Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Well behaved women rarely make history: women in democratic transition

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Rosy Moorhead WVoN co-editor and features editor On a grey, wet day last week, I was in a damp crowd of journalists and photographers shuffling our way through the security check at the European Parliament’s headquarters in Brussels. As I reached the door, a diminutive Chinese woman gently but firmly pushed past me to get [...]

Saudi Arabia to allow single female competitor to London 2012

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Summary of story from Jezebel, December 1, 2011 Following the International Olympic Committee’s warning that they could be banned from the 2012 Olympics if they didn’t allow women to join their team, Saudi Arabia has announced that women are now free to apply to represent the nation in London. Saudi Arabia is one of three countries – [...]

Rights group report highlights deaths in French custody

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Sue Tapply WVoN co-editor It is four years since Lamine Dieng died during an arrest in Paris, but his sisters, Ramata and Fatou, like the family members of other people who have died in French custody in recent years, are still waiting for justice. Ramata said her family "really felt dispossessed, treated like we were [...]

‘Electronic charity box’ scheme alternative to tins

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Summary of story from The Guardian, December 5, 2011 The charity Pennies, an ‘electronic charity box’, has raised £250,000 from ‘micro-donations’ in one year. Alison Hutchinson, chief executive of The Pennies Foundation, says very few shops, restaurants and pubs are willing to put the tins on their counters for fear of theft and fraud. And as retailers become [...]

Yemen: UN extremely concerned about food situation

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Sue Tapply WVoN co-editor The United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, Catherine Bragg, who recently returned from a four-day mission to Yemen, is extremely concerned that millions of people there are facing a severe and worsening humanitarian crisis. This crisis, she pointed out, is not only touching people who are directly [...]

US proposes law to hinder genital mutilation

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Summary of story from Feminist News, December 2, 2011 The US government has proposed legislation making it illegal to transport girls and women out of the country to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM). The bill was announced by Senate majority leader Harry Reid, who said an estimated 200,000 women living in the USA have been [...]

Hillary Clinton questions treatment of women in Israel

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Summary of story from BBCNews, December 4, 2011 Comments made by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding the state of democracy in Israel, in particular the unequal treatment of women, have met with a mixed response from state leaders. Clinton said that in some parts of Jerusalem the attempt to segregate men and women – [...]

US Republican candidate Herman Cain suspends campaign

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Summary of story from TIME, December 3, 2011 US Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has announced that he is suspending his campaign for nomination. Speaking at what was scheduled to be the opening of his campaign headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Cain said the decision was due to "the continued distraction, the continued hurt caused on [...]

Gender stereotypes reinforce misogynistic beliefs

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Summary of story from Ottawa Citizen, December 3, 2011 This Tuesday, December 6, marks the 22nd anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. Across Canada, candles will be lit and vigils will be held, in a day of remembrance and reflection. On December 6, 1989, Marc Lépine walked into Montreal’s École Polytechnique and shot and killed 14 young [...]

Call for more female solidarity in British public life

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Summmary of story from The Guardian, December 4, 2011 Frustrated by the apparent absence of women in British public life, journalist Kira Cochrane started to record the disparity between the genders in politics and the media. She began by looking at the number of male and female writers in UK newspapers, and counted the names [...]

Cardiff councillor apologises to domestic violence charities

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Mary Tracy WVoN co-editor Cardiff councillor Neil McEvoy has apologised for a series of accusations he made on Twitter on White Ribbon Day against two Welsh anti-domestic violence charities. McEvoy, Cardiff council’s deputy leader and a member of Plaid Cymru, Cardiff council's ruling coalition, took to his Twitter account on November 25, the International Day for the Elimination [...]

Jailed sex offenders in UK use courts to harass their victims

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Summary of story from The Guardian, December 4, 2011 Convicted murderers, rapists and stalkers are taking legal actions that are often funded by the public purse to further pursue, harass and stalk their victims at the UK’s family and civil courts. And the probation officers’ union, napo, and the charity Protection Against Stalking (PAS) warn [...]

Climate activists concerned about Durban discussions

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Summary of story from Bulatlat, December 1, 2011 Filipino climate activists are pushing for a binding climate agreement, as the Conference of Parties 17 (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) continues in Durban, South Africa. However, they are concerned that the United States is also sabotaging the ongoing talks. The [...]

An interview with UK fashion designer Vivienne Westwood

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Summary of story from The Guardian, December 3, 2011 Britain’s most feted fashion designer is many things, but one thing has remained constant: her sense of her difference from the bulk of other people. “I do feel I’m fighting against conformity,” she says. As if to prove the point, she announces: “The human race faces mass [...]

Camp out for shopping OK, but not to protest, it seems

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Summary of story from The Guardian, December 3, 2011 Civil rights lawyers are ramping up their fight to halt Occupy evictions around the USA, in the face of concerted efforts by city officials to clear the streets of the encampments. Throughout the country, local authorities are citing health and safety concerns and invoking obscure municipal [...]

Focus on homeless women at Christmas

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Adele Ward Novelist and poet The media tends to focus on the problem of homelessness for men, but it is an issue that also affects women. And for women the risks associated with living on the street are higher, risks both to their physical and their mental wellbeing. We might like to think that homelessness is somebody [...]