 1 x i.  So, you can check that this one is 58.51 with the degree of freedom of course 1. Similarly, you can compute SS regression due to alpha 2 that means the contribution of the quadratic term the alpha 2 x square right in the regression model. So, that is alpha 2 hat into y i p 2 x i this one is nothing but 210 that you can check with degree of freedom 1 and then SS regression due to alpha 3 this we need because we need to test the hypothesis that alpha 3 equal to 0 against alpha 3 not equal to 0 that is alpha 3 hat summation y i p 3 x i right. So, this one is very small. So, this clearly of course we will test it formally, but it clearly says that the significance of alpha 3 is negligible with the degree of freedom 1. So, if you add this 3 SS regression that will be the SS regression due to alpha 3 hat summation y i p 1 x i. So, this one total SS regression right and I mean what I mean is that SS regression for the cubic model involving orthogonal polynomial is nothing but SS regression is SS regression due to alpha 1 plus SS regression due to alpha 2 plus SS regression due to alpha 3 right. And then you compute SS total and then SS residual sorry SS residual can be obtained from that SS total minus SS regression that you can check that this SS residual is 207.7 0 with degree of freedom 2. Why it is 2? Because we have 4 parameters in the model. So, 4 parameters mean 4 restriction on the residuals and there are total 6 residuals and you have 4 restrictions. So, that means only 2 you can choose independently and you have the freedom of choosing 2 and the other 4 has have to be chosen in such a way that the 4 restrictions are satisfied. So, that is why the SS residual has degree of freedom 2. Now, I have the SS residual. So, I can compute the F statistic to test this hypothesis alpha 3 equal to 0. So, my F statistics is F is SS regression due to alpha 3 that means the contribution of cubic term in total SS regression by its degree of freedom is equal to 1 by SS residual divided by its degree of freedom that is MS residual. So, this one is nothing but 0.006 by 1 and SS residual we computed that is 207.7 by 2 which is equal to which is very small 0.000057 and I mean this clearly says that alpha 3 is not significant. So, still let me find the value of tabulated F that tabulated F 0.05 with degree of freedom 1 and 2 that is 18.51. So, this one is clearly not significant. Similarly, very small very smaller than 18.51. So, this F test implies that no H 0 is accepted that means alpha 3 can be 0 in the model. So, which in other words says that alpha 3 is not significant. So, I can say here that alpha 3 is not significant. So, not significance mean I can go for the model y equal to alpha naught hat plus alpha 1 hat P 1 x plus alpha 2 hat P 2 x. I can ignore the cubic term and finally, you can check that this is y hat is equal to 4.273 plus 1.8286 x plus 2.3750 x square. See you know that alpha 3 is not alpha 1 hat. What we have done here is that you know you find alpha naught alpha 1 hat and alpha 2 hat and then also you replace this you write this equation in terms of the in terms of x. Here it is in terms of the orthogonal polynomial. So, you have to replace this P 1 x by that P 1 x is equal to lambda 1 x minus x power by d. So, you will get this lambda is equal to 2 d equal to 1 and so finally, you have to get this equation in terms of x. Well, so the next problem is it says that so this is the original problem. So, we tested the third order term and we found that the alpha 3 is not significance and we found the best quadratic fit. Now, if the model say this is a third order polynomial had been fitted directly how would the extra sum of squares s s regression due to beta 1 given beta naught which is equal to 58.51 and s s regression due to beta 2 in the presence of beta naught and beta 1 which is equal to 210 in 0.58 and s s regression due to beta 3 in the presence of beta naught beta 1 and beta 2. How these things are related to the sum of square for the first, second and third order orthogonal polynomial. So, you understand the problem. So, what you have done is that we have fitted a third order polynomial in terms of using orthogonal polynomials. Now, you can without using the orthogonal polynomial you can use you can fit this model also and then the s s regression you have the s s regression due to beta 1 in the presence of beta naught which is equal to 58.51. How this one is related to the s s regression of the first order polynomial involving orthogonal polynomials. So, I hope you understood the problem. Now, if you see that this one is 58.51 and whatever we computed before that s s regression due to alpha 1 is also 58.51.   Now, see the question says how now this one is related how s s regression due to beta 2 in the presence of beta naught and beta 1 that is 21 naught 0.58. How this is related to the sum of square for second ordered orthogonal polynomials. Now, we have to check. So, these two quantities are same. This is same as basically s s regression due to beta 2 in the presence of beta naught and beta 1 which is same as s s regression due to alpha 2. So, this is same as alpha 2. So, what I want to the message I want to give here is that now I am talking about a model in of order 2.  So, this is a second order model involving orthogonal polynomials plus epsilon and let me write the polynomial third order sorry second order polynomial that is beta naught plus beta 1 x plus beta 2 x square plus epsilon. Now, the contribution of what is this quantity the contribution of beta 2 in s s regression in the presence of beta naught and beta 1 is same as the contribution of alpha 2 in this model in the presence of alpha naught plus and alpha 1. But you are aware of the fact that you know in case of orthogonal polynomial fitting the s s regression are orthogonal. I mean the s s regression due to alpha 2 does not depend on s s regression due to alpha 1. So, the s s regression due to alpha 2 is same as s s regression due to alpha 2 in the presence of alpha naught and alpha 1. So, you understand I think you have to think about it. So, that is why you know s s regression due to alpha 2 is same as the s s regression due to beta 2 in the presence of beta naught and beta 1. And similarly you can check that s s regression due to alpha 3 does not depend on the other terms. So, this is same as s s regression due to beta 2 sorry beta 3 in the presence of beta naught beta 1 beta 2. This is same as this one and this is same as s s regression due to alpha 3 right for polynomial fitting using orthogonal polynomials because s s regression in polynomial fitting they are orthogonal also. So, this is same as s s regression due to alpha 3 in the presence of alpha naught alpha 1 and alpha 2. It does not matter you know because the s s regressions in polynomial fitting using orthogonal polynomials they are independent. So, that is all for today. Thank you.


What's up everyone welcome back to realistic gaming juniors not here today So I was like let me let me go to the internet and try to find the the newest cursed Thomas videos I could find and man you guys are making a lot of them So we're gonna keep watching them we're gonna start off with our boy Tom Kobe Which is actually the person that started this whole curse Thomas stuff He's the first one that made the first animation. He definitely killed it again So let's see what new video he has this one is called you cannot flee sir top hem hat Make sure you go follow Tom Kobe this guy's a legend. Oh, mr. Top hem hat. He's on the run. Oh, they're good. They look at Tommy's legs. Oh Bro, could you imagine like the chills you would get from having this thing like just after you Like whenever I think of spiders behind me I get the chills. Oh, you better run And actually this character top hem hat. He lost a lot of weight from the first video If you go and check it out, he looks a little skinnier Go top of Matt. He got it, bro. Bro. You gotta start ducking and dodging bro. You got a Oh, it's over. It's over Yo, but but curse Thomas is just playing with his food right now Cuz he could have grabbed him a long time ago, but he's just like Now I'm gonna tease him I'm scaring real quick Get his blood boiling get his blood going, you know I'm not sure if this is a loop, but Oh Come on, bro. You got this Hey What I tell y'all Tom coven to go. He's the real curse Tom is like master next I found this video called the back rooms. What's inside curse Tom is to train? Oh, I bet you've been wondering that having you know for this one is by the channel called the curse bananas So make sure you guys go subscribe and just give them a like right now So let's see what this video is about And I think that's the banana that That this one channel half I got the channel but they use it on Gary's mod All right, so he's inside the back rooms nice and dark in there, you know nice and quiet He found the train tracks in the back rooms.  So Well, he's looking a little rusty too.  I expected more I expected more not a lot.  Okay It's so far it's safe. He found the train in the back room So it's actually it actually might take them to to freedom it might take them outside and Out of the back room. So oh Huh Banana you better you better chill, bro Maybe pretty creeped out. This is like the lid. This is like the subways in New York. I don't know what's scarier Yo, so that's inside of Thomas Is he the he's the person driving never got the cause Where are you gonna hide bro? You're inside of him. He knows exactly where you're at. Oh bananas these days, so Somebody come I don't see anybody Oh, they have arrived look at that He was all scared. It's just all part of the show. He left his phone That's the nightmare. Honestly is that he left his phone. So Hopefully he was able to go back and get it. You know, that's the important part All right, and this is the last video I found as a curse Thomas video It's called Thomas exe versus choo-choo Charles in spore. I think spores a game Not sure but this one is is by a channel called XR flicks. All right, so make sure you go and follow them Let's see what they talk about. Oh, dude That looks like that kind of looks like Like a Karen Wait, is this a game? Oh, okay, so you made an animation out of the game. I got coffee. My Like a big crab It was a different train, huh? Okay, they're fighting the train.  Oh? There goes Thomas. Oh apparently he's the hero. He's the hero of the show. Okay Why do they all run like that? They run like they're like they're Shoulders in their chest not attached.  Well, it's like a it's like a centipede, but with like three arms They're probably coming through those porters from those portals in the sky. That's a that's a weird-looking spider. Oh Better watch out. He's OP nothing happens to him when you see Tommy look he had no eyeballs for a second That means that he lost within himself. This is the epic fight. Oh, is that supposed to be choo-choo Charles? It does not look like choo-choo Charles. That looks like um That is like boo boo Charles. Oh Tommy CXC's over there laughing at him. Honestly, Tommy CXC got no respect for being a train. He got no respect Oh, bro, get up Thomas. The world is counting. Oh little check mark. Oh He better yeah, he better run He big and he got like pointy like pointy arms, bro, the poke you and I Honestly, this is better than like a lot of movies. How do you drop him by just he just blew his horn and he fell come on, bro Now they going at it. This is like a like a like a Pokemon battle or something taking turns You imagine people really fought like that in real life like they would take turns like all right my turn And they're like the other person's like, okay, okay, my turn Well, there you go Thomas CXC versus choo-choo Charles I didn't realize it was choo-choo Charles until the last 10 seconds So but hey, hopefully you guys enjoyed that if you guys find more cursed Thomas videos Please send it to us because like we're trying to find all of them in the world So maybe we've skipped some We've watched most of them and by the end of the year We're gonna do a whole compilation of all the scary Thomas is so you can just Go to sleep watching the curse time and stuff. All right, but that's it for today. Hopefully you guys enjoyed that Make sure you guys click like subscribe comment and all that we really appreciate it If you want to check out my stuff as well have another page called bootleg heroes I'm on Instagram tick tock YouTube also and I do a lot of fun pop stuff and all that All right, but until next time. See you guys later. Peace


Good morning and you're all very welcome to this special event jointly organized by the Institute for International and European Affairs and the French Embassy here in Ireland to mark and also to celebrate International Women's Day. I'm Martine Fitzgerald and I'm delighted to be sharing this discussion with three very distinguished and also very successful women from Ireland, France and Mali who have each served at a senior level in political life. So we are delighted to be joined this morning by Francis Sturled, who is a member of the European Parliament representing Dublin and a former Thaulisté, Cadet 2, Connare, the Minister for Culture, Crafts and Tourism of Mali and Najat Valot-Belkasam, the director of One France and a former French minister. Now, before we begin, I would just like to run through the format of today's event. I will shortly hand over to the French Ambassador to Ireland, Bonson, Guiron and the cultural counsellor of the French Embassy here in Dublin, Mariam Dlo, who has been instrumental in organizing today's event. I will then formally each introduce each of our guest speakers and get their perspectives on political life and decision making, also the role of education and equality in society as a whole, and also their visions for the future post the pandemic. Now, this session will be an hour long in total, and one of our speakers, Minister Connare, will be speaking in French today. We will have live French to English interpretation throughout this discussion. And to avail of this service, you can simply click on the interpretation button represented by a globe icon at the bottom right of your Zoom screen and then select English in the language options, which you will see displayed. If you don't wish to avail of the service, you can click off and the instructions will be made available also in the chat room. And there will also be ample opportunity for members of the audience to participate. You can submit your questions with your name and perhaps your affiliate organization via the Zoom rooms Q&A function at the bottom of your screen. And please, please keep sending your questions throughout this morning's event because we are leaving time to answer them. With that, I would like to welcome the French Ambassador to Ireland, Fonsang, Iran, and the cultural councillor at the French Embassy, Marie-Anne Diello. Ambassador. Thank you very much, Martina. Good morning to our distinguished panelists and to the audience. Bonjour, mesdames, bonjour à tous. Especially pleased and honoured to open this debate on the International Women's Day. This year, France and Mexico will also be co-chairing the 2021 Generation Equality Forum in French Forum Generations Egalité, a global gathering for gender equality organized by UN Women. Thank you, Mrs. Fitzgerald. Merci Madame Connaree, merci Madame Malou Belcassem for your participation to this exchange and thank you for IEA for organizing it. And I also want to share my speaking time with Marie-Anne Diello, our cultural advisor at the French Embassy, who was enthusiastically and resolutely carried out his project at the French Embassy in Ireland. Thank you, Marie-Anne. Thank you, Mr Ambassador. It is a great honor for me to be able to bring together three countries that are so dear to my heart, Ireland, Mali, and France. Even though the role of women within political institutions has increased in recent years, we know that the road ahead will still be challenging. For me to express my admiration of our distinguished panelists coming together from different backgrounds and cultures. Thank you for being here. While the COVID-19 pandemic has placed women all over the world in even more precarious positions, this International Women's Day, your journeys and your testimonies will be incredibly encouraging for the future and for a more equal recovery for women all over the world. Thank you. Thank you, Marie-Anne, and thank you, Ambassador. And now I'd like to introduce our guest speakers. We're delighted to be joined this morning by Francis Fitzgerald, an MAP representing Dublin. Francis has served in national politics for more than two decades. She's a former thornishter who has held numerous high-profile cabinet ministries, including justice and equality, business enterprise and innovation, and children and youth affairs. She has also served as a chair of the National Women's Council of Ireland, vice president of the Women's Lobby, and is currently a member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, the Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee, as well as the Development Committee in the European Parliament. We're also joined this morning by Katia Tooth-Connery, who is the Minister of Culture, Crafts and Tourism of Mali. She is well known in the world of African publishing, is passionate about culture, and is also a human rights activist. She also founded a publishing house, which has made a significant contribution to African heritage. And under the direction of the Malian journalist, Ramata Diaouro, she brought together key figures to write the collective work about the Women's March, a chronicle of the Malian Revolution. Now, finally, we would also like to welcome Najat Fallot Belkasam, who is the France Director of Warn, an NGO campaigning to end extreme poverty and preventable diseases. She also has a distinguished political career serving as Minister for Women's Rights, and was a government spokesperson under President Roland. And she also holds the title and the distinction of being the first woman in France to be appointed Minister for National Education, Higher Education and Research. You're all very welcome, and we truly do have a very distinguished panel this morning. And finally, if you do want to get involved in this morning's webinar on social media, you can use the handle on Twitter at IIEA and at France and Ireland, as well as using the hashtags, hashtag IWD2021 and hashtag choose to challenge, which of course is the theme of International Women's Day. So this event is public and it has also been live streamed on YouTube. So without further ado, let's begin our discussion. I would first like to turn to our guest speakers and to Frances Fitzgerald. Frances, can you tell us about your own political experiences in terms of seeking and entering office and decision making in political life at a senior level? Good morning, everyone. Obviously, Martina, thank you for that question and I'd like to also thank the Institute and the French Embassy for having such an international panel and focusing on International Women's Day. And I suppose what I would say at the moment in regard to International Women's Day is that it is a time for celebration, but also for taking an audit with COVID and the implications of COVID and the differential effect it's having. My own political career. I never started out really to be a politician. I was a social worker. I did a basic social science degree and then I did a masters in social work and it was really my experiences of both my social work in London and Dublin and seeing social problems as they emerged that was really a passion, I think, for equality, inclusion and diversity. And that really I've carried right through my political career and I've been very fortunate and honoured to have the opportunity to be a minister, as you said, and to work on those issues at a ministerial level and to bring forward legislation in relation to those areas. And I suppose when I was working early on as a social worker in Ballymon in Dublin with community and with families, I focused on work with families and children in the early years. It was ironic then later on I became not really ironic but I mean I suppose I never expected it that I became the first minister for children. And it was really my work on equality on women's issues on reading books like Betty Friedan and the second stage following American feminism, organizing conferences here and bringing people from abroad to speak at them. And I'm gaining understanding about the structural inequalities in our society that led me into politics after having been chair of the Women's Council for four years. And, you know, I've had the ups and downs of any political career, and you certainly have to be resilient I would say. One of the things that the teams I had focused on at present is that we, we still have unfinished democracies as I would call them. We still lack the critical mass of women and men working together. We tend to have too low percentages in decision making of women, both in politics, particularly but in many other areas of business as well. So we're changing, you know, we are on a journey. And, you know, again, well done to France and Mexico for doing generation equality this year. Young women I think are becoming more and more activist. We're seeing the me to movement. I think there is room for optimism, but equally, we have to be very aware of the challenges still out there when you think in America for example, the percentage of those who go for food stamps are women. You think of poverty around the world in Europe you think of the gender pay gap, still 14% the pension gap is 139%. So there are many ongoing areas that we have to work on. And I started off by saying we have to recover from covert and make sure that equality doesn't regress, because that's the big danger at present, given the differential impact of COVID. So I would say it's a privilege and all of us here, where ministers or our ministers, and it's fantastic because you could influence and you can bring about important change, and that's the privilege of being in politics I believe and that's why it is very worthwhile. And that's why we have to ensure more women come into politics but I've, you know, being a mother of three sons has influenced me because you understand childcare issues in a very direct way, when you're facing them yourself. And there is evidence that women deal more with social issues and bring up social issues. By the way, Martine, I just discovered last night there is one study showing that women are more active in politics and bring forward more legislation. I was delighted when I had found that. I didn't know that was true, but I came across one study in a book I was reading last night about that. I think I contribute a lot would be my point when we're there, and certainly being in cabinet and I conclude on this. I have seen the difference between having two women in cabinet, three, four, five, and out of 15. So again getting that critical mass I think is really important. The record of four Irish women in cabinet was actually recorded in 2014 when you were a minister at that stage, and you have spoken about how that changed the dynamic within cabinet. I'm next going to ask a minister, a corner a also about her political experiences but first I want to ask her about her outfit because it is a very special outfit for today for International Women's Day, and also has a link to some women who are working in your country. Minister. Thank you very much. Hello and good morning from March to everyone. I would like to clarify an element that seems to me important, fundamental. Something, an element that seems fundamental to me. I'm a pure product of civil society as it is administered by the organizations, nor a pure product of politics but the meaning of my social and intellectual commitment. I think comes really from political activism, the strengths of political activism and also involvement in the creativity of civil society. So when I came, I was appointed Minister for Culture Arts and Tours in my country, and I came with a background of commitment as a fighter social and intellectuals fighter. More and more, I realize that being in politics means to try and translate a concrete in a concrete act are social and political commitment to make that put that into practice. I'd like to come back to come back to this notion of intellectual and social commitment, social involvement and commitment, at least as far as I'm concerned, comes from the heart of childhood. When you're a girl, very young age, you learn to take care of others to look after the family to look after your brothers and sisters. I was the oldest in my family, so I was very young when I learned that I had the responsibility of looking after the younger ones, very often in a big family. The mother, the aunt, girl cousins and even grandmothers, they all teach you to help one another to cook, to look after the house, to make the house a nicer place to live in. And when I think about this time of my childhood, I think that the principles were inculcated into me then. Very often I think about the responsibility I was given then. Early in the morning, before going to school, I was the one who had to prepare food for my grandmother. I don't remember having missed doing that a single time. And you see, that gives you a sense of responsibility. It teaches you very young to look after the community. And then when you grow to be an adult, in my own particular case. But I think it's the general case in Mali because we have a community education which is based on tradition and our cultural values. So, for myself, my life as a woman, when I became a mother and the head of, well the mistress of a household, I learned, I saw what I had learned from generations in my country. Which was that well-being in the country, the responsibility for that really rests on the shoulders of the woman in the house. So, on the woman. You have to look after children, not just your own, but others as well. Cousins for coming to their house, nieces and nephews, sisters in law, mothers in law. You have responsibilities on all sides and it is the woman in the household who has to handle all that. She has to see that it all works well. And I think she is never forgiven if she falls down in those responsibilities to look after the family and others. Very often, we're the first to get up in the morning and the last to go to bed because it's up to us to look after everybody else. Women in Mali, there too I think as the woman in the household, I think I can say this. You have a thousand tasks that you must take on. And sometimes you are absolutely exhausted, so let me tell you this. Sometimes I think that women in Mali are heads of state. When you look at everything they can organize and keep running and they take leadership naturally. Which I think is a fruit of their education, which as I say is passed down from one generation to another. But it's also a product of the way that the family unit is organized, where everything yet again is the woman's responsibility. But women do that very discreetly. There's a saying in our country, which says that from in the farm yard, the hen knows that the sun has risen, but she lets the cock sing.  So that's to say about the discretion with which women take on all these responsibilities. So to conclude, I would say that that prepares us to assume leadership, whether political or social. We are naturally disposed in a good position to take on leadership. And the condition of women situation of women in Mali is the fruit of education and of a voyage which I would say is the journey of women in Mali. Thank you. Thank you minister and also for I suppose really dealing with one of the main obstacles for political participation by women, child minding. Just to remind everyone that in relation to the interpretation. When the speaker, when speaker, the minister is speaking if you press French to hear the interpreter. And now we're going to move on to our next guest speaker. The director of one France to talk about her experiences in political life. Hi, from Paris. I'm so delighted to be part of this wonderful and powerful panel. Thank you very much for your invitation. Well, to try to answer your question. I was absolutely not predisposed to enter in politics to give you a little bit of background. I was born in Morocco, I arrived in France, only when I was four years old. I did not speak French. So my childhood was not filled with politics. And especially since my parents didn't vote that didn't mean I didn't have any commitments but I have been fighting poverty and inequalities in NGOs from a very young age. And I certainly was not imagining myself as a politician when I was a kid. So I truly started to take interest in politics after high school when I studied law and then joined the science pool, which is a high school, which made it possible for me to do internships in this area, for instance in the French National Assembly. And this made me better understand how legislative action works and how as a politician you could change things for the better. And what made me finally go into politics was the 2002 presidential election in France, when the extemporary candidate arrived in the final round of the election. And that was a pure shock for me. And for many people who absolutely did not expect that to be possible. This event made me realize that I had to do something for my country and for the values I believed in, because I had a voice and willingness to make friends a better place. Having a family coming from abroad was a true opportunity for me because it made me see the world differently. It gave me the ability to adapt myself to different situations and to understand very diverse points of view. It wasn't as obvious when it comes to being a girl. As a teenager, being a girl meant that I had a bit less opportunities than my male relatives for going out, for example, so that made me quite mad. Most importantly, I witnessed that for my mom, for instance, being a girl meant that she had less autonomy and had had way less opportunities to study and live the life she wanted. So that certainly made me a feminist very early and a huge believer in gender equality. Being a woman in politics hasn't always been a hassle, but it certainly makes you feel because that's true as an outsider. You obviously have to fight against stereotypes, not just gender stereotypes, but in reality all kinds of stereotypes. And I've learned with time that the best way to answer them and to answer the criticism was humor and turning them into the region. I also think it's important to understand that during the debate, for instance, if you are being interrupted by a man, it's not because you were not from in-outh or authoritarian in-outh. It's only because for years and years we have been taught that some voices matter more than others. That's what we call patriarchy. So instead of questioning ourselves, we should look up to people like Kamala Harris, for instance, who did it very well during the presidential debate in the US by asking to finish what she had to say. And we women have as much to say as men. We should believe in our expertise and our knowledge, but that's not something that is easy to do. There should be a lot of training and education around that at all ages, but also at school. And political norms, you have to remember that they have been built for men. So it's taking a long time to change mentalities. And it also requires a lot of adaptive ability for women to fit into this political system. I think that is really the few lessons that I have learned of this experience. There and I'm going to return to that theme now with all of our guest speakers starting with Francis because I want to get your assessment of gender equality in society and particularly education. Education has been highlighted by the United Nations as the fourth sustainable development goal, gender equality, the fifth. So what progress has been made in relation to these and what obstacles remain, Francis? Well, I think it's very clear that in Ireland, huge progress has been made. If you think that there's a marriage bar only back, you know, until 1972, and there weren't as many women going to third level and getting further training and so on. And when I'm in the European Parliament and I see the progress that has been made in Ireland, despite outstanding issues, which I will address. You see some of the attempt to row back on women's rights in some of our members of the of the union. It's quite disturbing. You see people and politicians from certain member states who do not want to use the word gender equality now. You see people going back on on rights. You see LGBTQI rights being, you know, people saying we can't have this we want, you know, LGBTQI zones and so on, really disturbing human rights issues, continuing within Europe. But I would say that from an education point of view tremendous progress has been made and in breaking down stereotypes, I suppose. I mean, very early on when I was in my political career, we were looking at textbooks that had very stereotyped and school books, really stereotyped stories about young boys, young girls. I think we're changing all of that. We're opening up the world far more to young girls and of course young men. And I think that's really good. We see much higher numbers in universities in many courses we see, you know, more than 50% of females doing whether it's law or medicine so on. The issue is more as people progress in their careers and come up against the very issue that both of our other speakers on the panel have spoken about and that is combining work and family life, having the childcare supports the caring demands, the unequal division of care in our society, and the lack of value on it really. But from an opportunities point of view, there's still a class element of course there's still a socio economic bar because of costs and that is something we have to continue to work on. And there is another area where you're seeing inequality. And interestingly enough, Martina, it's in the AI digital technology area. And connectivity is going to be so important for opportunities as we progress opportunities to get good health care to get more education, smart agriculture and so on. And that is an area where, for some reason, right across Europe, there is a digital gap, there's gender digital gap. And that's something we really have to work harder on and that is about women taking, you know, the subjects of science and maths and so on. And young girls seeing that that is a potential career because that's where the money is going to be. We can help deal with the gender pay gap and the pension pay gap. So I think in other parts of the world, we have serious issues like during COVID we've seen an increase, for example, in female genital mutilation. We've seen an increase in early marriages. Now if you have early marriages around the world, less chance of education. There's still danger of both young men and young boys and girls dropping out of education with the consequences of COVID because education has been curtailed in in many areas. So I think, you know, there are ongoing issues and I am reading about the, the need to make up for the last time during COVID as well with our young people. Many people are saying that we may not catch up on some of the educational experience that has been lost around the world, that it's a real challenge. So I think education is clearly the key for so much progress for opening doors. It's a good news story in many parts of the world. There are, there are still issues and particularly then, as people progress in their careers, you end up having that gender pay gap. You end up maybe not having women at senior levels. You end up with women being more likely to be doing the care responsibilities, and more likely to suffer setbacks in careers. So those are, that's kind of a broad answer to that question, Martina. In fairness, it was a broad question because there's so much you could talk about in relation to that issue. By the way, on the tech issue that you raised, there's some positive news today. Irish female founders have raised more than 100 million for the first time, but just 16% of female founders here are female. So there are barriers across the board and you mentioned that in your speech. I now am going to move to the Minister, to Minister Konari, and I know you wanted to raise some other points, but Minister also in relation to dealing with a gender equality in society and in education in particular, which will be important to you. Thank you very much. Before replying to this question, I'd like to come back to the idea of commitment, which will be a kind of an introduction for me to in discussing the second question. I spoke about intellectual commitment. It's the basis of my everyday work. Very young. I had the opportunity to find to discover the world of books. It was an opening onto the world for me, a way of going beyond borders, and perhaps through books to get to capture ideas of peace and tolerance and that kind of culture. So when I was studying, which I did completely different studies that were scientific. At that point I decided to become a publisher because I remembered how important books had been to me. They were, they accompanied me in my young years, and when I went to France to study. For my, my companion, I read hugely, and it really helped me to understand about the world and about the environment around me in France. So when it came to choosing a career, I was automatically drawn to publishing. I was trained and I became a publisher. So have I was my environment was that of a political activist. I was, I had so politics was a was a deep part of me. And it seemed to me that a book was a perfect tool for doing politics and for promoting the emancipation in particular women on different levels but first of all, I wanted to facilitate for girls to to have access to books. And then I wanted women to be able to express their thoughts. Not necessarily by writing. And also who wanted to have a look at our non tangible heritage, which is supported mostly by women. And actually, and then through documentary books to document the commitment of women's struggles and particularly in politics. So in the introduction my introduction when I was introducing myself. In fact, five years ago, I published a book, you mentioned, which was a collaboration. And in this book. The thing was that five years ago we were at a turning point historically in Mali. In March 1991. There was a big event which launched the democratic revolution in Mali and ended up with the democratic opening. And at that time, that was when politic politics became different and women became really important for democratization at this time. Because this event included suffering and violence, and women were the first ones to be confronted with this violence. The young people went down into the streets confronted by soldiers and bullets. It was the women who opposed this. First of all, it was women who put themselves in between the young people and the bullets. They were cannon fodder. And in this book I wanted to pay homage to them to pay tribute to them and to remember how much women had contributed to this march towards democracy in our country. So if women women hadn't played this role 30 years ago with Mali today would not be as democratic democratic as it is women pay to their blood. They gave of themselves. And so they were they were struck by bullets and children to I interviewed women who had lost some of them had lost all their children in bringing democracy to this country, which had happened because women were part of paid up their role in that combat. Women power came to when in the political power women were not given positions in decision making bodies at the start. And even today, their questions which we have to discuss because in 2014, there are figures in Mali. We only had nine women in out of 700 mayors mayors, there are only seven women. And yet in Mali adopt in 2015 adopted a law law 052, which stipulates a quota of 30% for elected positions and appointed positions. So despite all the commitment and by the sacrifices.  Women had a very were very poorly represented. And I'd also like to mention culture because for me. The struggle for education is also struggle for culture for three or four decades now national national level we've had a unit for schooling for girls. This looks at the conditions at school and tries to promote education for girls at school but in these 30 years. This NGO in its last one of its most recent reports it underlines the fact that Mali is one of the 10 countries where the level of education of girls at school is I think is is is lowest in the world. So there's a, okay, so there's a battle for figures to go from up from 30% to go higher. So the problem is access to education quite simply how do we get girls into schools, how do we get them to learn numeracy and literate so that they can be economically independent. Access to direct education can only happen informally. We need, and it needs to use the mother tongue. We have 13 languages, which are actually used. So these are the languages we can with which we can read, and we can teach girls to read and to write and to learn to be autonomous and independent. But even among girls who do go to school. We still have to put more stress on a very big problem which is falling out of school. It's one thing to get girls into school, but it's another thing to keep them there so that they, they go on and get a diploma, which will that will give them guarantee them a job. And that is a big achievement. So the problem is also a problem of battles. I like this word battle because it really expresses the struggle in these areas in which women have not yet won the battle. So culturally speaking, when we look at our historical legacy. We see the critical role that women have played, whether it was back in the times of our big empires, or during the revolution for democracy, women were at the forefront. We have to reintegrate them, give them back into this this role which they're so capable of playing. So in our, our heritage of skills and competence, if, if women are not there to pass on this all this knowledge. These, this knowledge is going to disappear, or in our in immaterial heritage will disappear and when that happens. It disappears a whole people will disappear at the same time so it is so important in the battle for equality that women take their role as guardians of time of traditions, and that that they should be given back their position in history that it should be recognized. So for the consolidation and the majesty of our of our state and of our people and minister clearly thank you this is a very passionate you feel very passionately about this issue given the role of women towards the towards democracy in your own country, and also in terms of those stark statistics that you have given us in relation to education participation and girls. So this is clearly a very issue that you feel very strongly about and also gives us all something to think about in terms of the role of women past and also the potential of those young girls in the education system. Najat, you work for an organization and education I'm sure is very key in tackling poverty and extreme poverty, and you also have obviously a record as distinguished record as being Francis first, you know woman to hold the Ministry of Education effectively. Yeah. What is very frustrating about politics is that sometimes good measures, obvious measures clearly approved by the population are sacrificed for political maneuvers. That's often the case with gender related measures. As a Minister of Women's Rights and Education, I have been the target of many fake news surrounding a mechanism I wanted to introduce in schools, which would have included some education and gender equality and stereotypes for young kids. A huge backlash followed the introduction of this measure, even though it wasn't radical or extremist in any way. So, well, that's the first thing. Also, a difficulty in assessing gender equality in our own countries and in others is the blatant lack of gender data. This is a serious issue because the lack of data also implies that gender discriminations are always underestimated. It also makes it more difficult to draft efficient public policies and to target the right audience. No data unfortunately often is a way to make the issue disappear because if we cannot quantify the issue then it means that the issue doesn't exist. And third, I would say that another major issue is now COVID-19, we have to talk about it. Recently it has been estimated that we had lost 25 years of gender equality progress in only one year of pandemic. This is absolutely catastrophic. And for now, this is not addressed by governments through gender specific measures. You know, after the first lockdown in France, I have published a book with a French philosopher, a book called Society of Vulnerable People, Feminist Lessons of a Crisis. In this book, we assess the impact of COVID-19 on gender equality in France and in the world. Women have lost a lot, a lot in many areas during the pandemic. That's true in France, but the crisis has also exacerbated vulnerabilities in countries with significant fragilities in terms of food security economy. There, women have also been the first casualty of cultural and individual violence, child marriage, unwanted pregnancies, school dropouts, genital mutilation. All these phenomenas are rising and Kadiya Toukoin probably tell us more about that. But more generally, the crisis has wiped out decades of progress in gender equality by reaffirming women as heads of households handling most of domestic and educated course while also sacrificing their jobs when family needed to come first. The crisis has made domestic violence cases rise uncontrollably. Again, policy responses to those issues were crafted without the contribution of women, overtaken by the valued expertise of men in power. Women's reality was once more subordinated to the priorities selected by the political discourses, which are men's discourses. So in the book, we explained, for instance, that care workers, cashiers, health workers, maids, have showed during this crisis how essential they were to avoid a complete breakdown of our societies. Yet, those care workers are very poorly appreciated and recognized in France and I think it's the same in other countries. And these jobs are mainly occupied by women. The COVID-19 crisis has brought to light the paradoxical nature of our current social hierarchies in which the most useful citizens are also given the least recognition. And the crisis has impacted the vulnerable ones first and has highlighted inequalities. And it has also shown that all that, sorry, that at the roots of our social organizations disparities at the roots is this idea that a woman is always a little less legitimate, a little less competent, a little less important than a man. That's why I say that in many ways this crisis has made women, the big majority of care workers, more vulnerable. So for me, that's a real topic that we have to face. I don't want to be too negative, so I will try to end on a positive note. We have, we also have to highlight positive changes. For instance, in France, the extension of the mandatory paternal leave in France, which is interesting because as Kadyatou said it, now we have to fight on the cultural level to fight on the cultural level to end patriarchy means to make men as committed as women in the domestic life, in the parental life. So I think the progress have to be found in this area especially. There are some important issues there in, you've raised some important issues there in in relation to COVID-19 and its impact on women. And I'm going to ask the other panelists to very briefly, if they can, because we do want to get to some of our questions from our audience, and we're concluding at half past. Cheryl, if you were to look at what you want to come out of COVID and your vision for the future very briefly, and what would you say, what would you identify as those key issues? Thanks, Martina. I agree with what Nasha has to say. I mean, COVID is the issue at the moment in terms of gender equality and the recovery from it. And what I want to see is the huge funds that have never before been available that the amount from Europe going to each member state, I want to make sure that the recovery is inclusive of these issues around gender. So that for example, we are taking account of the precarious position of women's employment, women have lost more jobs in order for women to get back into the economy and to, you know, have opportunities. So the recovery is going to have to take that into account. It's going to have to have, you know, you can't just think, for example, of construction. Construction is extremely important. But you can create millions of jobs around Europe by building a care economy. So that is something we really have to deal with the childcare issue, the care of the elderly, we've seen what's happened in long term care. So we have to be conscious that there is a differential impact from COVID and every recovery plan and every government policy going forward for the next number of years has to be aware of that has to deal with it in its policies and its program for governments in its actions. And also, of course, have to be very, and we haven't mentioned it to any degree so far, there has been a 30% increase across Europe of domestic violence. I can't believe we're still talking about domestic violence, but we are, sadly, so you need really strong support to the organizations working with women. We need to address this issue in our laws. Well, we've done quite a lot in Ireland. I'm going to talk about myself and bringing in the concept of coercive control and the definition of consent. These issues are very important. So, across Europe, we have to make sure that we look at the care issues that have arisen.  And in my report, which was agreed by the European Parliament just two weeks ago, I look at the impact of COVID-19 in about seven different areas, the economy, domestic violence, health care, and so on, and make recommendations. And Asha made a point as well. And I'm sure Cadia to you to would agree as well that you need gender disaggregated data. If you don't do research that's inclusive of women, for example, in medicine, we're not going to give women the right treatment, and that has been a problem over the years and continues to be an issue. So gender disaggregated data in all areas is completely critical moving forward, and government can lead on this and really point to the areas where we need to be addressing the inequalities. And of course, Martina I'd finished by saying, you know, everyday sexism is something we have to watch as well, whether it's in the media, or in the day to day experiences we all have, and particularly young women. There are impacts of pornography and expectations of, you know, having to look a certain way. This can be very debilitating and actually stop women and young girls from even contributing in classrooms. So that's a broader issue we have to continue to address. And that's an issue that you have spoken about previously and expanded on the pressures and also the fact that it discourages women from entering politics and other professions in public life. And Francis Minister, in relation to a post COVID environment briefly if you could see that your visions for the future and what needs to be addressed because we really do want to get to our audience questions. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I think it's very important and very difficult to talk about the future today. I think about the future after this kind of COVID-19 pandemic. My priorities and my vision would be centered really on the different sectors that depend on this department, culture, crafts and tourism in my department. For both crafts and tourism. There's the world was one way before COVID and different afterwards so for some months we have known that when the borders were closed. Mali still continue to have tourists despite the security situation. And it needs international tourists. We need a flow of visitors. Our tourism industry depends on it. And when tourists used to arrive, what do they, what do they like best? What sector do they go to most it will and that was crafts. They went to see the creativity of Mali's artists. So no artists, no development of crafts. So we have had to have a discussion about giving ourselves the resources to develop local tourism, national tourism to allow tourism to survive. This is necessary because, as I said, there is the world before and the world after COVID. So the tools available to the tourist sector to promote local, local tourism is really important. So where I'm concerned in my department, we depend on local resources in terms of women, because it, it is women who do most of the crafts, whether it's pottery or basket weaving or weaving as we spoke about. Are dying. These are very much women's trades. So we need to enable women to have economic benefits from this. So we need development of local tourism and women as resources. I have always said that women are the ones who are able to welcome people into the home and to look after the home. So when we think about hospitality, this is the art of welcoming people. I say to myself that this art of welcome needs to be transposed from the family unit to the national unit to citizens. Women as women household could be the guardians of the city, so to speak, as they have this art of hospitality, which is absolutely essential in developing the tourist industry. When we think about culture, there are huge challenges, but we do have a vision. So when we came to this ministry, we very quickly began to organize consultations involving the different branches of the cultural sector. So what does that mean? So we would sit around a table, everybody from cinema, the technicians, the actors, the operators, camera operators, everybody to talk about the future of their, their sector. And we listen to everybody and we did that for all of the different arts, music, dance, visual arts and everything. And out of this came a number of recommendations, the product of these consultations and we are going to put these recommendations into practice. But I like to stress the fact that those, we are in a very particular period in Mali. We have a transitional government. It is the government with a mission. It is a government that is going towards elections and that is preparing for the time after the election. So we have a responsibility. And allow me to allow me to say this to clean up the house. We want things to be clean so that those who come afterwards will be able to take advantage of the work that we have done. And to clear things up and to clean things up. Thank you, Minister. I'm just going to come in now because I know Najat has a half 12 and whether you may have a few more minutes with Francis. Najat, can I ask you, because some questions have come in from the audience, and I was just wondering one is commending France and Mexico in relation to transforming the agricultural systems, but also asking how can women have a greater influence in agriculture and food systems because that's also important in tackling a poverty and extreme poverty. So I'm going to ask it's very specific question, but I think it's an important one. Hi, Rose. That's absolutely essential. And we absolutely share the idea that the first problem in the developing countries, especially is the fact that so many women are working on agriculture but do not master their work, do not own the fields and so on and so on. And so that is absolutely right. And we are going to put this topic on the gender equality forum that is going to be organized in France in a few months. But if you love me, let me maybe try to answer another question that I have seen on the Q&A from Claire Laude, who is asking us, while in Ireland the number of women studying engineering and science has increased, the number of men studying nursing or social work is not increasing in the same way. What would you suggest could be done to redress that imbalance as I believe that full equality won't happen as long as some jobs are deemed feminine. She is so right. She's so right. And to come back to your question, you know, I hope the post COVID world will recognize our vulnerabilities and the value of care, which should not be women's concern, but a concern for society as a whole. The lack of consideration for jobs, which are mostly occupied by women today, the jobs in the care area, this lack of consideration is frightening. And for me, it is linked to the fact that in our general unconscious, the functions occupied by these cashiers, housekeepers, other caretakers are merely the extension of the domestic field. A field which is discredited and is supposed to rest on women's shoulders in a kind of natural altruism or generosity. And we see it wrongly as a natural extension of the domestic field. That's why these jobs don't have any right recognition of the hardness of these jobs. That's why they are paid very badly and are known to decrease life expectancy and so on and so on. So to answer the question of Claire, I will say that you're right, we must promote all these professions to make them attractive, including for men, attractive financially speaking, but also attractive culturally speaking. And for that, television has a huge role to play in my mind. I don't know if it is the same in other countries, but when I look at my country, look at the cooking shows at TV, which have a lot of success and increasingly bring men into the kitchen. So I think we should have the same kind of promotion and, you know, making the jobs more attractive, including other dimension of the domestic area dealing with children, you know, housekeeping and so on and so on. Same kind of TV shows that should make all these functions more attractive. And I think that's something that we should really deal with. Yeah, that would be my conclusion. And I'm glad that you jumped in there as part of that question. It was my next one. But Francis, you will also be very familiar with that issue as someone who started off in social work, but I actually have a specific question that's been coming for you. And I'd ask if all of our speakers are very brief because we literally have about three minutes left. But Francis, not even three minutes to ask this question, but Ian Hughes is asked what is the difference in having one, two, three or four women in cabinet in terms of policy. That's a fair question. Yes, it is a very fair question and hard to summarize, but I would say it's obviously about hearing the voices of women and men. It's about critical mass. When you have critical mass you get a more, you get a fairer distribution of discussion. I know, and I've finished on this when President Obama had his cabinet and the women found that they weren't being listened to and they decided they'd go for what they called amplification, which means that if one woman said something another woman would support her, as opposed to one woman saying something another man saying the same and then whoever was leading the discussion saying oh that's a great idea John and forgetting that the woman had said which I had that experience again and again in all sorts of settings. So I think it's about voice, my own experience as well is that women behave less hierarchically in cabinet, which kind of surprised me actually, I found that women were more. And it's hard to generalize because obviously there are always, you know, differences and exceptions between men and women and not for a moment suggesting man might do this but I often found that women were willing to call the elephant in the room. They were willing to sort of say but what about, you know, the fact that people are saying X or Y or that we're really concerned about this aspect of some legislation you're bringing in, or some current issue. So I found a sort of a straightforwardness actually in women and less inclined to kind of go with a hierarchical you don't say anything which surprised me in men but politics is very hierarchical and you're often dependent on leaders from positions. That explains it but look at the main point I think is that you absolutely need the best thinking of women and men working together for our country. And as you move from, you know, one to five women in cabinet, you're getting different experiences reflected as well.  And thanks Martina. Not all the Josh was smiling throughout that so I know that she agrees in terms of political participation and having more women. Very briefly minister. And what about you do you believe it makes a difference having more women around the cabinet table you are serving in senior office at the moment. So minister, do you believe it is important to have more women in senior roles in politics. Of course, obviously, and I sincerely believe so what was I was saying in my remarks that here in Mali women in Mali and in other African countries as well. Women are naturally made to take responsibility. And when they, when they find themselves on the public in the public arena, it is essential that they take responsibilities once we get there. We have all these issues about for example climate change issues about education empowerment of other women, women come to politics, come into politics and give the best of themselves and I think yes we really have to lobby for women to have access to share political responsibilities. Thank you minister, and also, thank you to all of our guest speakers today Francis Fitzgerald, Cadet to Connery. Thank you very much for joining us from Mali, and also Nejat below Bacassan who had to go just at just there. I'd also like to thank the IEA and the French Embassy in particular the French Ambassador to Ireland, Vonson, Giron, and the cultural counselor of the French Embassy in Dublin, Marie-Anne Dlo and all the IEA team, Loda, Hannah, Lorcan, and also the interpreter Veronica who's done a huge amount of work this morning. I think it was an important conversation. It was a frank conversation. It was only getting going. And it is hard to believe that this is the first International Women's Day event held by the IEA, and I'm sure given what's happened this morning, there will be many more. Happy St. Patrick, I was going to say happy St. Patrick's Day. Thanks Martina, thanks to everyone. It's been a pleasure. Thank you.


I invite you to join me for a moment or two of silence centering. And now please join your voices as we sing our opening hymn number 224. Good morning and welcome to the First Unitarian Society of Madison. It's beginning to look a lot not like Christmas, but we're going to celebrate the season in any case. This is a community where curious seekers gather to explore spiritual, ethical, and social issues in an accepting and nurturing environment. Universalism supports the freedom of conscience of each individual as together we seek to be a force for good in the world. My name is Michael Schuler. I'm the senior minister of the society. And on behalf of the congregation, I'd like to extend a special welcome to any visitors in our midst today.  Newcomers are encouraged to stay for our fellowship hour after the service and to visit the library directly across from the center doors of the auditorium. Bring your drinks, your cookies, and your questions. Members of our staff and lay ministry team will be on hand to welcome you. You may also look in the commons area for persons that are holding teal stoneware coffee mugs because these are members of the society who are knowledgeable about our community and would love to acquaint you with its features. In addition to that, experienced guides are generally available to give a building tour after the service, and I know that there is one who's signed up for today. So if you'd like to learn more about our sustainably designed atrium addition or our national landmark meeting house across the parking lot, please meet over here near the large glass window immediately after the service. We do welcome children to stay for the duration of our services, but because it is difficult for some in attendance to hear in this very lively acoustical environment, the child haven over there to my right or the commons are excellent places to retire if the child needs to move around or to talk. The service can still be seen and heard from those locations. And speaking of noise, this would be the appropriate time to turn off all those cell phones and laptops and whatever else you happen to bring with you that might disturb our hour together. I'd now like to acknowledge those individuals, those volunteers who help our service to run smoothly. Anne Smiley and Judy Troy are our lay ministers this morning. We were greeted at the upstairs door by Anne Hecht. Usher's are Vivian Littlefield, Dorrit Bergen, and artist Kaufman. Jeannie Hills is serving hospitality, coffee, and hot chocolate and the like today. Please note the announcements that are in the red floors insert of your program this morning, and they describe upcoming events at the society and provide more information about whatever might be happening after this service here at the meeting house. We'd also like to note that next Saturday on December the 12th, in the auditorium courtyard rooms A and B over here, we will be hosting an opportunity for people to be in conversation if the winter holidays are not necessarily the happiest time in your yearly calendar. There are people for whom the holidays are painful, may have sustained a loss, may have other issues going on in your life, and so we call this our blue Christmas gathering, and if in fact you would like to be in conversation with others who kind of struggle through the holidays, then next Saturday at 2 o'clock in A, B, atrium courtyard rooms, we'll be having that conversation. And then finally, as many of you know, each holiday season members of our congregation adopt families in the larger community who may not have the resources to be able to provide their families with a Christmas celebration, and normally we have about 125 families that we serve, and this year there were more than that, and we're pleased to say that as of the first service, every family that was given to us by Dane County Social Services has been adopted by one of our members. So thanks to all of you. So again, welcome. We hope that today's service will stimulate your mind, touch your heart, and stir your spirit. Joyful anticipation fills our hearts as we enter upon the festivities of this glad season, a season of expectancy and of wonder, a season of giving and forgiving, a season of thoughtfulness and of tenderness, a season for friendship and for fellowship. Let it be with music that we celebrate the holidays, and let it be in harmony that we dwell in these gladsome days. May love enter our hearts and rule our lives as we seek to support and to serve one another, and to forge a stronger bond with all that is. I invite you to rise and body your spirit for the lighting of our chalice. Our affirmation is responsive if you would join your voices in reading the bolded sections. May the spirit of this season help us to find our way through the noise and turmoil of the days ahead into the very heart of Christmas itself. May we know how close we are to what we seek and realize that the real treasures of life are ours for the taking and the giving. May the holiday season help us to recover what we once knew so well. And in the spirit of that goodness, please turn to your neighbor in exchange with them a warm greeting. Please be seated. As the wise men of old brought gifts guided by a star to the humble birthplace of the god of love, the devils, as an old print shows, retreated in confusion. What could a baby know of gold ornaments and frankincense and myrrh, of priestly robes and devout genuflections? But the imagination knows all stories before they are told and knows the truth of this one past all defection. The rich gift so unsuitable for a child, though devoutly preferred, stood for all that love doth bring. But these men were old. How could they know of a mother's need or a baby's appetite? But as they kneeled, the child was fed and they saw it and gave praise. A miracle had taken place. Hard gold to love a mother's milk before their wondering eyes.  It's all they can do. The very devils by their flight give praise. What is death beside this? Nothing. The wise men came with gifts and bowed down to worship this perfection. Before climate change, after a still winter night, I awoke with the impression that some question had been put to me which I had been endeavoring in vain to answer in my sleep. But now there was dawning nature in whom all creatures live, looking in at my broad windows with a sincere and satisfied face and no question on her lips. I awoke to an answered question, to nature and to daylight. The snow lying deep on the earth dotted with young pines and the very slope of the hill on which my house is placed seemed to say forward. Nature put snow questions and answers none which we mortals ask. And so to my morning work, first I take an axe and a pail and I go in search of water if that be not a dream. After a cold and snowy night, it needed a divining rod to find it. Every winter, the liquid and trembling surface of walled and pond which was so sensitive to every breath which reflected every light and shadow, the pond becomes solid to a depth of a foot or a foot and a half so that it will support even the heaviest teams of horses. And perhaps the snow will cover it to an equal depth so that it could not be distinguished from any level field. Like the marmots in the surrounding hills, it closes its eyelids and becomes dormant for three months or more. And standing on the snow-covered plain as if in a pasture amid the hills, I cut my way first through a foot of snow and then through a foot of ice and I open this window under my feet. And then kneeling to drink, I look down into that quiet parlor of fishes pervaded by a soft light as through a window of ground glass with its bright sanded floor, the same as it was in summer. And there, a perennial wabless serenity reigns as in the amber twilight sky corresponding to the cool and even temperament of its inhabitants. Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. William Cooper was an 18th century Boston minister. This is an excerpt from his winter sermon. The changes and the extremities of the weather are a matter of our daily observation and the subject of our common talk and serve perhaps oftener than any one thing to open our conversations when we meet together. But how seldom do we think and speak of these things in a religious manner? Now, the psalmist was not so inobservant and irreligious as this. He adores the God of Israel as the God of nature, that God from whom all the powers of nature are derived and on whom they depend and who produce the changes of the seasons, particularly of the winter season. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth, his word runneth very swiftly. He gives snow like wool. He scatters the whorefrost like ashes. He sends forth his ice like morsel. Who can stand before his cold? And then he sendeth forth his word and melts them and causes the wind to blow and the waters to flow. This is a lively and beautiful description of the winter season which succeeds the summer. How is the face of the earth then changed? The gay and pleasant flowers? They are withered. The fruits for delight and necessity. They are gathered in. The creatures that used to feed and play in the verdant pastures and meadows, they are now housed. Nothing is now seen abroad except snow and frost and ice which are engendered by the cold which we now feel. And we should be patient under the cold since it is God's cold. When our bodies are pinched by it at any time, when our hands are sealed up, in its disabling us for work or for business, or when we are put to extraordinary expense to guard ourselves against it, let us bear these and such inconveniences arising from cold without murmuring, without fretting. Let us learn our obligation of thankfulness. Thankfulness for warm houses and clothes and beds, for comfortable food and fuel to relieve us against the rigors of this cold. And it deserves a particular thankful notice that God has spared our habitations to us in this extreme season that is passing over. That fire has not broken out in this large town in which there are such a vast number of fires being kept every day. And at a time when the water in the docks and in many of our pumps is frozen and men could not stand long before the cold to put out the fire. This, I say, is a wonder of undeserved mercy for which we are indebted to a kind and watchful Providence. Let us now enter a time of meditation. And so we pause for a few moments to give thanks, to give thanks for the symphony of this community. We give thanks for the basic melodies, for straightforward arrangement of notes, sometimes obvious and sometimes woven into deep complexity, but always returning, always trustworthy, always leading in the direction that we need to go. We give thanks for creative soloists, for sequences that soar beyond the heights that most of us could dream, transforming imagination into vision, and helping the possible to become real. We give thanks for counterpoint, those tones that speak with independent voice, tempting us out of our complacency, challenging us into perplexity, and demanding that we consider the possibility that everything, everything could be different after all. We give thanks for the pastoral passages, for quiet voices drawing us to reflection beneath the branches of the tree of life, measures calling for peaceful introspection, luring us to the wisdom that dwells in the depths of every soul. We give thanks for the voices of requiem, which bring to our community the true tones of remembrance for what has gone before, voices which come here bearing the pain of loss or of promises that went unfulfilled. We pause to give thanks for the complex gift that is this community. We give thanks too for the voices that weave harmony and those which always and inevitably sing just a bit off-key. We give thanks for the voices restricted by age and the unformed sweetness of the notes of youth. We give thanks for this community and we give thanks for a work of music. We feel uplifted by its particular note, which is your note, perhaps your special gift, a distinct joy which flowers and makes bloom the longest silence in the silent room. We give thanks for this community. We give thanks for the rich blend of voices that is gathered here, the music that would have far less meaning and magic if even one of you were absent. And now, for just a moment more, I would ask you to hold those members and friends in your thoughts, those dwelling either near or far, whose voices cannot join in our choruses and our carols today, those whose ears are deprived of the beautiful music that the rest of us have been privileged to sing and to hear. Blessed be and amen. And it is now the time for the giving and receiving of our offering, and as your program indicates, your offerings, your gifts in their entirety will be dedicated to First Unitarian Society's Outstanding Music Program. Please be generous. In 2016, Wisconsin Poets Calendar, this from Madison native Jody Curley. The fire in the corner stove burns the hours like dry wood. The fading afternoon, late in the year, sizzles and crackles and falls away to ash. Snow sifts past windows and outside, willing evergreens, bear the growing weight of white with grace. And here inside, the coffee smells good. We sip together, you and I, after all the endings of seasons and years and of who we've been before, and we try not to burn our lips. To the fire, the snow, the hot cup we drink and the cold trees that endure, we share a cup of gratitude. Throw another log on the dying fire. Let our cheeks reflect the flame. Let our eyes shine with the light. Let our hands be warm in one another's and let what is to come come. Blessed be and Amen. We invite you now to stand for our closing hymn and then afterwards to be seated again for the postlude.