Saturday, December 10, 2011

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

“Reading the Riots” UK study reveals that 21% of rioters were women

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Summary of story from The Guardian, November 9, 2011 Data from the UK “Reading the Riots” study has shown that of the 270 interviews conducted with participants involved in the August riots, 21% were women. The interviews with 56 women identified complex reasons for their involvement – some were there to loot and exploit the [...]

France’s move to criminalise prostitution will ‘endanger lives’

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Summary of story from France 24, December 8, 2011 The controversial move this week by members of the National Assembly in Paris to make prostitution illegal in France has been condemned by a number of  organisations representing sex workers. A bill will be introduced to parliament within the next few days, and if passed, fines [...]

Ensuring the future of an ageing Europe: why women matter

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Sabine Clappaert Freelance journalist  Things aren't looking good for Europe. Apart from the debt and currency crisis, 2012 also marks the year in which its working population begins to decline. The baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964, have begun retiring en masse. Over the next five decades, Europeans aged 65+ will increase by [...]

British teenager becomes youngest person to ski to the South Pole

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Summary of story from BBC News, December 9, 2011 Sixteen-year-old Amelia Hempleman-Adams has become the youngest person to ski to the South Pole. She is the daughter of explorer David Hempleman-Adams, with whom she successfully completed the trip. Ms Hempleman-Adams said it had been an extraordinary experience. “The biggest challenges were the freezing cold, dried food, [...]

US should “shape up or get out” of UN climate talks

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Summary of story from Democracy Now! December 8, 2011 The daughter of the late Kenyan environmental activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Wangari Maathai has said the US should “shape up or get out” of the UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Durban, South Africa, this week. Wanjira Maathai, the international director of [...]

Student disrupts speech by US climate envoy in Durban

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Summary of story from The New York Times, December 8, 2011 A 21-year-old American college student interrupted a speech by US climate envoy Todd Stern at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, yesterday, saying he did not speak for the United States. “The obstructionist Congress has shackled justice and delayed ambition for [...]

New Spanish documentary on the mothers of the Constitution

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Mary Tracy WVoN co-editor  A new Spanish documentary, "Las Constituyentes" by director Oliva Acosta, focuses on Spain's transition to democracy seen through the eyes of the women politicians of the time. Twenty seven pioneering women members of parliament and senators, called the "mothers of the Constitution", share their personal experiences and stories, revealing the fascinating [...]

Abortion does not increase mental health risk

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Summary of story from BBC News, December 9, 2011 Having an abortion does not raise a woman’s risk of suffering mental health problems, a major review has concluded. The review was carried out by experts from the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (NCCMH) and was funded by the UK’s Department of Health after concerns [...]

Women protesters reflect desire for social change

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Summary of story from UN News Centre, December 8, 2011 The active participation of women in recent public protests reflects their strong desire to promote social change, the UN independent expert on violence against women said yesterday. Rashida Manjoo, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women and its causes and consequences, said this desire included [...]

Sarah Stevenson and Rebecca Adlington scoop top sportswomen awards

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Rosy Moorhead WVoN features editor Two top British female athletes have been awarded separate sportswoman of the year awards this week. Swimming champion Rebecca Adlington was given the accolade by the Sports Journalists Association after winning gold in the 800 metres freestyle at the World Championships in Shanghai in July, and for her double Olympic [...]

Campaign to free Iranian lawyer marks human rights day

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Julie Tomlin WVoN co-editor Human rights campaigners are calling for the release of lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh who is in prison in Iran because of her work. Sotoudeh was sent to prison for six years last year as a result of her work for Iranian rights groups, the Defenders of Human Rights Center. She was defending protesters [...]

African task force to tackle gender inequality in HIV/AIDS response

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Summary of story from Key Correspondents, December 8, 2011 A new high-level task force of African leaders is to tackle the issue of women bearing the burden of responding to the continent’s HIV and AIDS epidemic. The task force, which was launched at the 16th International Conference on AIDS in Africa (ICASA) in Addis Ababa [...]

Muff marchers protest against culture of designer vaginas

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Jackie Gregory WVoN co-editor  More than 320 activists are due to take part in two UK “Muff Marches” this Saturday, December 10, to protest against a pornified culture which drives women to seek designer vaginas. Wearing fake muffs and performing a muff dance, marchers in London will proceed down London’s Harley Street which is famous for [...]

Excavated cottage may be linked to Pendle Witches

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Summary of story from Manchester Evening News, December 8, 2011 One of the lost landmarks in the history of Lancashire witches could have been found – by workmen accidentally digging up a 17th-century cottage. United Utilities workers were stunned to discover the building buried under a grass mound near Lower Black Moss reservoir, in the [...]

Female investment executives can’t bank on equality

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Summary from HedgeCo.Net , December 7, 2011 Female hedge fund executives are more optimistic than males about attracting investment in the next 18 months, but still find it harder to attract backers to their women-run funds than their male colleagues. These are the main findings of a survey of 189 executive level women who work in [...]

Combining drugs could hold off advanced breast cancer

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Summary of story from the LA Times, December 7, 2011 Treatment for advanced breast cancer could improve significantly if doctors give women combinations of medications that attack tumors in different ways, two large clinical trials suggest. In one study, researchers found patients fared better when a breast cancer drug called an aromatase inhibitor was combined [...]

Oxford University students’ ‘freshers fit list’ investigated

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Summary of story from the Daily Mail, December 8, 2011 Oxford University is investigating after male students drew up a 'fit list' of female freshers and joked about luring them to a party ‘with no witnesses’. The emails were sent between members of the notorious 'Honey Badgers' drinking club at Lady Margaret Hall. Students are accused [...]

Men praised when talking about misogyny, women ignored

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Summary of The New Statesman, December 8, 2011 Writer Ellie Mae O’Hagan asks why when a male journalist speaks out about misogyny, he starts trending on Twitter and is said to have ‘nailed’ it but when women do so they are either ignored or vilified. Nick Cohen complained about the Telegraph’s treatment of journalist Laurie [...]

New documentary shines light on bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan

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Ellie Watmuff WVoN co-editor A disturbing new documentary series this week shines a light on Kyrgyzstan's growing culture of bride kidnapping. Tonight’s first installment of the five-part series "Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan”, from New York-based independent media company Vice, conveys the social and cultural complexity of the practice. Reporter Thomas Morton and director Jason Mojica travel to [...]

Tibetan women speak out on climate justice for Tibet at UN Conference

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Summary of story from The Tibet Post, December 6, 2011 Two members of the Tibetan Women’s Association addressed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban, South Africa, this week. Tenzin Woebum, Head of Women’s Environment and Development Desk and Tenzin Dolma, Joint Secretary of Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA), who represent Tibet Third [...]

Parents campaign against sexist clothes for girls

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Summary of story from NPR.org, December 7, 2011 When New York resident Lauren Todd saw a photo of the “I’m Too Pretty To Do Homework” shirt on Facebook last August, she was annoyed. So she started a petition on the social action website Change.org. Her petition urged shoppers to boycott J.C. Penney until it stopped selling shirts [...]