Friday, January 25, 2013

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Bend, Not Break: A Life in Two Worlds

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST

FuFrom a prison camp in China to CEO in a male-dominated industry.

Ping Fu's memoirs of her life journey from a repressive life in Mao's Communist China to becoming President and CEO of Ge0magic Inc is an inspirational story focusing on her courage and resilience.

Fu, with the writing assistance of Mei Mei Fox, charts her life from growing up in an idyllic and loving intellectual family in pre-Communist Shanghai, the "Paris of the East."

She takes the reader through the fracture of her family and her isolation in one of Mao's prison camps in Nanjing to her migration to America.

In the United States, she rebuilds her life as an exile in this new country, rising from a waitress and student to head of a major computer company.

Throughout the memoir, Fu opens up about the highs and lows of her life experience to date and focuses upon the tools she acquired to manage the severe hardships, uncertainties and successes.

The title of the book provides the key to Fu's resilience.

Early in the book she describes a conversation she had with her 'Shanghai Papa' regarding the "three friends of winter" – the pine tree, plum blossom and bamboo.

Shanghai Papa suggests that each tree provides a life less0n: the plum blossom teaches us "to bloom in the midst of misfortune [and demonstrate] dignity and forbearance under harsh circumstances."

Pine trees "remain green and happy throughout the year" and are consistently strong despite the climate.

Finally, bamboo "is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable of adapting to any circumstance."

This lesson shapes the trajectory of the book, and Fu identifies her character with the bamboo as she has "the ability to bounce back from even the most difficult times."

She is resilient when, at 8 years old, she is snatched from her Shanghai family and left in intolerable living conditions to be a mother to her sister.

Fu also bounces back from her forced removal from China for writing a paper critical of China's one-child policy and the fate of female children.

And when her company faces bankruptcy she manages to weather the storm and lead it to becoming a success story in an era when many dot com companies folded after spectacular beginnings.

The plot of Fu's life story is fascinating and inspirational.

The narrative switches back and forth between China and America, gradually building a portrait of her life in two worlds and illustrating how they shift from being conflicting parts of her identity to becoming more complementary.

The structure of the plot helps to pace the story and allows for maximum impact of certain moments in her life, creating dramatic effect as we move back and forth from China's cultural revolution to mid-America.

However, this structure harms the emotional centre of the story and does not allow for Fu to offer us a deep insight into her responses to these two worlds.

Fu records the factual details of her life with clarity and honesty, and the plot is engaging as a result.

But while she also explains her internal struggles, she is too quick to resolve those struggles, to the point that even the emotional trauma of a gang-rape is healed as quickly as the physical wounds she sustains from the attack.

For example, when she expresses the huge responsibility she feels towards the investors who have pumped money into her company, she stops short of fully exploring it and says, "but never mind—our employees and I felt much more excitement than fear."

The narrative offers us a hint but then pulls back from allowing the reader a full insight into Fu's ability to bend and not break.

There are many moments like this throughout the memoir and they cause the narrative to feel too rehearsed.

Despite this disappointing reticence, Bend, Not Break is a very readable, fast-moving book that is inspirational and insightful into life under Chairman Mao.

Gun control to prevent domestic violence

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 04:31 AM PST

gunsUK citizens applying for a firearms licence may have to get their partner or spouse’s approval.

In a letter to MPs in the House of Commons, published on 16 January, Theresa May forwarded suggestions to implement tighter regulations on those wishing to possess firearms.

In particular, May said that greater crackdowns must be made to address the thin line that existed between gun possession and domestic violence cases throughout Britain.

Working with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), May advised that there should be “stronger guidance on how reports of domestic violence should be treated by police considering firearms applications.”

“Although each case is considered on its merits,” she said, “we will discuss with ACPO amendment of the guidance to make it clear that it is not appropriate to issue a firearm or shotgun certificate where there is a history or successive reports of domestic abuse.”

Last January, Michael Atherton shot dead three women, including his partner and her sister, after his gun licence, which had been recommended for refusal, was granted. He then killed himself.

May said that Canada had already implemented requirements for additional spouse signatures in their firearms applications.

She insisted that by introducing more legislation and further amendments within the existing law, much more could be done to prevent cases of domestic violence.

However, such measures could backfire; partners and spouses could be forced into signing the applications against their will.

Britain has already implemented very tight gun control laws for its citizens, including mental health checks and the disclosure of medical data, and many handguns are already banned from possession and distribution.

May wrote the letter following the Sandy Hook massacre last December in America which saw attacker, Adam Lanza, wielding a handgun and  killing 20 children and 6 adults before finally shooting himself.

The letter is included as a supplement to a review of gun control in Britain that began in 2010 following the Cumbria shootings carried out by Derek Bird that left 12 people dead.

Currently in the UK, criminals imprisoned for 3 years or more are permanently banned from possessing firearms.

However, those convicted for between 3 months and 3 years, only face a temporary ban of 5 years before being allowed to re-apply for a licence.

May added that extended bans should also be given to those criminals with suspended sentences and their licence certificates should also be retained.

May has long been a supporter of increased gun control in Britain.

In October, she introduced the idea of targeting those who distributed and loaned out firearms to gangs, including sentencing those found responsible to life sentences, which she further addressed in her letter.

“Consultation took place over the summer on proposals around the importation and supply of illegal firearms,” she said.

“Individuals responsible for making firearms available to other criminals through importation or supply, regardless of whether they use the weapons themselves, should face tough and appropriate sentences,” she added.

“Following the consultation … we are planning to increase the maximum sentence for the existing importation offence, and to create a new offence of possession for sale or transfer of prohibited firearms or ammunition.”

“We are looking to legislate as soon as Parliamentary time allows,” May said.

May added that greater measures of scrutiny were essential in preventing the misuse of guns and firearms in the UK.

“A single application form for firearms and shot guns has been designed and is due to be introduced early next year”, she added.

Core relationship education looks doubtful

Posted: 24 Jan 2013 02:19 AM PST

r_seaman@hotmail.comFindings from a review which ended in November 2011 have yet to be published.

Doubts have been raised about the government’s determination to introduce statutory Sex and Relationship education (SRE) to the curriculum.

Labour’s Children and Families Bill, which would have made Personal, Social, Health, and Economic education (PSHE) and one year of SRE compulsory, was shelved by the current government when they came to power in 2010.

Labour MP Diana Johnson claims this is evidence that “the Conservative party [has] failed to engage with the overwhelming evidence that high-quality PSHE needs to be taught, and taught by well-qualified, well-trained teachers, and that it needs to be given sufficient time in the curriculum.”

The findings from the government’s own consultation into PSHE, which concluded in November 2011, have yet to be published – 14 months later!

Further evidence of the government’s failure to engage with the issue, claims Johnson.

A House of Commons debate on the issue was held last week.

Elizabeth Truss, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State responsible for childcare and education at the Department of Education, said that the government’s review of  PSHE has demonstrated the “need for more local decision making within a framework.”

The debate was secured by Barbara Keeley, MP for Worsley and Eccles South, whose constituency neighbours Salford, where the teenage conception rate is 57 per 1,000 young women, compared with 35 per 1,000 in England and Wales.

PSHE, Keeley explained, “could equip girls and young women with the knowledge and skills to avoid unwanted teenage conception.

“It could give all young people the information and values to enable them to have safe and fulfilling relationships.

“All these things are beneficial outcomes and very strong reasons to put Personal, Social, Health, and Economic education on a statutory footing with the national curriculum.”

A recent cross-party inquiry called for ‘decisive action’ from the government to make ‘consistent and comprehensive’ Sex and Relationship education compulsory within the PSHE curriculum so as to tackle Britain’s high rate of unplanned pregnancy, as well as combating violence against women, protecting children and young people from sexual exploitation, and developing young people’s aspirations and self-esteem.

In response to a question tabled by Johnson , the Education secretary recently confirmed that: “The public consultation phase of the internal review of …PSHE…ended in November 2011.

“The review will take account of the outcomes of the ongoing national curriculum review and we will publish conclusions in due course.”

This stalling over publication of the consultation’s findings, does not appear, however, to be a consequence of ongoing meetings or for gathering additional evidence.

Instead, it emerged during the debate that those conducting the review had not even met with organisations like End Violence Against Women, the PSHE Association, or the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC); in fact, the only meeting which had taken place in the latest period was with one female and three male Conservative MPs.

Certainly not a shining example of the evidence-based policy decision-making process that the government would have us believe is taking place in Whitehall.