Thursday, January 5, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Former Ukrainian PM fights bright lights in her prison cell

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Summary of story from RFE/RL, January 4, 2012 Yulia Tymoshenko, the former Ukranian prime minister serving a seven-year sentence for abuse of office, has complained about the conditions she is facing at the Kachanivska Penal Colony in Kharkiv. Prison officials maintain that Tymoshenko's cell "meets all the European requirements and standards of detention",  but her [...]

Two years on: Iranian human rights activist still in prison

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Summary of story from Change for Equality, December 31, 2011 Two years have passed since the arrest and imprisonment of Bahareh Hadayat, a women's rights and student's rights activist and campaigner from Iran, who spoke out against injustices in her country. Hadayat was arrested in December 2009, shortly after paying a visit to Dr Abdollah [...]

Female candidate quits American presidential race

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Summary of story from ABC News, January 4, 2012 Michele Bachmann, a congresswoman from Minnesota, has withdrawn from the US presidential campaign after coming last in the Iowa Republican caucuses. Bachmann grew up in Iowa and had staked her candidacy there, making it the backdrop of her presidential bid. Her socially conservative, family-orientated approach to politics initially [...]

Outrage at draft Assembly plans for Libyan women

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Summary of story from Radio Netherlands Worldwide, January 2, 2012 A draft electoral law just published has revealed that only 10 per cent of the seats in the 200-seat Libyan constituent assembly will be reserved for women, triggering strong criticism. “As it is now, Libyan women currently make up over 50 per cent of the population in Libya, [...]

Woman accused of killing civilians in war extradited

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Summary of story from The Washington Post, December 27, 2011 The United States has extradited a Muslim Bosnian woman accused of killing Bosnian Croat civilians during the 1990s Bosnian war, authorities said. Rasema Handanovic, 38, who has a son and parents in the USA, is alleged to have belonged to a Bosnian Army unit that [...]

Join us on the bridge with a peace message

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Sue Tapply WVoN co-editor On recent International Women’s Days, March 8, women and men have been joining together on bridges worldwide as part of Women for Women International's ‘bridge’ campaign to show that people can build bridges of peace for our future. As one peace builder who took part in the first ever Join me [...]

Dementia research finds new hormone link

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Summary of story from ABC News, January 2, 2012 Researchers have found a possible connection between a hormone found in body fat and the risk of dementia, which adds to the growing evidence of a potential link between dementia and diabetes. A new study found that women with high levels of the hormone adiponectin were at an [...]

Obituary: Professor Katrina Honeyman

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Summary of story from The Telegraph, January 2, 2012 Professor Katrina Honeyman, an economic historian who showed the crucial part that children, girls in particular, played in the Industrial Revolution, has died. She documented how this feminisation of the labour force was undermined by the early trades union movement and the censorious Victorian society. “It [...]

Seven ‘outstanding leaders’ in women’s equality

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Summary of story from Women’s e-News, January 4, 2012 Women's e-News has identified seven powerful change advocates for 2012. The seven – Susan L. Blount, Nancy Duff Campbell, Marcia D. Greenberger, Joe Keefe, Yousriya Loza-Sawiris, Natalia Oberti Noguera, Sue Osthoff and Julie Thukral – have been selected for being 'outstanding leaders, dedicated to improving the [...]

Lotto rapist victim reveals her identity

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Summary of story from BBCNews, January 4, 2012 A woman who fought for compensation from a serial rapist when he won £7m on the UK’s national lottery has waived her anonymity after being given an award, an MBE, ’for her services to the community’. Shirley Woodman, 82, who was previously known only as Mrs A, received a landmark [...]

Lesbian custody battle splits judiciary in Florida

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Summary of story from Pink Paper, January 4, 2012 A landmark custody battle between two lesbians, both of whom claim they are the mother of their child, has divided opinions and split the judiciary in the US state of Florida. The pair had been together for over a decade. One of them, who cannot be [...]

Lager attempts to lose ‘wife beater’ nickname

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Summary of story from The Independent, January 4, 2012 Lager brand Stella Artois, which has a reputation in the UK for being the staple drink of wife beaters because of its high alcohol content and association with a binge drinking culture and aggression, has been trying to improve the way it is viewed. By using a lobbying company. Inquiries by [...]

Coca-Cola, a king, wealth, poverty and crushed opposition

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Summary of story from The Guardian, January 2, 2012 Coca-Cola has been accused of propping up one of Africa’s most notorious dictators. The multibillion-dollar beverage company owns a concentrate-manufacturing plant in Swaziland, an impoverished kingdom ruled by Africa’s last absolute monarch, Mswati III. Mary Pais Da Silva, co-ordinator of the Swaziland Democracy Campaign, has called [...]

New photobook about women snail divers

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Summary of story from The Guardian, December 28, 2011 Nina Poppe’s new photobook, Ama, begins with an age-old saying from the Ise-Shima region of Japan: “A woman who cannot feed a man is worthless.” The ama of the title are the women who dive for abalone – a sea snail that is an expensive delicacy [...]

Eccentric scrap metal sculptures in London

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Summary of story from The Guardian, December 29, 2011 Ida Ekblad’s eccentric scrap metal sculptures and high-energy paintings are made of rubbish she finds abandoned on roadsides and in skips or town dumps. The Norwegian artist turns metal sheeting, rusting pipes and steel chair frames, and whatever else she can get her hands on, into [...]

Girl, 7, gets liposuction voucher for Christmas

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Summary of story from the Daily Mail, January 3, 2012 A 51 year-old mother who calls herself a 'Human Barbie' has made the headlines again (see WVoN story) after buying her daughter a liposuction voucher for Christmas. Poppy Burge, who is seven, opened her Christmas stocking this year and found the £7000 surgery voucher inside. [...]

Former opera singer, nurse and current poet win Costa prizes

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Summary of story from The Independent, January 3, 2012 A former opera singer has won the UK’s Costa Children's Book Award with her debut novel. Moira Young's dystopian thriller Blood Red Road is set in the future and follows a teenage girl on the hunt for her kidnapped twin brother. Young, a soprano, has previously [...]

Harassment at comic book conventions

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Sue Tapply WVoN co-editor A group of female comic book fans in the US is currently preparing to launch a movement against harassment at comic conventions in conjunction with social campaigns website Change.org. “Physical and verbal harassment are widespread at comic conventions and other geek-oriented cons – not just of attendees, but guests and staff [...]

Milestone – verdict on Lawrence murder

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Summary of story from The Guardian, January 3, 2012 Following the convictions of two men yesterday for the racist murder of her son in London in 1993, Doreen Lawrence said they were not a cause for celebration: “How can I celebrate when my son lies buried?” Speaking outside the Old Bailey in central London, after the [...]

Saudi women to replace men in lingerie sales jobs

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Summary of story from Arab News, January 3, 2012 Over 28,000 Saudi women have come forward to take up jobs at shops selling lingerie and women's accessories throughout the kingdom, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Labour. Fahd Al-Tukhaifi, assistant undersecretary for development at the ministry, said that the women would replace [...]