Thursday, December 22, 2011

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

How inequality is halting US feminism

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Summary of story from The New York Times, December 19, 2011 Economics professor Nancy Folbre writing about feminism's uneven success in the USA, argues that the disparity between higher educated women and low-skilled women is causing feminism to loose momentum. Women's rights have led to important legal gains, she says, but over the past 20 [...]

Distrust in Canada’s police force after allegations

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Summary of story from The Independent, December 21, 2011 After a succession of sexual harassment allegations, Bob Paulson, the new head of the The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP or Mounties) has announced fresh measures to combat the abuse. The police force came under public scrutiny after a succession of sexual harassment and assault allegations from [...]

Homeless-ness in England cuts 30 years off life expectancy

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Summary of story from OnMedica, December 21, 2011 Homeless people in England die 30 years before the UK national average age of 77, research for Crisis, the national charity for single homeless people, has found. The report, entitled “Homelessness: A silent killer”, is based on interim research carried out by the University of Sheffield, which looked at homeless [...]

UK women with French-made implants: ‘check’ and ‘monitor’

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Summary of story from Sky News, December 21, 2011 Medical authorities in France plan to tell 30,000 women with a certain type of breast implant to have them removed after a French woman died from a rare form of cancer called anaplastic large cell lymphoma (see WVoN coverage). Some 50,000 British women are believed to [...]

Little change for Afghan women after 10 years of war

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Summary of story from Counterfire, December 21, 2011 In her review of the book ’Dear Zari’ written by Zarghuna Kargar, Mitra Qayoom highlights the strong cultural and traditional rules affecting Afghan women and which continue to persist despite a decade of Western intervention in the country. Many Afghan women are unaware of their rights under Islamic law, which forbids forced [...]

Dragged Bahraini blogger freed on bail

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Summary of story from BBCNews, December 21, 2011 Bahrain police have released Zainab al-Khawaja, a blogger and human rights activist, after five days in custody after an anti-government demonstration (see WVoN story). Ms Khawaja, daughter of a jailed opposition leader, attracted global attention to the situation in Bahrain after images of her arrest, in which she was dragged along the [...]

USA announces National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security

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Summary of stories from The White House Blog, The Council on Foreign Relations, All Africa and PeaceWomen, December 19, 2011 President Obama has issued an executive order implementing the United States’ first National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security (NAP). The White House Blog has called this a “historic step toward a future where [...]

Occupy Atlanta saves war veteran’s home from foreclosure

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Summary of story from The Huffington Post, December 21, 2011 In a victory for the USA’s national Occupy movement, Occupy Atlanta has successfully helped an Iraq War veteran losing her house from foreclosure by the bank JPMorgan Chase. Brigitte Walker, 44, joined the Army in 1985 and was among the first US personnel to enter Iraq in [...]

Women activists “left naked in forest by police”

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Summary of story from the Mail Online, December 21, 2011 Three women have accused police in Minsk of stripping them naked and leaving them in a forest after they were arrested while taking part in a topless protest recently. The women, from feminist group FEMEN, had been protesting the first anniversary of President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election. According to the [...]

Egyptian military regrets “violations” of women

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Summary of story from France24, December 21, 2011 Egypt’s military has issued a rare apology on the fifth day of clashes in Cairo after video footage of soldiers stripping and beating a female protester (see WVoN story) lead to international criticism and drew thousands of Egyptian women to rally in protest. Yesterday the military, in an unusually contrite [...]

Man who buried fiancée alive faces jail

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Summary of story from The Telegraph, December 19, 2011 The man who buried his fiancée alive in a cardboard box in the UK has been found guilty of attempted murder. He now faces jail and is awaiting a custodial sentence. Michelina Lewandowska, 27 was shocked with a taser by her fiancée Marcin Kasprzak, 25, who then [...]

German ‘Fritzl’ jailed for incest, cleared of rape

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Summary of story from The Guardian, December 19, 2011 A German father, dubbed the German Fritzl, has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for incest. Adolf B, 69, claimed his daughter was a “willing participant” from the age of 17. Prosecutors sought a 14-year sentence for 497 counts of rape over [...]

Sex tourism is a growing industry in the Phillipines

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Summary of story from Asia Times, December 20, 2011 Sex tourism in the Philippines is growing and could soon rival Thailand as a global sex tourism hub. Philippine Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez denies such claims, arguing that 55 per cent of tourists come for shopping and beaches. The reality is that poor infrastructure, security problems [...]

South Korean president asks Japan for resolution for comfort women

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Summary of story from Menafn.com, December 19, 2011 The South Korean president has urged Japan to resolve the issue of Korean women's sexual slavery during World War Two, at a meeting last Sunday. Lee Myung-bak, South Korean president, is asking for Japan to apologize and provide compensation to the victims of Japan's comfort stations. Japan’s [...]