Women's Views on News

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• Brazil’s rich women get their own reality show
• Oscar nominated documentary highlights rise in Pakistani acid attacks
• Tunisian women demand right to wear niqab
• V-Day performances in Nairobi and Guam support moves to end VAW
• Scottish women drinkers encouraged to “drop a glass size”
• Cambodian authorities accused of using excessive force against land activists
• First female presidential candidate nominated by Mexican mainstream political party
• Story links, 7 February 2012
• Chinese mothers dubbed “locusts” by angry Hong Kongers
• The real reasons for Israel’s ‘woman problem’
• Campaign groups take action on female genital mutilation
• Amnesty International calls for Bahrain to release female activist
• Battle of the sexes continues in Ireland
• Women’s voices ring louder in church
• Why are Syrian women protestors ‘invisible’ in mainstream news?
• Story links, 6 February 2012
• Just don’t call me “babe”, okay?
• UN Women celebrate first year of operations
• Food=beauty, according to former soccer player
• Newspaper launches safety campaign after female journalist hit by truck
• Story links, 3 February 2012
• Italy must combat violence against women, says UN expert
• Men jailed for murder of lesbian woman in South Africa
• A woman’s place is in Europe
• Fancy going feminist?
• Bread basket, not black hole
• Documentary exposes China’s “sexist culture”
• Lord O’Donnell criticises private sector approach to gender equality
• Women may feel more pain than men, new study reveals
• TV audiences call for more older women
• Justice for low paid women at Bury council – finally
• Tackling the acceptance of rape culture
• Story links, 2 February 2012
• UK government cuts leave vulnerable women out in the cold
• Shafia trial: not an honour killing, just a heinous murder
• Women awaiting deportation for ‘illicit mingling’ in Saudi Arabia
• Women targeted by payday loans companies
• Horia Mosadiq: Afghan peace talks should have women at their heart
• Afghan woman murdered for giving birth to third daughter
• Studying Beyoncé: singer becomes subject of university course
• Story links, 1 February 2012
• Iranian women warn Egyptian women not to make same mistakes
• What do Taliban inclusive peace talks mean for women?
• Miss Undergraduate: two sides of the story
• Time to change our view of the gamer
• Senator’s humorous response to mandatory ultrasound bill
• Cosmetic surgery: where will it end?
• My “pink button”?
• Story links, 31 January 2012
• Hope for Haiti: women’s football

Brazil’s rich women get their own reality show Posted: 07 Feb 2012 12:30 PM PST Sarah MacShane WVoN co-editor  A reality show portraying the lives of five incredibly rich women aired recently in Brazil provoking criticism that it "glorifies inequality in Brazilian society". Mulheres Ricas, the first reality show to delve into the lives of Brazil's super rich, focuses on five female millionaires – a businesswoman, a jeweller, an architect, a socialite and a formula truck pilot. These women have reached the top financially, and provide an insight into "a world of travel, luxury cars, jewels, shopping and lots of champagne". Lydia Sayeg who runs an upmarket Sao Paulo jewellers believes that "being rich is beautiful…. I think everyone should strive to be rich", commenting that "I take baths in mineral water… Is that extravagant? I don't know. It's our daily life". Brazil's economy is booming, property prices are exploding and executive salaries are going through the roof. The boom has created 19 millionaires a day since 2007, while at the same time there are "11.5 million Brazilians living in slums last year, up from 4.5m in 1991". The columnist Renato Kramer from Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper has condemned the show as “pathetic”, arguing that women who are so financially secure should not feel the need to expose themselves in such a ridiculous way. The show clearly not only highlights the growing inequality between the classes in Brazil but it demonstrates the willingness of rich women to flaunt their money, wealth and status in order to prove that they are part of Brazil's elite. I just wonder  - would men feel the same pressure?

Oscar nominated documentary highlights rise in Pakistani acid attacks Posted: 07 Feb 2012 11:00 AM PST Holly Cooper WVoN co-editor  Journalist and investigative filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy has made history by becoming the first Pakistani  director to receive an Oscar nomination.   Saving Face, which Chinoy co-directed with Daniel Junge, has been nominated in the Best Documentary, Short Subject category and has been applauded for raising awareness of the alarming rise in acid attacks on women in Pakistan. The film follows the work of celebrated British-Pakistani plastic surgeon Dr Mohammad Jawad,  who led the revolutionary burns treatment on British model and television presenter Katie Piper after sulphuric acid was thrown in her face by a stalker in 2008. Dr Jawad travels around central Pakistan to the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi, where he performs extensive and complex reconstructive surgery on other survivors of acid attacks. In Saving Face Chinoy, who is known for making hard-hitting and revealing documentaries such as Transgenders: Pakistan's Open Secret and Pakistan: The Taliban Generation, also tells the stories of two Pakistani women who were victims of horrifying acid violence and follows their progress as they try and rebuild their lives. Acid attacks in Pakistan are rising, there are over  100 known cases a year and countless more that probably go unreported due to social stigma and the difficulties faced by women who try to access the judicial system. The Acid Survivors Foundation Bangladesh says that victims are usually young women who are attacked by those closest to them for reasons such as refusing to accept marriage proposals, denying dowry or spurning sexual advances. Robbery, family feuds, and land and property disputes have also been given as explanations for assaults which are often motivated out of jealousy or revenge. The rationale for some of the attacks is astonishing – take the case of 22 year old Manzoor Attiqa. She was beaten to the point of unconsciousness then had acid thrown over her by her mother-in-law after a disagreement about cleaning the dishes. Acid attacks are particularly sadistic because they are seen as a life long punishment. The number of deaths resulting from acid violence is low, but it is a permanent and painful reminder from which victims can never fully recover either physically or emotionally. In many circumstances the perpetrator is male, but Chinoy says that older women who have been victims of abuse sometimes become abusers themselves. A lack of education and exposure to female support networks means that they think that this is the norm, and so continue the cycle of violence. There are organisations, though, that reach out to survivors. The Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) runs projects to give ongoing medical and psychological support to victims and to help them fight for justice. However, the reality is that many of the women tend to go back to abusive families and relationships because they are unaware of their rights and because they have children. Chinoy claims that a particularly high number of incidents occur in the cotton growing regions of the Saraiki belt, which is significant because the the cotton is cleaned with cheap and widely available acid. Until recently there were no regulations to restrict the sale of acid nor to punish perpetrators, but after activists fought for a change in the law the Pakistan Senate passed two bills in December 2011 to impose strict penalties on those who attack women with acid. The Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention laws call for a prison  sentence ranging from 14 years to life imprisonment and levies fines of up to 1 million rupees (£6,978) on the perpetrator of the crime. The ASF said the move was 'the first step won', describing it as an important milestone for the survivors because it has shown that 'democracy is not a myth anymore, they got justice'.

Tunisian women demand right to wear niqab Posted: 07 Feb 2012 09:30 AM PST Sarah MacShane WVoN co-editor  There is  growing concern about the future of women's rights in Tunisia as hard-line Islamists are increasing pressure in the public sphere for all women to be veiled. Equally, some young women support the move, as part of a personal revolt against the authoritarian but secular and pro-women policies of the ousted rulers of Tunisia. The focal point is  the faculty of letters at Manouba University, 15 miles from the capital Tunis which has 8,000 women students. Egged on by Islamist men some students (both male and female) staged a protest. Nicknamed the 'sit-inneurs', they are refusing to go to classes or take part in any student activities until the current law which bans the use of niqab and public prayer is lifted. The moderate, ruling Islamist Ennadha party is under pressure from radical Islamists know as Salafists, who are "demanding full-face veils for female university students". The Salafists have beaten up journalists and university professors who speak out against them. The government has removed the protesters citing "security concerns" if students are covered from head to toe. But some of the protesters inisist on their right to wear the veil. They say that Tunisia's new freedoms should allow them to practice Islam how they want – some women are choosing to cover themselves as part of an expression of identity with Islam and against their parents' wishes. Fatima Hazzi, a student at the Manouba faculty is on hunger strike until the law changes, saying that the niqab "covers my face but not my mind". Another university student Hend Mohamed told Bikyamasr.com: “I don’t wear the niqab or the veil, but I believe that any woman should have the right to dress as she believes is appropriate. That is freedom.” The new government is committed to freedom of expression but there is a danger that they are letting the extreme right 'test the Tunisian society'. There is a thin line between allowing freedom of expression and allowing a minority group to impose their way of life on the rest of the society.

V-Day performances in Nairobi and Guam support moves to end VAW Posted: 07 Feb 2012 08:30 AM PST Helen Thompson WVoN co-editor February 14 is almost here again. It's time to profess love, reveal hidden passion, and expose your vagina in honour of V-Day. Established in 1998, V-Day is a movement for ending violence against women (VAW) that evolved from American playwright Eve Ensler's worldwide performances of Vagina Monologues. Ensler says that many women shared their stories of sexual abuse after her performances, and from these conversations she realised that the play could be a force for change in exposing and ending sexual violence against women. Based on interviews with women from diverse cultures, Vagina Monologues focuses on the experiences women have had with their bodies and particularly their vaginas. From the raunchy, 'My Angry Vagina" and "Reclaiming Cunt" to the poignant "My Vagina was my Village" and "Say It," the monologues break the silence surrounding women's sexual experiences and speaking out against sexual violence. Every February, benefit performances of Vagina Monologues take place around the world with funds supporting local non-governmental organisations working towards ending sexual violence and the V-Day Spotlight Campaign. The 2012 Spotlight Campaign focuses upon the women and girls of Haiti. Thousands of V-Day events are taking place in 2012 from Mongolia to Saudi Arabia. In Nairobi, Kenya, student Naomi Njeri Mwaura is part of the steering committee for a five-venue production across the city, including United States International University and Nairobi University in March. Mwaura says: "With the high level of unemployment among the Kenyan youth . . . young people are willing to volunteer their time and skills towards helping in organizing, marketing, photography and blogging." However, she says that funding for the productions has been difficult to secure. Domestic violence is a particular problem in Kenya because of the limited legal infrastructure to protect victims. "In most cases, the woman is expected to stay in the violent marriage and avoid doing things that upset the husband to the point of marriage," Mwaura says. "If things get worse, the extended family will intervene and try to settle the marriage woes but nobody expects the woman to leave the marriage" According to George Onyore William, a proposed Family Protection Bill will "provide the legal basis and framework for prosecuting domestic violence." The funds from the benefit performance will go to Nairobi Women's Gender Violence Recovery Centre. In the United States territory of Guam, Theatre Professor Michelle Blas is directing her second production of Vagina Monologues for a University of Guam and community audience. The 2005 production spawned much controversy and protesters from the largely Catholic community picketing the theatre. Blas says it may happen again this year, but she is encouraged that word is out and more women have auditioned for the 2012 performances. Resistance, she says, has come specifically from men. When a guest on a radio talk show, the male presenter argued that he needed to be convinced to go and see a production by and about women because he felt men were excluded. Blas says, however, that men have a lot to gain from watching Vagina Monologues—more appreciation of the women in their lives and sometimes even a wake-up call to those men who are veering into abusive or potentially abusive behaviour. The Vagina Monologues are, she says, empowering for men and women alike. Directing the production also involves personal transformation, Blas explains, by allowing her to acknowledge and admit her own femininity from the humorous aspects of being a woman to overcoming the fear of the V-word. Cast members too chart the personal importance of the work they are doing. Wilma and Trinity Diosa, performers of "They Beat the Girl out of My Boy," explained that performing a monologue about transsexual experience is empowering and speaks to their own experiences of transitioning from male to female. Louresta Dodson-Lankard explains that "performing is very cathartic" because she can "act out the feelings" of her own experience as a battered child and offer the audience awareness and cleansing. Sarah Gibson finds performing "Coochie Snorcher" joyful because, she says, every girl can find her own story in the monologue and see the potential for transformation. Funds from the University of Guam production of Vagina Monologues will go to Erica's House, Island Girl Power, Oasis Empowerment and Victims Advocates Reaching Out. For her part, Mwaura hopes that the Kenyan productions will: "strip away the shyness [and] shame that can often be associated with the female gender and just appreciate the importance of openly discussing issues around sex, especially in the African culture where the lack of transparency opens up an avenue for abuse and abusers." Juanita Blaz, director of Island Girl Power, one of the recipients of Guam V-Day funds, said in an interview in the Guam Pacific Daily News: “It’s so important we learn to accept ourselves. We can only accept ourselves when we have a little bit of an open mind.” For more information about the Nairobi productions, contact Naomi Njeri Mwaura at naomimwaura@ymail.com The Guam production will be take place at the University of Guam Theatre, February 23-25 at 8:00 p.m.  A production of original monologues is scheduled for March 1-3.

Scottish women drinkers encouraged to “drop a glass size” Posted: 07 Feb 2012 07:00 AM PST Ilona Lo Iacono WVoN co-editor The Scottish Government is launching a new health campaign, encouraging women to "drop a glass size" as an easy way to consume less alcohol. The DrinkSmarter website explains: "Sometimes slimmers switch to a smaller plate so they eat less. Dropping a glass size uses the same principle for alcohol." The Scottish Health Survey reveals that around 38 per cent of Scottish women regularly exceed daily and/or weekly sensible drinking guidelines. Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon said: "Everyone by now is aware that bold action is needed to tackle Scotland's unhealthy relationship with alcohol. The impact of our consumption is estimated to cost Scots £3.56 billion each year. That's £900 for every adult. "With Scots drinking more than any other part of the UK, this campaign aims to encourage adults in Scotland, particularly women, to recognise how much they are actually drinking and to help them make small changes to the way they drink which can improve their health and well-being." Users of the DrinkSmarter website can use a calculator to measure the effects of simply reducing the size of their wineglass. Although the calculator does state that drinkers should have at least two alcohol-free days per week, it does not suggest cutting down the number of glasses of wine consumed per day. The benefits of reduced glass sizes are shown quite clearly in terms of reduced calorie intake over the course of a year, and equivalent grams of fat (illustrated with blocks of lard). The amount of money saved yearly – assuming the consumer is drinking £5 bottles of wine – is displayed on a pink handbag. Throughout the website, the serious long-term health effects of alcohol misuse appear secondary to the more immediate effects: the number one reason to drink less is that "your skin will love you". "Alcohol dehydrates you leaving your skin dull and tired. Ask a supermodel. Many go on record in magazines saying they stay away from alcohol before big photoshoots." Other stated benefits include clothes fitting better, healthier hair, providing a good example to children, and improved energy and concentration. As part of the Scottish Government's Alcohol Behaviour Change campaign, a new smart phone app, Drinking Time Machine, has also been launched. The app, which is available free for one month, shows users how drinking too much alcohol affects their appearance by speeding up the ageing process. Auriole Price, the app's designer, said: “The main aim of the app is to shock people into drinking just a little bit less. We are appealing to people’s vanity as the effects of alcohol can include red broken veins on the cheeks, bloodshot eyes, a bloated face and deeper wrinkles.” User reviews seem to indicate that the tactic just may work. "Put you off having ‘just 1 more’,” says one user, *Kate*d*. Says techno.toes: ”When you select the ‘bottle or more option’ – it’s just plain scary. I definitely have a stronger motive for cutting down now. If it’s doing that to your face, what’s it doing to your insides?! Yikes.” The DrinkSmarter website does state some serious statistics: in Scotland alone, 500 new cases of breast cancer each year can be linked to alcohol consumption. Meanwhile, the chronic liver disease rate amongst 45-64 year old women in Scotland is higher than that among men in England and Wales. Meanwhile, the BBC has reported that in 2010, there were 1,318 alcohol-related deaths in Scotland – an increase of 36 (3 per cent) compared with 2009 – 409 of these deaths were women. A 2008 Scottish Government paper on changing Scotland's relationship with alcohol found clear links between alcohol consumption and violent crime, including assault, domestic violence and homicide. The paper also states that "as alcohol intake increases so does the relative risk of death from all causes". The low cost of alcohol is considered a contributing factor to its overconsumption: according to the Scottish Government, it is possible for a woman to exceed the weekly guidelines for less than £3. Sturgeon is to meet in Brussels with the European Commissioner for Health John Dalli and Scottish MEPs this week to discuss minimum alcohol pricing.

Cambodian authorities accused of using excessive force against land activists Posted: 07 Feb 2012 05:00 AM PST Ilona Lo Iacono WVoN co-editor Amnesty International (AI) has called for the Cambodian authorities to stop using "excessive force against peaceful land and housing activists". The organisation says that a group of around 150 women protesting forced evictions in the capital Phnom Penh on Wednesday was "violently" dispersed by police. The Guardian reported that many of the women were frail and elderly, and two of the women tore their shirts off in apparent desperation: a highly unusual act in Cambodia. According to the Phnom Penh Post, the protest began with 50 female evictees from Borei Keila and Boeung Kak Lake attempting to get municipal governor Kep Chutema's attention by blocking traffic outside the city hall. The district governor, Sok Sambath, reportedly ordered security forces to arrest the protesters using “five [security guards or police] to each woman”. According to AI, police "grabbed and beat the protesters, including elderly women, to the ground". Six women, five of whom were previously detained and held without charge after a protest in January, were thrown into a police van and detained overnight at Phnom Penh police station. At least two of the women were reportedly injured during the arrest but received no medical care, while none of them were given full access to lawyers. All six were released the next day, although other evictees remain in detention. More than 300 families were evicted from the Borei Keila development site on January 3. The developer, Phan Imex, has failed to complete construction of the on-site housing it promised them in 2003. Evictees have been demanding compensation for damaged property and calling on the authorities to address their housing needs. The Phnom Penh Post reported that 130 evicted families had relocated to Srah Po village in Kandal province. Many still have no plots of land on which to build a new home, and have found the $100 compensation completely inadequate, especially as the evictees are now too far from Phnom Penh for many of them to find work. Suy Sophan, the owner of Phan Imex, told the Phnom Penh Post she would not give land to "those who pretended to be Borei Keila residents or family members of those who had already received houses". She said that 64 families who were demanding compensation for their demolished houses did not have the documents to prove they had owned a house on the site. Protesters from Boeung Kak Lake are calling on the Cambodian authorities to grant land titles to remaining residents and allow construction of on-site housing around the lake. They have also requested that the authorities take measures to alleviate flooding caused by the company filling in the lake. Former residents are calling for additional compensation for being forced to leave their homes and relocating elsewhere. Donna Guest, of AI, said: "The Cambodian government is saying one thing and authorities at the local level are doing another. Yesterday's use of excessive force by police in Phnom Penh contradicts the Prime Minister's call for peaceful resolutions to land disputes. "Instead of trying to silence these communities through intimidation and violence, the Phnom Penh authorities should listen to them. These communities have a right to a prompt solution that meets Cambodia's international legal obligations to provide adequate housing." AI reports that elsewhere in Cambodia, violent land disputes continue. Activists were shot and injured in Kratie province by military personnel working for a private company, and in Battambang province in the west by military police.

First female presidential candidate nominated by Mexican mainstream political party Posted: 07 Feb 2012 03:30 AM PST Shanna McGoldrick WVoN co-editor Josefina Vázquez Mota pledged on Sunday that she’s "going to be the first female president of this country!" after winning the nomination of Mexico’s National Action Party (PAN). She took about 55 per cent of the vote in a nationwide poll of members compared to her nearest rival, Ernesto Cordero, the country’s former finance minister who received about 38 per cent. Her main rival for the presidency in elections on July 1 is Enrique Peña Nieto, leader of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which is fighting to return to power after a 12-year break. Although the PAN currently trails the PRI by about 20 percentage points, national polls show that she has the best chance of beating him. Vázquez Mota is an economist and businesswoman who held the position of Secretary of Public Education in Mexico from 2006 to 2009. She is also the first female presidential candidate for a mainstream political party in a country where women only got the vote in 1953.

Story links, 7 February 2012 Posted: 07 Feb 2012 02:00 AM PST Every day we'll post up a number of story links that we think are interesting. They won't necessarily be from that day, but usually will not be more than a few days old. The following are the ones we’ve found today. Story links: Nearly 2000 African communities end FGM, UN news centre, February 6, 2012 Egypt’s women call for power transfer, Aswat Masriya, February 5, 2012 FGM in Karamoga: we either ‘kill’ culture or preserve life, Monitor, February 7, 2012 Saudi women in a shift, sue for right to drive, Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2012 They live on in Cyberspace, The Hindu, February 6, 2012 Romney finding support where women hold sway, Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2012 Minimum wage doesn’t pay for hard work, WeNews, February 7, 2012

Chinese mothers dubbed “locusts” by angry Hong Kongers Posted: 07 Feb 2012 12:25 AM PST Ellie Watmuff WVoN co-editor Growing resentment towards Chinese women opting to give birth in Hong Kong has led residents of the special administrative region to air their grievances against mainland compatriots in Hong Kong's free media. A full page advertisement ran last week in widely read Hong Kong paper Apple Daily calling pregnant mainland women "locusts". It urged the authorities to take regulatory steps to stop mainland expectant mothers flooding the former British colony and burdening its healthcare system to the detriment of locals. Increasing numbers of mainlanders flock to Hong Kong to deliver their babies. Babies born to mainland Chinese parents where neither was a Hong Kong resident accounted for 37% of all babies born in the region in 2010. World-class hospital facilities and the identity cards and welfare benefits to which newborns are entitled make this a very attractive prospect for many Chinese mothers-to-be. However, many local women have complained they are unable to access maternity care as a result of mainland women booking up ward spaces. Concern is also rising about the pressures increased births will have on schooling and property prices. The advertisement was reportedly funded by donations from Hong Kong residents supportive of the cause. It is not the only demonstration of anger as indignant Hong Kong mothers have marched, protested and established at least two Facebook sites in objection. Official measures have already been implemented to address the problem. A cap on the maximum number of mainland births has been set at 34,400 for 2012, although the effectiveness of the policy is in doubt. There are reports of a growing trend of mainland women flouting the rules by seeking hospital admission only when in labour – something they cannot, by law, be refused. This has led to authorities implementing more drastic measures, including tighter border checks for heavily pregnant women crossing over from the mainland. Reports from the People's Daily, last Thursday, revealed that officials raided 43 residential areas that were suspected of illegally harboring pregnant mainland women. Other approaches are being adopted in an effort to deter women. According to news agency Reuters, some hospitals are making plans to expand maternity wards and raise fees for mainland mothers. They are likely to be as high as $7,500 for a natural birth in a shared room at private hospitals, or $5,000 at public ones for a pre-booked bed. This trend belies a growing division between Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese: a semiannual survey by the University of Hong Kong revealed that as few as 16.6 percent of Hong Kong citizens identify themselves as Chinese — the lowest figure in a dozen years. Several other incidents have tapped in on the growing chasm. A video of Hong Kongers berating a mainland girl for eating noodles on the subway received mass attention when it went viral, and Peking University professor Kong Qingdong further stirred the pot by calling Hong Kongers “people… used to being the dogs of British colonialists – they are dogs, not humans” in an interview with a Chinese website. Maternity issues in general dominated the New Year celebrations in Hong Kong and the mainland, as residents celebrated the year of the dragon, the most coveted birth year of all in the Chinese calendar. It traditionally registers a sharp rise in births as families seek to cash in on the good luck, power and fortune that the mythical creature is thought to embody.

The real reasons for Israel’s ‘woman problem’ Posted: 06 Feb 2012 09:30 AM PST Hannah Boast WVoN co-editor Progressive rabbis in Israel have founded a new Orthodox group that will focus on gender equality, in response to fears about the rise of religious extremism. Osha Koren, a leader in Matan, an institute for women’s Torah study, founded the group Beit Hillel with ten other rabbis and has since found widespread support among the modern Orthodox community. “The need for such an organization has been evident for some time,” Koren said. “But the frustration grew following the recent events involving the exclusion of women.” Israel’s long-ignored gender problem surfaced towards the end of last year with a series of incidents that highlighted the views of its ultra-Orthodox Haredim minority. Women have been instructed to sit at the back of buses, told that women’s singing is “too sexual” to be allowed in public, and banned from speaking at conferences about women’s health, while billboards featuring women’s faces have been defaced, and in an incident in December that drew international attention to an ashamed Israel, an eight-year-old girl on her way to school was harassed by men with shouts of ‘prostitute’. The Israeli activist Anat Hoffman has campaigned against gender segregation in Israel for years. Hoffman is director of the Israel Religious Action Center, which campaigns for pluralism and tolerance in Israeli society, and became notorious in 2010 as leader of the protest group Women of the Wall when she was arrested for carrying a Torah scroll at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, where women are forbidden from reading Torah (Haaretz). She warns that gender segregation in Israel is something of an invisible, internal threat to the coherence of the state, much more potentially explosive than the current fears about the nuclear capabilities of Israel’s enemy, Iran. Israeli security is usually understood, Hoffman said, “in terms of Israel being surrounded by millions of enemies”. “But security is not just measured by soldiers on the border. It’s also measured by an 8-year-old girl’s ability to go to school without being bullied” (JWeekly). The increasing confidence of the Haredim in Israel is connected to a general rise in religious feeling in Israel and the demise of the country’s ‘secular majority’. A new study by the Guttman Center for Surveys, part of the Israel Democracy Institute, found that 80 per cent of Israeli Jews believe in God, and 67 per cent that the Jews are the chosen people. This is a marked increase compared to previous surveys in 1999 and 1991 (Haaretz). The current government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reflects the increasing role of the religious lobby in public life: it is a coalition between his right-wing Likud and smaller, more extreme Haredi parties (Haaretz). Israel has always seen itself as an early adopter of progressive politics, and the principle of gender equality was enshrined in the original Declaration of Independence in 1948, which promised “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex” (Jewish Virtual Library). Israeli women were and sometimes still are seen by the world, in feminist writer Leslie Hazleton’s words, as ‘independent souls with a grenade in one hand and a wrench in the other’ (TIME). However, these images of enlightened gender relations served to hide the fact that sexism in Israeli society was as entrenched from its early Yishuv beginnings as it is in any society, with many national myths lionising male traits while relegating women once more to domestic work (Esther Fuchs ed., Israeli Women’s Studies, and Leslie Hazleton’s Israeli Women). The rise of Haredi Jews should not be a chance to demonise a minority, but to reflect on gender equality more broadly in a country with a 35% pay gap in the private sector, only 24 women politicians in the 120-capacity Knesset, and a mere 22% employment rate among Israeli Arab women (Jewish Virtual Library).

Campaign groups take action on female genital mutilation Posted: 06 Feb 2012 08:00 AM PST Deborah Cowan WVoN co-editor Two international campaign groups have called on the European Union (EU) for more clarity on their commitment to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) and other manifestations of violence against women. The European Commission pledged to create plans to address violence against women, including FMG, in 2010, saying they would "adopt an EU wide strategy on combating violence against women, including practices of female genital mutilation". However, the European Women's Lobby (EWL) and Amnesty International have criticised the Commission for so far failing to produce a concrete manifesto for tackling these abuses of human rights. The call for clarification has been made in a joint press release, which comes just ahead of the ninth International Day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation, marked every year on February 6. Amnesty has also produced a video calling on European leaders to tackle FMG. While FMG affects women on a global scale, figures issued by the European Parliament suggest that in Europe alone, around half a million women and girls will already have suffered some form of FGM, with around 180,00 more still at risk every year. More broadly, figures have also suggested that almost one in two women in the European Union will be affected by violence in her lifetime.   Horrifyingly, one in ten will be raped, and one in five will experience domestic violence. FMG, one of the most extreme forms of violence against women, is already criminalised in many European countries, including the UK, but there seems to be a lack of cohesion in state-wide policy. According to Dr Christine Loudes, Director of the END FGM European Campaign, the solution to the problem is not simply about passing legislation. She said "This shows that legislation is not the master key that will lock all doors to this human rights violation. The EU must take a holistic approach which engages community members to ensure girls are protected and their families are not stigmatized". While an EU cross-member state approach to eradicating violence against women in all its forms is as yet unforthcoming, Amnesty International and EWL say that individual state responsibility can be taken by signing and ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Secretary General of the EWL, Cecile Greboval said: "Ending all forms of violence against women, including FGM, should be a priority, especially in times of crisis. We know that the EU has the means to end violence against women and deliver a strategy to guarantee all women the right to live free from violence; so what are we waiting for?"

Amnesty International calls for Bahrain to release female activist Posted: 06 Feb 2012 06:30 AM PST Ellie Watmuff WVoN co-editor Amnesty International called on the Bahraini authorities last week to release a female activist, Fadhila Mubarak, currently being held for her involvement in pro-reform demonstrations last year. This followed a decision by the Court of Cassation in the capital, Manama, rejecting Mubarak’s appeal against her conviction for protesting and listening to “revolutionary” music (see WVoN story). The Court upheld her 18-month prison sentence, commuted from an initial four year prison term after four appeal hearings. Mubarak was detained at demonstrations which took place in Bahrain last year.  In February and March 2011, thousands of Bahrainis protested against the government and called for more political reforms, freedom, democracy and social justice. Unlike successes seen in other nations where freedoms were won as a result of 2011´s "Arab Spring", protests in Bahrain were harshly crushed in mid-March. Dozens of peaceful protesters were killed, hundreds of people arrested and many more tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Many received lengthy prison terms, following unfair trials before military courts. Amnesty is seeking Mubarak´s release on the basis that she suffered sustained mistreatment during her time in custody and was denied her right to fair legal proceedings. The organisation only became aware of Mubarak’s full story after other female inmates who were released on bail spoke up about her case. Mubarak was without access to a lawyer before and during her first trial, and following her initial sentence.  Some witnesses have reportedly told the organisation that she was still being beaten on the bus while on her way to court. Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Progamme said: “Fadhila Mubarak is a prisoner of conscience who was reportedly beaten and tortured in detention and then sentenced in an unfair trial before a military court on spurious charges for standing up for her rights. “The Bahraini authorities must release her immediately and unconditionally. Fadhila Mubarak's sentence only serves to demonstrate the intolerance of the authorities and the failures of the justice system. “They must also launch an independent investigation into allegations of torture against her and bring those responsible to justice.” Mubarak was arrested on 20 March 2011, when her car was stopped by authorities at a checkpoint close to Rifaa, south-west of Manama. Also in the vehicle at the time were her eight-year-old son and two other children. She was informed that she had been stopped for playing music calling for an end to the country´s regime. When she refused to turn the music down and requested identification from the police officer, she was forced out of the car, beaten over head, arrested and taken to Rifaa police station. During interrogation she is said to have been subjected to repeated beatings all over her body by female policewomen, before being transferred to another police station, where she was beaten again. On 17 May 2011, she was sentenced to four years in jail by a military court, which found her guilty of several charges. She faced false indictments of taking part in an illegal gathering of more than five people; taking part in illegal protests; possessing CDs and leaflets inciting hatred towards the regime, and assaulting a policeman by pulling his shirt. Her lawyer saw her for the first time in court on the first day of her first appeal on 25 May 2011. During this hearing, her lawyer requested a forensic examination and also called on the policeman who beat her at the checkpoint to testify. These requests were denied.

Battle of the sexes continues in Ireland Posted: 06 Feb 2012 05:03 AM PST Auveen Woods WVoN co-editor The Irish Central Statistics Office (CSO) has issued a report showing that whilst Irish women are better educated than their male counterparts, men still overwhelmingly dominate senior and managerial positions. The report, entitled "Men and Women in Ireland 2011“, looked at the differences between men and women in the areas of employment, education, income and occupations. It shows that girls continue to outperform boys in secondary school exams while boys are more likely to leave school early. More than half of Irish women between the ages of 25-35 are college-educated while fewer than four out of 10 men in the same age-bracket has a college degree. But being nerdy won't necessarily ensure an Irish woman makes it to the top of her profession. Even in employment sectors such as education and health, which are overwhelmingly dominated by women, they still don’t get the top jobs. At second-level schools, only 40% of managers are women although they account for 63% of teachers. Women also account for four out of five employees in the health sector yet occupy only 36% of managerial positions. The vast majority of Irish civil servants are male and they dominate the top positions: 82.4% of Secretaries General, 83.9% of Deputy and Assistant Secretaries, and 69.4% of Principle Officers are men. The CSO report also reveals that while the employment rate of Irish men is higher at 63.3% compared to 46.7% for women, men’s unemployment rate is also 7.1% higher. WVoN has previously highlighted the under-representation of Irish women at a Parliamentary level which currently stands at 15.1% of the Dáil (the lower house of Irish Parliament) compared to the European average of 24%. Irish women also account for less than a fifth of local council members, one third of State Board members’ and just over a third of the membership of Vocational Education Committees. The report found that women’s income was 73% of men’s.  When adjusted for the longer hours worked by men, it calculated that women’s hourly earnings were 94% of men’s. As noted by the Irish Times however, the report does not account for unpaid domestic work, which continues to be overwhelmingly performed by women. According to a 2008 study by the Irish Equality Authority and the Economic and Social Research Institute, Irish women’s total workload of both paid and unpaid labour is, on average, around 39 minutes longer per day than men.

Women’s voices ring louder in church Posted: 06 Feb 2012 04:30 AM PST Deborah Cowan WVoN co-editor A mere 20 years ago, the call of the clergy was still very much for the ears of men alone.  Now, it seems, the tide is turning. It's not quite 20 years since the Church of England first invited women to don the robes of priesthood, but figures released in the official Church of England Yearbook 2012 have revealed that more women than men were ordained in 2010. Although the overall figure of men in the priesthood still far outweighs that of women, it appears that equality may finally be taking a foothold. According to The Telegraph, of the 563 priests ordained in the year 2010, 290 of them were women, and only 273 were men. While there is a clear increase in the number of women 'joining up', the figures also show that the majority of new women priests are 'self-supporting', meaning that they do not make a full-time living from the church.  Concerns have been raised around the causes for this. Sally Barnes, spokesperson for the campaign group Women And The Church said: “…it does concern us that there seems to be a bias at work during the selection process that means that once someone has committed to training as a NSM (non-stipendiary minister) it is very difficult/impossible to transfer to being stipendiary as personal circumstances/calling develops later and that this seems to cause difficulties for female NSMs particularly." However, she saw the increase of women priests as a positive indicator for the future, saying "The figures are very good news. They show the increasing numbers of women whose vocations are being recognised, accepted and valued by the Church." If these figures do mark a change in attitude within the church, can we now expect our first female bishop? With a critical meeting of the General Synod, the Church of England's governing body, taking place this week, the four debates it is due to hear on draft legislation to introduce women bishops will be even more significant. Will the figures from the Church of England Yearbook influence the thinking of the great and the good within the church to allow women to engage first hand with the work of God even further? Current proposals generally support the ordination of female bishops, but the meeting of the Synod this week could see the tabling of amendments to the proposals. One such amendment under discussion would substantively reduce the role of female bishops to that of a simple figure head, giving male bishops the legal right to bypass the authority of a female counterpart entirely and look to a male bishop for leadership. If, however, the proposals are accepted largely in their current form, they will go to a vote at the Synod meeting in York in July. If women are at last to grace the corridors of Bishopdom, a two thirds majority vote is needed from all three 'houses' of the Church of England – laity, clergy and bishops. The Telegraph has already named the 'woman most likely' to be the first female Bishop – Rose Hudson-Wilkin. Although she seems to be a popular choice, her views on the matter are quite clear and make no bones about possible amendments to the proposals: "No woman in her right mind will accept becoming a bishop unless she is able to do so on the same basis as a man," she said. Whatever the result, the figures around the ordination of women priests will undoubtedly be unsettling for some traditional religious leaders who still believe that men alone were destined to be leaders of the church.

Why are Syrian women protestors ‘invisible’ in mainstream news? Posted: 06 Feb 2012 03:30 AM PST Thelma Etim WVoN co-editor  Since the March 2011 uprising in Syria which saw its citizens openly revolting against their leader Bashar al-Assad, more than 5,000 have lost their lives. Among the dead are women who have been protesting against a regime which has been roundly denounced for its aggression and brutality on the international stage. Last week UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, made an unequivocal statement about Mr Assad’s future as President of Syria. He told CNN he “hoped” the general secretary of the Baath Party would acquiesce to a request by the international community to vacate his post by the end of 2012. Mr Cameron’s comment — while attending the Word Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland — echoes the US position on Mr Assad’s controversial reign. The White House said the commander of the armed forces “had lost control of Syria” and “will go,” BBC News reported. Western and Arab diplomats believe the impasse can be resolved with a UN Security Council resolution calling for Mr Assad to devolve power to his deputy. Although the resolution enjoys backing from 10 security council member states, its fate largely depends on whether Russia uses its veto to blow the plan out of the water next Tuesday. While the mainstream media focuses on the political game of chess the world’s most powerful leaders are involved in, the contribution of Syrian women in the battle for freedom continues to be under-reported. The fact that they are not visible in most media reports — despite being involved in the now famous “flash mobs” — has prompted some quarters to question whether they are fully taking part in the revolt. Dr Mohja Kahf, Associate Professor at the US.-based University of Arkansas and author of “Women’s mass protests during the Syrian Revolution: A Preliminary Analysis,” argues this perception is misleading. She points out that Syrian women have been “providing logistical work for protest activity.” “Because women were not seen street-protesting in the first few electrifying days of massive protests especially in Daraa March 18-24, the Syrian revolution was early typified by the viewer reaction, “Where are the women?” Dr Kahf also states women have been involved in “day and night protests, marches, candle-lit vigils, sit-ins,” as well as “interfaith and inter-sect rallies.” “Women have innovated one form of protest men have not done: the Indoor Protest,” she adds. During one of these events women read statements while the congregation holds up banners and chants protest songs. In an effort to ensure the individual sacrifices they are making are to be documented, Syrian women have been relying heavily on the social media — i.e. Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and blogs. In this context, there are a number of videos of the prominent Syrian actress turned activist Fadwa Soliman on YouTube. She belongs to the country’s Alawite sect — the minority religion to which most of the regime belongs. Last December, Al Jazeera reported Ms Soliman had been “disowned by her family for her leading role in the protest movement.” In one video she claims “millions of Syrians are rebelling in order to recover the freedoms that were taken from them.” The revolutionary, who shaved off her long hair in protest, goes on to describe “the torture and killing” in the beleaguered country before calling on Canada to encourage the world’s most powerful nations to intervene. Facebook pages also detail a bloody roll call of the females — young and old — who have been killed in the mass revolt so far. So why is there a dearth of mainstream news coverage on Syrian women protesters? There are a number of possible contributing factors. One reason could be the fact that western journalists are severely restricted inside the country so corroborating claims is difficult. The reason may also lie in how news is managed. When Kira Cochrane, features writer for the Guardian, examined the British media she found that “in a typical month, 78 percent of newspaper articles are written by men, 72 percent of Question Time contributors are men and 84 percent of reporters and guests on BBC Radio 4′s Today show are men.” Furthermore, women linked to protesters are being singled out by government forces, according to Syrian/Palestinian American and Michigan based lawyer Muna Jondy. She told Christa Blackmon, Social Media Editor for Aslan Media, of one incident where “the wives of democracy activists were being stripped and forced to parade the streets of their town until their husbands surrendered themselves into the hands of the government.” Ms Blackmon goes onto to state that because journalists inside Syria face many restrictions “it may be a long time before we uncover the full extent of the gender violence.’

Story links, 6 February 2012 Posted: 06 Feb 2012 02:00 AM PST Every day we'll post up a number of story links that we think are interesting. They won't necessarily be from that day, but usually will not be more than a few days old. The following are the ones we’ve found today. Story links: Women’s role in ANC not recogised, Times Live, February 5, 2012 Saudi women in drive ban legal bid, PA, February 5, 2012 Political and economic turmoil threaten women’s progress, February 2, 2012 Rural women’s banks ease tough times, IPS news, January 30, 2012 Imams issue fatwa against honour killings, City News Toronto, February 4, 2012 Dowry death – one bride burnt every hour, Times of India, January 27, 2012 Tipped workers hope for hike in sub-minimum wage, WeNews, February 6, 2012 Women in the Georgian labour market, Finchannel, February 6, 2012 Saudi women accelerate anti-driving campaign, The Australian, February 6 2012

Just don’t call me “babe”, okay? Posted: 03 Feb 2012 10:30 AM PST Susan Newcombe WVoN co-editor I often have a laugh to myself at some of the terms that bus drivers use to address me, such as darling, love or – more recently – chick. I don’t usually get annoyed (more amused really), so I was interested to read that it has become something of a hot topic recently. A woman in Brighton, Jo Walters, wrote to her local bus company to let them know that she didn’t like being called ‘love' 'darling' or 'babe' by its drivers. She wasn’t making a complaint. She just wanted them to know that, although she usually found their drivers friendly and courteous, some of them sometimes used language towards her that she found demeaning. The bus company agreed with her and promised to let their drivers know. But before you could say ‘Oi, love’, the local radio reported that drivers had been asked not to call people ‘babe’. It then appeared in my local newspaper, the Metro and the Mail Online. It was discussed on Loose Women and various local radio stations. Walters then wrote a piece for the Guardian (an English newspaper) about the coverage and the comments that it had generated, much of it painting her as an angry woman who should be grateful for the apparent compliment. She didn’t make it a gender issue; the coverage and comments did. In an e-mail interview with WVoN, she said that: ‘It’s a big generalisation and there have been lots of exceptions, but typically men are more critical and more likely to make comments like ‘get over it darling’. There have been lots of women who don’t agree with my viewpoint (which is fine) but they were more likely to be supportive. I’m still very suprised by how much coverage the issue got and how angry it seems to have made some people! Some of the comments were personal and made assumptions about my appearance, class, attitude and intentions. I was (sadly) expecting this sort of response but maybe not quite that level of malice. It was interesting to see that lots of commenters had missed the point of my article which was that I didn’t think my email to the bus company was particularly newsworthy and that lots of the coverage was untrue so their comments reinforced some of my points about attitudes to women!’ But she should take comfort that she’s not alone. Most women asked by the Leicester Mercury said they would not complain – but were adamant they did not like being called “babe”. Maria Kilgarriff, 29, from Evington, Leicester, said: ‘I would be offended by someone calling me ‘babe’ because there are connotations.’ Shannon Parkin, 16, from Aylestone, Leicester, said: “I don’t mind ‘darling’ but I don’t like ‘babe’. ‘It’s something only your boyfriend should be allowed to say to you.’ And Sophie Arnold, 18, Hinckley, unemployed was quite clear on how it makes her feel: ‘If a bus driver called me ‘babe’ I’d punch him! 'Darling’ would be pushing his luck.’ So bus drivers be warned – next time I may not be so generous, particularly now I know I'm not alone.

UN Women celebrate first year of operations Posted: 03 Feb 2012 08:00 AM PST Alison Clarke WVoN co-editor  At a press conference in New York yesterday to report on the first year of operations, the executive director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, called for greater commitment and action from member states on women and gender equality. With austerity measures, budget cuts and political changes impacting women's lives worldwide, Ms Bachelet outlined her action agenda for this year. "My top priority for 2012 will be to make a renewed push for women's economic empowerment and political participation. “This is in response to women's demands and also to recent events, to the transformations taking place in the political, social and economic spheres”, she added. "With rising demand for justice, upcoming elections in many countries and political transition, we can open doors wider for women in pursuit of the dignity and rights which all human beings are entitled”. Focusing strongly on the two major developments that dominated global debate in 2011— the democracy movements in the Arab states and the continued financial and economic crisis – Ms Bachelet highlighted the challenges that have emerged for women's rights, but also the opportunities. UN Women, for instance, supported the establishment of the Egyptian Women's Union, an association of 500 groups, and facilitated the formulation of their demands in the Egyptian Women's Charter. The organization is also working increasingly with the private sector: 257 CEOs have so far signed up to the Women's Empowerment Principles that guide companies in creating better and more equitable conditions for women. The principles were developed by UN Women in collaboration with the UN Global Compact. Ms Bachelet spotlighted some further key achievements from the first year, including: bringing women leaders together during the UN General Assembly to call for more women leaders in politics and the adoption of a new GA resolution in December that calls on countries to take concrete steps to increase women's political participation working on enabling environments and markets to empower rural women launch of a global policy agenda to end violence against women and initiative to provide essential services to survivors expanding the role of women in peace talks, peace-building and recovery by training women in Africa and Asia as mediators in conflict prevention and facilitating women's participation in international engagement conferences for Afghanistan and South Sudan advancing capacity-building efforts in more than 50 countries in gender analysis and budgeting for more equitable budgets and policies. A system-wide plan facilitated by UN Women now also forms a stronger foundation for promoting better coordination and accountability within the UN System on gender-related activities. In 2011, contributions to UN Women totalled $235 million, representing a 33 percent increase from 2010, and a widening of the donor base. However intensified fundraising efforts are required to meet the target of $700 million for 2012-2013. Calling on all partners to ensure that political changes and budget cuts do not push back the hard won gains made by the women's movement globally, Ms Bachelet underlined the need to protect and advance gender equality as a matter of moral prerogative as well as practical necessity. "We simply can no longer afford to deny the full potential of one-half of the population. The world needs to tap into the talent and wisdom of women. “Whether the issue is food security, economic recovery, health, or peace and security, the participation of women is needed now more than ever," Ms Bachelet concluded.

Food=beauty, according to former soccer player Posted: 03 Feb 2012 06:00 AM PST Rachel Salmon WVoN co-editor   Beauty x is a short ebook, from the Eat Campaign, a Facebook-based network of 'beauty ambassadors' and 'right to eat activists', which uses pictures and experiences of celebrities to warn and educate young women about the dangers of under-eating. The book starts with a letter by the author, Ranko Tutulugdzija, to a young woman called Kristen, who is suffering from an eating disorder. Tutulugdzija explains the medical impact of not eating – anaemia, followed by oedema, when the face and eventually the whole body swell up with fluid as the kidneys, weakened by lack of food, are unable to dispose of waste properly. Food=beauty, he writes. Tutulugdzij describes how he travelled to China to get treatment for the constant muscle pain and fatigue caused by over exercise and a protein-only diet, whilst on a college soccer scholarship.  He had no medical insurance, and taught English to get his visa. He became very aware of how college girls in China, like young women all over the world, ate hardly anything.  They were losing their beauty, unlike the  older women he met, who at 60, looked more like 30. He describes the psychological effects – fear, insomnia, panic attacks – operating in a kind of survival mode brought on by near starvation, and is concerned that many young women who present to doctors with these symptoms are prescribed anti-depressants, ignoring the real causes. He warns against calorie counting, consuming 'dead empty matter'  (foods full of processed white sugar), and eating just one type of food. Unlike many nutritionists, he tells his readers not to worry about eating white rice or flour, as these are staples in countries like China. The book is aimed not at those suffering severe anorexia, but at the millions of women and girls for whom under-eating is a way of life. The campaign is clever in its use of social networking, celebrity and on-line activism to draw women away from dieting and the damage it can do, but does not move far enough away from the myth that beauty is all about being thin and looking young. However, hopefully young women will follow the spirit, if not the letter, of his message.

Newspaper launches safety campaign after female journalist hit by truck Posted: 03 Feb 2012 05:00 AM PST Samantha Reeves WVoN co-editor  The Times newspaper has launched a national ‘Cities fit for cycling’ campaign in the UK, months after one of their own journalists, Mary Bowers, was hit by a cement truck on her way to work. She has been in a coma ever since. In November last year, Central St Martins student Min Joo Lee become the third female cyclist in five years to die at Kings Cross. The Times has produced an eight point manifesto, including demands for trucks entering cities to have extra sensors and mirrors, a call for 500 of the most dangerous road junctions to be identified and suggestions for cyclist training. You can read the manifesto and pledge your support here. At the same time however, London’s transport authority, TfL, has tried to keep secret its own report showing that women are more likely to be hit by lorries on London’s roads. It shows that men are less likely to be hit by HGVs because they are more likely to disobey red lights. Women, who are generally more cautious cyclists, tend to hug kerbs and obey red lights. As a result they get caught in lorry drivers’ “blind spot”. The National Cyclists’ organisation said that 10 of the 13 people who died in cycling accidents in the capital in 2010 were women, eight of them killed by heavy goods vehicles, although there are three times more male cyclists than female. Dawn Foster, the blogger behind 101 wankers, documenting cases of sexual harassment whilst cycling around London, has given up cycling in London because of the dangers at this – now – infamous Kings Cross junction, among others. Conservative members of the Greater London Authority have twice walked out on a debate at city hall about removing the 20 mph speed limit on London’s Blackfriars bridge.

Story links, 3 February 2012 Posted: 03 Feb 2012 03:36 AM PST Every day we'll post up a number of story links that we think are interesting. They won't necessarily be from that day, but usually will not be more than a few days old. The following are the ones we’ve found today. Story links: UN Women to focus on economic empowerment and political roles, UN new centre, February 2, 2012 Controversy engulfs Susan G Komen for the Cure, WeNews, February 3, 2012 Women entrepreneurs fear failure more than men, Reuters, February 2, 2012 No women on Facebook board shows white male influence on social agenda, Bloomberg News, February 3, 2012 Affirmative action for women in maths contests boosts participation, Arstechnica, February 2, 2012 Handgun ownership rising among women, Dayton Daily News, February 2, 2012 Too fat? Next top model winner sues agency, Guardian, February 3, 2012 Susan G Komen loses support after Planned Parenthood decision, Huffington Post, February 2, 2012 Feminist punk band Pussy Riot take revolt to the Kremlin, Guardian February 3, 2012

Italy must combat violence against women, says UN expert Posted: 03 Feb 2012 03:30 AM PST Susan Newcombe WVoN co-editor  Recession and political crises in Italy must not detract from efforts to combat violence against women says a UN independent expert. With current figures indicating the country is likely to stay in recession until 2013 UN special rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo,  said there remains an urgent need to address violence against women. "The continuum of violence in the home is reflected in the increasing numbers of victims of femicide," said Ms Manjoo following a 12- day fact-finding trip. "There is an urgent need to address the underlying structural causes of inequality and discrimination," she added. Sources estimate domestic violence affects around 70 – 87 per cent of the female population with statistics indicating that in 2006, 101 women were killed by a partner, spouse or former partner with the figure increasing to 127 in 2010. Ms Manjoo said that, because of the family-oriented and patriarchal structure of Italian society, domestic violence is not always perceived as a crime. Economic dependency and perceptions that the state response to such complaints will not be appropriate or helpful also made it harder for women to come forward to report incidents. "A fragmented legal framework and inadequate investigation, punishment and compensation for women victims of violence also contribute to the silencing and invisibility surrounding this issue," she said. "These statistics may not include women from the Roma, Sinti and other minority communities who face multiple forms of violence in both the private and public sectors and whose situation is often characterized by a lack of adequate housing, health, education and unemployment services and opportunities," she added. Ms Manjoo's visit focused on violence against women in four areas including the home, the community, violence perpetrated or condoned by the state, and violence in the transnational context. She held meetings in Rome, Milan, Bologna and Naples with state officials and individuals and organisations at civil society level as well as survivors of violence. She stopped off at anti-violence shelters for women, an authorised camp for the Roma and Sinti community, prisons and detention facilities for women and children, an immigration detention centre for irregular migrants and a university. She did, however, commend the government's efforts to address the issue of violence against women, including a law on stalking and a national plan for the inclusion of women in the labour market. Ms Manjoo’s mission is the first visit to Italy made by an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor violence against women.

Men jailed for murder of lesbian woman in South Africa Posted: 03 Feb 2012 02:30 AM PST Sarah MacShane WVoN co-editor  Four men have been given an 18-year jail sentence for stabbing and stoning Zoliswa Nkonyana, a 19 year old openly gay woman from Khayelitsha, a small village near Cape Town. She was murdered in what was  clearly a homophobic attack. Even though South Africa has a liberal constitution and is the only country in Africa where same-sex marriage is permitted, violence against homosexuals in South Africa is prevalent; more than 30 lesbians have been killed in the past 10 years according to gay activists. The constitution 'protects people from discrimination based on sexuality' but lesbians are often subjected to 'corrective rape' by men who think it will 'cure' their homosexuality. The sentence has been welcomed by many gay activists as it is the first of its kind to recognise a murder committed because of someone’s sexual orientation. Jill Henderson from Triangle Project– a non-governmental organisation that fights for the rights of gays and lesbians in Khayelitsha said the ruling 'set a precedent' as it was the first criminal trial to 'name hate and intolerance on the basis of sexual orientation as an aggravating factor'. The magistrate said it was clear that the motive was hatred and homophobia and that the ruling sends out a message that 'violence based on sexual orientation will not be tolerated'.

A woman’s place is in Europe Posted: 03 Feb 2012 01:00 AM PST European Parliament Una Purdie WVoN co-editor  What has Europe ever done for women? If you listened to some parts of the UK media, European institutions do nothing but create messy bureaucracy and meddle in sovereign affairs. Others would argue that it has been a beacon of progress for gender equality, and we need to work together more, not less, to build better societies. And indeed, to get Europe out of the fine economic mess it has gotten itself into… Equality between men and women is one of the European Union’s founding values – the principle of equal pay for equal work goes back to the Treaty of Rome of 1957. Not that European employers always seem to take notice… There have certainly been many positive steps to tackle gender-related issues at a European level, which recently included measures to combat trafficking and protect victims of crimes such as gender-based violence across the continent. There’s also been a lot of legislation to combat gender discrimination. Yet today on this site we’re reporting the same old stories of unequal pay, age discrimination against women, and the dearth of women in boardrooms. So what difference has Europe made over the years, and what measures should or shouldn’t it do in future to advance the cause of gender equality? On March 2nd, in the run-up to International Women’s Day, the European Parliament’s London office is hosting a debate to discuss these and other issues. It should be a lively event. Amongst the speakers are two Members of the European Parliament who are on the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee, the Conservative Marina Yannakoudakis (who has guest posted for WVoN here) and Labour’s Mary Honeyball (also written for us – here). They have opposing views on issues like boardroom quotas, but have worked together in other areas like promoting women entrepreneurs. Also on the panel is Shadow Europe Minister Emma Reynolds MP and businesswoman, and Weekend Financial Times columnist Heather McGregor. Journalist Shirin Wheeler , presenter of  The Record Europe, is moderator. Women’s Views on News are going to be there too – we’re hosting a live forum to report and debate the issues online. We will be looking for your questions and points to put to the panel, both before and during the event. I’ll be writing about some of the issues over the coming month. In the meantime, if you’re in the London area and would like to attend, details can be found here. Please email the European Parliament to book your seat: lucinda.pickersgill@europarl.europa.eu Otherwise, make note and follow the debate online with us.

Fancy going feminist? Posted: 02 Feb 2012 11:00 PM PST Karen Whiteley WVoN co-editor  I know, you’re already a feminist, right?  Of course you are. But if you’re in London this weekend, take some time out from the annoyances of the Patriarchy to treat yourself to a day in the glorious company of other feminists. Because the Go Feminist conference, taking place this Saturday, will be full of them. The conference, an all day affair, offers workshops on everything from Feminist Art to Consumerism & Anti-Capitalism, to Faith and Feminism. Plenary sessions include women and economics, sexism in popular culture and women’s activism past, present and future. The conference bills itself as feminism ‘moving from the margins to the mainstream’, and according to Shannon Harvey, one of the conference organisers, that’s exactly what the conference hopes to achieve. ‘The idea was to create a space to bring together women involved in all different forms of feminist activism, including activism which intersects with feminism, such as anti-capitalism and anti-racism. “We want to bring a feminist analysis to those different movements and discuss how feminism can move forward with them.’ According to Harvey, this intersectionality is one of feminism’s biggest challenges: ‘Some of the obvious feminist issues, such as porn and sexualisation of girls are being talked about a lot in the media, but feminism really needs to go beyond that and address the marginalisation of specific groups of women.’ Current media interest in feminism is high.  We are, we’re told, in the middle of a ‘resurgence’ of feminism. Whilst this is undoubtedly better than the other media trope that feminism is, in fact, dead (I keep missing that memo), the conference aims to challenge the idea of a resurgence, in the UK at least. ‘We would definitely dispute the idea of a resurgence,’ says Harvey. ‘Feminist activism has never stopped.  We are simply seeing more and more women coming to a feminist viewpoint.’ According to Harvey, the banking crisis has played a part in this. ‘We know that women are being disproportionately affected by the current economic situation, in the UK and elsewhere, through government cuts and otherwise. ‘But women are still not being represented and their needs are still not being taken into account.  More and more women are starting to realise this.’ The Go Feminist conference will take place on Saturday 4 February 2012, at Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL, from 10am to 6pm. Tickets, priced on a sliding scale depending on income, are available here. I’m going feminist on Saturday; fancy coming with me?

Bread basket, not black hole Posted: 02 Feb 2012 12:28 PM PST Rachel Salmon WVoN co-editor  Rumana Hashem  is one of a group of campaigners successfully fighting plans by a British company to dig a massive open cast mine on prime agricultural land in north western Bangladesh, which could displace nearly a quarter of a million people. I spoke to her recently about the campaign and how she became involved.         Hashem first discovered in 2006 that Global Coal Management (GCM) planned to develop the mine, an area the size of Edinburgh, near the town of Phulbari in her native Bangladesh. "I wanted to find out how many people would prosper and what the mine would be used for," she said. She researched both sides of the argument; first, the company analysts who said the mine would produce 15m tonnes of coal a year, contribute billions to the economy and help the country meet its energy needs.  They said that 50,000 people would be displaced over the course of its 35 year lifespan and that measures would be taken to address water depletion, noise and pollution.  GCM would build a new town to house the displaced. And then she spoke to opponents, like the International Accountability Project (IAP), which said the project would lead to disaster.  It estimated that water levels would fall by 15-25m - a concern, as most local people use tube wells. IAP claimed the project could damage the Sunderbans, a UN-protected mangrove forest, home to endangered species like the Royal Bengal tiger, as GCM planned to transport eight million tonnes of coal a year by barge, and build a reloading port just off the coast. Eighty per cent of the coal would be exported. An expert committee, established by the Bangladesh government in 2005, concluded the project broke laws and regulations prohibiting open cast mines of more than eight square kilometres and stipulating that licences should only be granted for a maximum of 10 years initially.  In 1994, when the initial agreements were signed, tax on coal was 20 per cent, but in 1995 the government reduced this to six per cent, and GCM were granted an initial nine-year tax holiday.  No export duties would be paid. The committee found that, given the number of leases and exploration licences held by GCM, and given the population density and predicted growth, the mine could displace up to 220,000 people. It reported widespread local opposition, and was worried by claims that consultation forms had been printed in English, and believed some of the information put out by GCM to local communities was misleading. Hashem travelled to Phulbari and the following day was interrogated by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), an elite corps originally established to tackle crime and terrorism which, according to Human Rights Watch, has been responsible for the deaths of over 1,600 people since they were formed in 2004. "This made me more worried about the situation.  I wanted to find out why people were not allowed to enter the region," she said. On August 26, 2006 Hashem attended an 80,000-strong demonstration organised by the National Committee for the Protection of Oil Gas Mineral Resources Power and Ports. "The BDR were everywhere and they were the first to open fire. I believe they were advised by the company," she said. "They tried to stop people joining the demonstration and said there would be violence.  "This gives us an indication that violence was being planned.  "Local people told me that they were being intimidated and company agents warned them that there would be serious violence," she said. Three people were shot and 200 injured.  Since then groups opposed to the project have complained of mass arrests of demonstrators, beatings and interrogation. In 2007 a local National Committee leader, SM Nuruzuman, claimed he was arrested and tortured, and its general secretary, Professor Anu Muhammad, said he had received abusive messages and at least one death threat from GCM investors. "The area around Phulbari is extremely fertile and densely populated," he said. "It is also one of the few regions in Bangladesh that is safe from flooding and other natural catastrophes, and therefore plays a key role for the food security of the entire country. "The proposed 'development' project is merely a scheme to loot natural resources from a poor country for the rich. "We will not allow GCM Resources to turn a land of food for the people into a black hole for corporate profit."  Hashem said she was called a 'door mat' and a 'bad omen' by an investor in 2010, whilst picketing a meeting in London, and received threatening phone calls. In October 2010, Hashem said she discovered a fire at her home and she and her husband were forced to move out for six months while the house was rebuilt. She believes the fire was started deliberately and was linked to her opposition to the project. Some experts, like geologist Mark Muller, believe open cast mining is unnecessary in Phulbari, and claim alternatives like Coal Bed Methane (CBM) and Underground Coal Gasification (UCG), are cheaper, quicker, cleaner and almost as efficient as mined coal. The Bangladesh government is beginning to listen. On January 14, in a speech to the Institute of Engineers, the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, indicated she was against extracting coal in areas of high population density, and that it should be left in the ground for future generations while the country waited for new technology.  But four days later Alamgir Kabir, chairman of the Bangladesh Power Development Board, invited tenders to help build four new coal-fired power plants. He said the new plants would "initially utilise imported coal" but that "local coal will be utilised once the country starts extracting local coal significantly". On February 1, GCM reported a loss of £690,000 after tax in the last half of 2011, but chief executive Steve Bywater said the company had continued to meet with government officials to convince them of the project's benefits. “Because of the unique contribution that the project can make to the development of the electricity capacity of Bangladesh, we have confidence that it will ultimately be developed," he said. Professor Muhammad said the struggle was not yet over, but public opposition to open cast mining was so strong that any attempt to give a licence to GCM or any other company would be disastrous for the Bangladeshi government.   "It is the people's victory.  Nevertheless, for obvious reasons, we should remain vigilant and active," he said.

Documentary exposes China’s “sexist culture” Posted: 02 Feb 2012 06:30 AM PST Laura Bridgestock WVoN co-editor Every year in China, says documentary maker May Tchao, more than 300,000 foetuses are aborted because of their gender, and more than 500,000 baby girls abandoned. Thousands more girls and women, she says, face domestic abuse and even kidnapping. Tchao, born in China but now resident in the USA, is on a mission to expose the "sexist culture" that underlies these statistics. Her film, Rise of the Phoenix, explores life in today's China through the experiences of five women, from diverse socio-economic backgrounds – but with a particular focus on challenges for women in rural areas. "I am proud of China and how far it has come… But I'm also still appalled at some of the traditions holding it back, especially for women," Tchao says. She started filming in 2010, working with a Chinese production company "under the radar of the government." One of the women interviewed describes how she grew up in a remote rural region, where all her dreams seemed "beyond my grasp". Another talks about the dissolution of her marriage after the earthquake of 2008, and how she is supporting her daughter by working as a maid. A third discusses her role as a partner in a leading legal firm. Tchao is currently raising funds in order to return and complete the film, which she says will include the stories of a woman sold into marriage, and a migrant factory worker. The UN has expressed concerns about China's slow progress on gender equality, particularly in rural areas. In 2010 it reported that women constitute 65% of the rural labour force, but occupy only 1-2% of local decision-making roles. According to the UN's 2010 report, the problem of "missing" women and girls is actually growing. As well as prompting abortions and abandoned children, discrimination also means many women die due to inadequate health care or nutrition. China's UN Mission has expressed the nation's commitment to promoting gender equality, and outlined a fairly extensive series of policies aimed at achieving this. But for the time being, Tchao says, there remain huge contradictions in a society that "celebrates female independence and self-expression," while also treating women as "second-class citizens."

Lord O’Donnell criticises private sector approach to gender equality Posted: 02 Feb 2012 06:00 AM PST Liz Draper WVoN co-editor  British private sector companies are appointing women to non-executive positions instead of senior executive roles, according to former cabinet secretary Lord O’Donnell. In an interview with the Financial Times, he suggests that businesses are artificially improving gender balance on their boards by appointing more women as non-executives, rather than having women run the company. “I’m really, really worried about the private sector in terms of its failure to pick up on a huge reservoir of talent in terms of women”, he told the paper. “I think this whole non-exec thing is a bit of a joke.” Lord O’Donnell’s comments have drawn attention back to the issue of female representation on the boards of Britain’s biggest companies, which has been a growing concern since early last year. A report by Lord Davies, published last February, noted that in 2010, 15.6 per cent of FTSE 100 non-executive directorships, and just 5.5 per cent of executive directorships, were held by women (see WVoN coverage). One in five FTSE 100 companies had no female board members at all. Although these figures represented an increase on previous years, Lord Davies called the rate of change “too slow.” The report recommended that FTSE 100 boards aim to achieve at least 25 per cent female representation by 2015. However, the response has been minimal, with only 33 FTSE 100 companies responding to the request to set targets. Figures released by the business department earlier this month show that the number of female executives on FTSE 350 boards fell slightly over the last year.

Women may feel more pain than men, new study reveals Posted: 02 Feb 2012 05:30 AM PST Liz Draper WVoN co-editor  Women feel pain more acutely than men, according to a new study by Stanford University in California. Researchers analysed the perceived pain of 11,000 people suffering from a variety of health problems. Patients were asked to rate their pain on a scale from zero to eleven. In 39 of the 47 disorders covered by the study, women were more likely to report feeling more pain. Dr Atul Butte, senior author of the study, which was published in the Journal of Pain, called the gender disparity “the most surprising finding” of the research. Studies of pain are often restricted by the difficulty of accurately measuring pain levels, given that the perception of pain is subjective, and tolerance varies between individuals. However, the fact that the results emerged from such a large number of patients suggests that the gender difference is real. Several possible explanations, both biological and cultural, have been put forward. Previous studies have suggested that women’s perception of pain is affected by oestrogen levels, and varies throughout the menstrual cycle. The study’s authors suggested that cultural factors may also be at play: male patients may have been influenced by cultural stereotypes of toughness to understate the pain they felt, particularly when self-reporting to female nurses.

TV audiences call for more older women Posted: 02 Feb 2012 04:45 AM PST   Mary Tracy WVoN co-editor  Television audiences have expressed concern over the lack of older women on the screen, according to a new report. Question Time, Mock the Week and QI were singled out for failing to have women on their programmes, or relying on "token women". The report was commissioned by the BBC on behalf of the Cultural Diversity Network (CDN). The research was aimed at finding out what members of the public and experts in the broadcast industry feel about the portrayal and representation of age on television, radio and online. Participants in the study felt that female news readers and entertainment presenters had been unfairly treated when they lost their jobs allegedly due to their age, replaced by those whom people felt were less qualified but younger, more attractive women. Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC and chair of the CDN, said that “There are lessons here for the BBC and the rest of Britain’s broadcasters”. “We should also note the concern, expressed by older people generally, about the need for greater visibility for older women,” Mr Thompson added. The report comes a year after the former Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly won her ageism case against the BBC when she was dropped from the show (see WVoN coverage). Speaking about the report, O'Reilly called for television executives to put more older women on screen. "There is an entrenched view in television that viewers only want to see young faces. It is an outdated notion. Viewers want to see all ages represented." O'Reilly added: "TV executives put women on TV that they want to see, and this is primarily pretty young women. It isn’t what the viewers want and they ignore viewers at their peril." A 70 year old viewer interviewed for the report, one of the 180 participants who took part, said: "I get annoyed when I see all the women presenters all glamorous when it doesn't seem to matter what the men look like". One of the complaints raised was the age disparity between male and female newsreaders, apparent when an older male presenter was paired up with a much younger woman, implying that looks are more important than talent or expertise for older female presenters. At the other end of the age spectrum, nearly 40 per cent of young people were dissatisfied with the negative way they are portrayed on television. They were particularly concerned that "young women may be more likely to be objectified than young men". Participants also pointed out that certain reality shows "showed young men as only interested in sex". The representation of older black and minority ethnic people (BME) was another of the issues raised. Participants could only think of a few older men from a BME background, but no older BME women.

Justice for low paid women at Bury council – finally Posted: 02 Feb 2012 04:05 AM PST Alison Clarke WVoN co-editor A council in England yesterday settled a long-running equal pay dispute with the union representing nearly 1,000 low-paid female staff. Public sector union, UNISON, said that the women who included carers, cleaners and cooks were paid less than their male colleagues for doing work of equivalent value. Bury was the first council targeted by Unison with mass litigation for equal pay in 2007 and estimates that it has wasted more than £1 million of public money by fighting the claims through the courts. Yesterday’s settlement means that a Court of Appeal hearing, scheduled for March, will no longer go ahead. UNISON Branch Secretary Steve Morton said: "Nearly one thousand low paid women council workers are now a big step closer to the pay justice they deserve. “It is the year 2012, more than 40 years after the Equal Pay Act, and women should have the right to expect fairness. "The people who decided to lead Bury Council into expensive litigation, rather than negotiate reasonable settlements – as every other Greater Manchester Council did – have wasted more than a million pounds worth of public money. This money should have been spent compensating women rather than arguing with them." This agreement follows another in January when hundreds of women employed by Edinburgh city council won an equal pay settlement worth millions of pounds (see WVoN story).

Tackling the acceptance of rape culture Posted: 02 Feb 2012 02:59 AM PST Meg Kissack WVoN co-editor  I was walking back from a lecture today and I received this text message: From West Mercia Service ATTENTION ALL GIRLS AND LADIES: if you walk from home, school, office or anywhere and you are alone and come across a little boy holding a piece of paper with an address on it, DO NOT TAKE HIM THERE! Take him straight to the police station, for this is the new ‘gang’ way of rape. This incident is getting worse. Warn your friends and family and family. Forward on. As an activist working on issues of violence against women, I am used to reading horrific accounts of gender violence on a daily basis, but something about this made me freeze on the spot and put my hand to my mouth. As I'm sure a lot of you will already guess, this is more than likely to be a hoax, and I'm not going to explore here whether it is fact or fiction (you can read more about it here) as this is not the point I am getting at. What I want to focus on is rape culture and the normalisation of sexual violence in culture. I told several of my female friends about the text message I received and their response was to roll their eyes. No shock, just a casual acceptance. This is when I truly realised the depth of the problem. Feminists and people campaigning for human rights have been talking about rape culture and campaigning against it for years and it seems like it is getting no better. The UK still has the lowest rape conviction rate in Europe, women are still blamed for being raped and, amongst the people I know at least, the idea that we can successfully challenge and change this culture has faded out. In 2011, we saw a rise in the way rape culture seeps into everyday life. The word 'frape' continued to be used regularly on Facebook, a Canadian police officer told students not to dress as sluts if they didn't want to get raped, police posters implied that if women dressed in a certain way or drank too much that it would be their responsibility if they were raped, and comedians like Frankie Boyle continued to use rape as the subject of their jokes. While rape culture continues to spread, it seems that the feminist fightback is only getting stronger. 2011 marked the year of the SlutWalks, a global movement spurred from the incident in Canada which attempted to challenge the victim blaming culture. The movement was picked up by the mainstream media and it created a public dialogue on the subject. Not to forget the Rape Never Funny campaign which featured WVoN's own Jane Osmond. The campaign challenged pages on facebook such as You know she's playing hard to get when your chasing her down an alleyway  (sic) and successfully managed to get Facebook to take them down (See previous WVoN story here). While I realise how entrenched rape culture has become in our society, I do believe that it can be challenged and greatly reduced. But in order for this to happen, the conversations that we as a society need to have will not be easy. For a start, we need to go back to what some might call the basics and consider what constitutes rape. Always at the back of my mind when I am discussing rape culture is a report carried out by The Havens which points out some really chilling statistics that need to be addressed. We need the law to recognise gender as a category on which hate speech is based. The Huffington Post wrote about an article entitled “Sexual Mathematics,” published on the website “UniLad,” the apparently number one online magazine for student ‘lads’. The article said: “If the girl you’ve taken for a drink… won’t ‘spread for your head’, think about this mathematical statistic: 85% of rape cases go unreported. That seems to be fairly good odds.” In addition to this, the author then added at the bottom of the piece: “Uni Lad does not condone rape without saying ‘surprise’.” Under current legislation, this is perfectly lawful. We need to tackle our pornified culture which depicts men as aggressive consumers of culturally objectified women. It seems like we have a massive feat ahead of us but we are making some progress. Just this week, The Guardian reported how Alison Saunders, head of the Crown Prosecution Service in London, is questioning how the media helps to build pre-conceived images of female rape victims and how this can lead to acquittals. We need to tackle rape culture, not accept it as inevitable. It is not inevitable and never will be. Until we have a society that recognises it is still rape if the woman is asleep, it is still rape if she changes her mind, and a woman is never responsible, we need to open a discussion that spreads not only to popular culture, but to the judiciary system and government policy.

Story links, 2 February 2012 Posted: 02 Feb 2012 01:54 AM PST Every day we'll post up a number of story links that we think are interesting. They won't necessarily be from that day, but usually will not be more than a few days old. Story links: There is no honour in killing, The Commentator, Feb 1, 2012 Women taking the lead in Egypt’s economic revolution, Daily News Egypt, Feb 1, 2012 AU urged to recognise women’s role in trade, allAfrica.com, Feb 1, 2012 Healing Southeast Asia’s  ’comfort women’, Asia Times, Feb 2, 2012 Thai women forced into sex work in Sydney, NineMSN, Feb 2, 2012 Women better at parking, says UK study, CBC News, Feb 2, 2012 Can Grimsby lay claim to a milestone in women’s football?, BBC News, Feb 2, 2012 New twists and turns in Turkey’s head scarf debate, New York Times, Feb 1, 2012 Little Rock’s Daisy Bates gets a film of her own, Women’s enews, Feb 2, 2012 New directive on ‘modest’ dress outrages Iraq’s female civil servants, Radio Free Europe, Feb 2, 2012 ‘Top Totty’ beer removed from MP’s bar after complaint, BBC News, Feb 2, 2012

UK government cuts leave vulnerable women out in the cold Posted: 02 Feb 2012 01:19 AM PST Laura Bridgestock WVoN co-editor The devastating impact of UK government cuts on services for vulnerable women was revealed in a major new report this week. Last year Women's Aid was forced to turn away an average of 230 women every day due to lack of space, according to the report  – around nine per cent of those seeking refuge with the organisation. The charity provides support for women and children across the UK, largely depending on local governments for funding. In Scotland alone, 84 per cent of Women's Aid groups reported reduced or standstill budgets in 2011. As the charity was already stretched, this has meant it is now unable to meet the needs of women and children seeking help. On one day Scottish Women's Aid reports 54 women (and their 51 children) requested refuge. There was only space for 17 (and their 24 children). Eaves, another charity supporting women who have been victims of various kinds of violence, has also been hard hit. A 95 per cent funding reduction for its Poppy Project has meant the loss of 39 bed spaces for women recovering from sexual trafficking. In February last year, Eaves chief executive Denise Marshall returned the OBE she had received in 2007, on the grounds that it felt "dishonourable and wrong" to keep an award for providing services that the organisation could no longer continue. Other refuge providers have been similarly affected. The new report was commissioned by Trust for London and the Northern Rock Foundation. As well as vulnerable women being left without refuge, it shows that cuts significantly reduce women's and children's services including legal aid and advice, and access to police officers trained in domestic abuse cases. Organisations such as the Women's Resource Centre, which provides training, resources and support for women's groups, have also been forced to reduce their services.

Shafia trial: not an honour killing, just a heinous murder Posted: 01 Feb 2012 12:00 PM PST Perpetrators (top) and the victims (bottom) Ivana Davidovic WVoN co-editor Outside the county courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, the prosecutor in the Shafia murder trial, Gerard Laarhuis, described a normally quiet Sunday as "a good day for Canadian justice." And it certainly was. Just moments earlier, on January 29, the jury’s verdict brought to an end a murder trial which shook Canada and the international community because of its horrendous "honour" motive. Three members of an Afghan family living in Canada had been sentenced to life in prison for the murders of three teenage sisters and the first wife of one of the defendants, Muhammad Shafia. Shafia, 58, his polygamous wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their 21-year-old son Hamed were convicted of four counts each of first degree murders of their respective daughters and sisters, Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17 and Geeti Shafia, 13, along with their stepmother Rona Amir Mohammad. "It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable and more honourless crime," Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger said. "The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameless murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your twisted notion of honour, a notion of honour that is founded upon the domination and control of women, a sick notion of honour that has absolutely no place in any civilised society." The verdicts were a culmination of a tragedy which started to unfold on June 30 2009, when Zainab, Sahar and Geeti, together with their father’s first wife Rona, were found dead inside a car. It was discovered underwater in the northernmost Kingston Mills lock of the Rideau Canal not far from Niagara Falls. It soon became apparent that this was a premeditated murder. While the couple’s sons were offered all the freedoms in the world, their daughters were granted no rights. When the two eldest, Zainab and Sahar, started having boyfriends, Muhammed Shafia and his wife Tooba Yahya made a blood-chilling decision– to kill their own daughters. According to witnesses, the youngest victim, Geeti, was too rebellious to control and too quick to talk about her home life at school and therefore had to be dealt with. The first wife Rona was treated as worthless collateral, as she could produce no children of her own and took the girls’ side. The cold and calculated manner in which the parents decided to dispose of their "hard to control" daughters has been the subject of many debates in Canada and elsewhere. Although the guilty verdicts brought a sense of relief that justice had been served, many questions remain about what the authorities could have done to prevent this terrible loss of life? The children’s school and the girls themselves sought help from social services. However, a mixture of a perceived need for cultural sensitivity, a well-off and presentable family and children so frightened that they recanted, defeated the child-welfare system. "Was this political correctness to a painful degree?" asked the Toronto-based activist and author of Their Jihad, Not My Jihad, Raheel Raza. “It's time to stop being so sensitive in the name of preserving multiculturalism”, she added. "Immigrants bring this excess baggage with them and as a community, our biggest problem is that we remain in denial and we can't address the issues," said Pakistan-born Ms Raza. During the trial, Montreal police detective Laurie-Ann Lefebvre, who investigated a 911 call, testified about her impression of Sahar: "Well, I was surprised. She said she had no freedom, but she was well-dressed, wore jewellery, had nice makeup. She did not seem depressed." This serves as a stark warning that the oppression of girls and women has different faces, and some of them may not be what we expect – battered and outwardly abused. Honour killing is a term which has been strongly associated with the trial, provoking criticism that it equates a murder with a ritual practiced in cultures far removed from the west. However legal experts warn that could not be further from the truth. Women in Canada, just like in every country around the world, are killed just for being women. “I think we’re fascinated right now with the concept of honour killings because that was the name given to it by the prosecution and the accused but that doesn’t change what the underlying activity is,” said Pearl Eliadis, a Montreal human rights lawyer. “It’s a violent assault on women because they’re women.” Although the Shafia murder case has been one of the most horrifying in Canadian history, there have been unfortunately many cases of men, angry with the behaviour of their wives and girlfriends, deciding to kill them or their children – or both. In the Canadian province of Quebec in 2008, the most recent year for which statistics are available, nine of the 11 people killed in conjugal violence were women. There were 27 attempted murders, 23 of which were committed on women. Police reported 17,321 domestic offences, 14,242 of which were against women. In 86 per cent of the cases, the perpetrator was either the woman’s husband or her ex partner. The Kingston-based executive director of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Alia Hogben, says she has trouble with the word "honour killing." She prefers to call it "customary killing" since it maintains patriarchal customs. She points out that the Shafia case went above and beyond that to blatant, outright "femicide." "If you look deeper, that's what this issue is. Why do men think, in this patriarchy, that they have the control and the power to kill somebody because…[they think] they are doing the wrong thing or are deviant?" She believes these kinds of killings can happen in any culture which is dominated by men. "Anywhere there's patriarchy, which allows you to say 'Men have to be the protectors and guardians of women' is heading for trouble."

Women awaiting deportation for ‘illicit mingling’ in Saudi Arabia Posted: 01 Feb 2012 10:00 AM PST Karen Whiteley WVoN co-editor  Thirty five Ethiopian Christians, 29 of them women, are currently awaiting deportation from Saudi Arabia following their arrest for ‘illicit mingling’ at a prayer meeting in Jeddah in December 2011. According to Human Rights Watch, the women were subjected to body cavity searches whilst in custody. The women were arrested whilst praying in the home of one of them  and were subsequently charged with "illicit mingling" of unmarried persons of the opposite sex.  Saudi Arabia has no codified legal definition of ‘illicit mingling.’ Speaking to Human Rights Watch from prison, two of the women said that officials forced the women to strip.  An officer then inserted her finger into each of the women's genitals, allegedly to search for illegal substances. According to one woman, the officer wore a plastic glove that she did not change. One of the jailed men also said that they were subjected to beatings and abuse for being ‘unbelievers’. The women complained of conditions in the prison, citing unsanitary conditions and inadequate medical care. One female detainee suffers from diabetes but has received virtually no medical attention. According to the jailed women, about 10 days after being arrested some members of the group were taken to court and forced to place their fingerprints on a document without being allowed to read it.  All 35 are now awaiting deportation. In October last year, Saudi Arabia co-founded, and funds, an International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue. However, according to Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, ‘while King Abdullah sets up an international interfaith dialogue center, his police are trampling on the rights of believers of others faiths. ‘The Saudi government needs to change its own intolerant ways before it can promote religious dialogue abroad.’ The Saudi government made a promise in July 2006 to stop interfering with private worship by non-Muslims, but this latest incident seems a clear indication that that promise is not being kept. Human Rights Watch has called on the Saudi authorities to release those arrested immediately if there is no evidence of any offence which is recognizably criminal under international norms, and investigate the allegations of physical and sexual abuse.

Women targeted by payday loans companies Posted: 01 Feb 2012 09:00 AM PST Jane Osmond WVoN co-editor  The Mail newspaper reported yesterday on the strategies employed by 'payday lenders' in the UK aimed at targeting the female market. The lenders offer 'payday loans' – sums of money that tide people over until their next pay cheque. But if the sum is not paid on time, the debt can quickly mount. The Mail gave an example from Payday loan company Quickquid – a £200 loan spread over 30 days would cost £258, an interest rate of 2,222.46 per cent. But if the person is unable to pay it back on the agreed date, the company adds an extra payment of £58.00, miss this date without arranging an extension, and the debt rises by another £12.00. These loans are popular. A 2012 survey undertaken by Shelter (a charity that works to counter homelessness and bad housing) found that almost one million people in the UK took out a payday loan for rent or mortgage purposes in the last 12 months. According to Platform 51 (formerly the YWCA) women seem particularly vulnerable to this form of loan for a number of reasons. These include lower pay, evidenced by both a gap in earnings of 12.6% and the fact that nearly two-thirds of low-paid workers are women. Also, women tend to be primary carers for children and can be totally responsible for their children following separation or divorce: Women, especially young women are often targeted by irresponsible lenders and persuaded to take out high-interest loans. What seems like a small loan can quickly spiral in to unmanageable debt. New mums need things for their baby, mums need to feed their families. Women sometimes use credit to help them buy the things they need and go without themselves. However, this focus on women does seem somewhat puzzling when considering a survey of 3000 Britons by Lovemoney.com which found that women, on the whole, handle money more efficiently than men: For years, women have been thought of as the big spenders, splashing their cash on clothes. But it seems men are gaining their own reputation when it comes to managing their finances while women are learning how to handle their money. A quarter of men admitted they often repay credit card bills late or forget them altogether, compared to 17 per cent of women who make the same mistake. On the other hand, for women who cannot access regular sources of credit, such as a bank overdraft, loan or credit card, payday loans can be their only option.  People in this situation belong to the 'sub-prime' market, defined as people with ‘questionable or limited credit histories'. In other words, the companies are targeting people who have lost their jobs and subsequently defaulted on a loan, or those whose earnings are so low that they do not qualify for a credit card  – in other words the very people who need access to reasonable interest rates – and enmeshing them in debt that they cannot possibly pay back. In order to combat this, the government is currently considering introducing a cap relating to the total amount of debt that can be run up. The debate took place earlier this month in the House of Lords with Baroness Wilcox, Parliamentary under-secretary for Business Innovation and Skills stating: We are looking at all options, but we should always have in mind that it is difficult to take away from people the opportunity to have access to facilities that they need. One would therefore tread delicately in this area.

Horia Mosadiq: Afghan peace talks should have women at their heart Posted: 01 Feb 2012 07:30 AM PST Julie Tomlin WVoN co-editor With politicians in the US and Afghanistan wrangling over who will take the lead in peace talks with the Taliban, women are increasingly concerned that they will be betrayed by the international community that once claimed to be acting in their interests, says Horia Mosadiq, Afghanistan Researcher for Amnesty International. "Any peace or reconciliation talks should have human rights, women’s rights and the Afghanistan constitution at their heart," says Mosadiq. "But the international community is after a quick solution so that it can stick to the 2014 deadline and get out of Afghanistan." By holding peace talks with the Taliban in Saudi Arabia, the Afghan president Hamid Karzai is thought to be trying to ensure Afghan involvement. Karzai is concerned that Washington will try to impose a peace deal on his government after it emerged recently that the Taliban had opened an office in Qatar to facilitate talks with the US. The US denies this and the United Nations envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis said recently that any peace talks with the Taliban must be Afghan-led in order to be successful. But as preparations for withdrawal of US troops in 2014 get underway Mosadiq says a regional approach is vital and that regional actors such as Pakistan, India, Russia and Iran should be included in the  talks. "Right now the whole reconciliation is focused on how to protect the interest of USA and Karzai’s administration and it barely considers the interest of Afghan people particularly women in the reconciliation talks." Talks should be aimed at creating a meaningful and lasting peace where the rights of all Afghans, including women, are protected, she says. "Women from civil society should be included because there is a fear that we could lose a great deal if the Taliban regain power," says Mosadiq who says that despite advances they have made in recent years, women are being excluded at national and international level. From the first Bonn Conference of 2001, the concerns and interests of women have been largely ignored says Mosadiq, who points to the "frustrating" lack of representation of women and other civil society groups at conferences in Paris 2008, London 2010 and in Bonn last year. In Afghanistan, when President Karzai's peace council was established last year, it only allocated nine of the 70 seats to women, despite the fact that according to the Afghan constitution 25 per cent of seats have to be allocated to women. Although she is aware that many of the women who have held positions in Karzai's government often held allegiance to him rather than to a women's agenda, Mosadiq says that such constitutional advances should still be safeguarded: "During the reconciliation not only the concerns of the USA and Karzai’s government should be discussed but the concerns of ordinary Afghan people should be addressed adequately," says Mosadiq. "All the talks are happening behind closed doors and no one really knows what is happening, but definitely women's rights are not being considered." This is in spite of the fact that the need to liberate women from the oppression of the Taliban was frequently used as justification of the US led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. "Many women feel they have been betrayed by the international community," she said. "In 2001 the liberation of women gave legitimacy to the operation in Afghanistan. Ten years on we are simply seeing that the rights of women are being traded off in negotiations with the Taliban."

Afghan woman murdered for giving birth to third daughter Posted: 01 Feb 2012 06:30 AM PST Karen Whiteley WVoN co-editor  A woman has been murdered in Afghanistan, allegedly by her husband and mother-in-law, for giving birth to her third daughter. The mother-in-law has been arrested.  Police are hunting for the husband, an alleged member of a local militia, who is currently on the run. The woman, Storay (last name unknown), was throttled to death some time after the birth. According to a BBC report, the woman’s mother-in-law tied her feet together while her husband strangled her. Police spokesperson,  Sayed Sarwar Hussaini, said Storay’s fate did not come as a surprise after she gave birth to another daughter, ‘She was told by her husband that if she delivered another baby girl, he would kill her,’ he said. The crime occurred in a remote part of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan, where violence against women in common. Last month, the New York Times reported that four men were arrested for throwing acid on a mother and her three daughters in an apparent revenge attack for one daughter’s rejection of a marriage proposal from one of the attackers. Despite the enactment in 2009 of the Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women (EVAW) – which defined 22 different forms of violence against women including rape, forced prostitution, acid attacks, and forced or underage marriage - it remains a major problem. According to a 2011 UN Report, millions of Afghan women are still subjected to many forms of violence, largely as a consequence of traditional attitudes which deny them equality with men. A 2010 UNIFEM report estimated that over 60% of Afghan women are subjected to physical and psychological violence, whilst approximately 25% are subjected to sexual violence. The UN report noted that whilst the law was beginning to be used by officials, the majority of reported cases of violence against women were still being dealt with by either traditional dispute resolution mechanisms or under the Penal Code. Often, this resulted in acquittals, lighter sentences, or a reduction of the charges to less serious crimes.  It also left the female victims exposed to accusations of ‘moral crimes’.

Studying Beyoncé: singer becomes subject of university course Posted: 01 Feb 2012 05:00 AM PST Liz Stimson WVoN co-editor  Beyoncé. A record breaking female artist. A popular sex symbol for the 21st century. And now the subject of a university course? 'Politicising Beyoncé' is being offered by the Rutgers University Department of Women's and Gender Studies. The successful female artist provides a new perspective on gender, race and sexuality, says Kevin Allred, course lecturer. The course compares Beyoncé's music videos and song lyrics to the writings of black feminists such as Sojourner Truth, Alice Walker and bell hooks. Allred discovered the work of black feminists as a homosexual teenager growing up in a conservative town in Utah. "I found myself identifying with their writing because racism, sexism, homophobia, and privilege are larger systems under which we all operate" he commented. The reading list for the 'Politicising Beyoncé' course is primarily made up of black feminist texts, an academic discipline in which the politics of identity are particularly important. The black feminist movement sees the politics of gender, class, race and sexuality as inextricably linked to one's identity. Allred developed the course after teaching women's studies at the university for four semesters. Course discussions often moved round to Beyoncé and the apparent hypocrisy between her girl power lyrics and racy fashion sense. And that’s one thing that Beyoncé manages to do – raise discussions. Her empowering lyrics and attitude, juxtaposed with her saucy videos and sexy image has sparked debate over her place as a feminist icon. However, whether you view her as a fourth wave feminist, or simply as a scantily clad sex symbol, her career has offered a new lens through which to study gender politics. If the course helps a whole new generation of students to discover the influential writings of the black feminist movement, then what's the harm in that?

Story links, 1 February 2012 Posted: 01 Feb 2012 04:00 AM PST Every day we’ll post up a number of story links that we think are interesting. They won’t necessarily be from that day, but usually will not be more than a few days old. Story links: ‘Blood and Honey’ is cathartic for Bosniak actor, WeNews, February 1, 2012 Women in Trucking partners with TMSA to promote diversity in marketing, Trucking Info, February 1, 2012 El Paso women ranked among lowest wage earners in country, KTSM.com, January 31, 2012 Women ditch Newt Gingrich, exit poll shows, Detroit Free Press, February 1, 2012 Women get skills to break into traditional men’s trades, abcnews, January 31, 2012 Where is anti-choice outcry over forced sterilisation of women of colour in North Carolina, Ms. blog, January 27, 2012 Chinese underage sex scandal sparks emotive debate, IPS news, January 31, 2012 More communities in Senegal disavow FGM and cutting, UNFPA, January 31, 2012

Iranian women warn Egyptian women not to make same mistakes Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:30 AM PST Julie Tomlin WVoN co-editor The message of the Youtube video from Iranian women to Egyptian and Tunisian women is clear: don't let what happened to us happen to you. From the days of jeans-wearing working women and the first female group of officers in the navy in 1963, the video depicts how women's rights were reversed once Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came into power into 1979. It shows how after the revolution that ousted the Shah, the implementation of Islamic rule brought greater restrictions on women's clothing – despite massive protests against the compulsory wearing of the hijab. One year on from the uprisings that shook the Arab world, a lot of people have been gauging the temperature of women's rights, particularly in Egypt. Of greatest concern is the question of whether the election of Islamic groups will usher in increased restrictions on women's lives. Women haven't done well in the elections – they won only 11 seats in the parliament out of a total of 508, meaning they represent only two per cent of all members. The parliament will also be dominated by Islamist parties which have won close to 70 per cent of all the seats. In light of this, some women are reported to already be dressing more conservatively and recent attempts by so-called morality police to restrict women's behaviour are also a cause for concern (see WVoN story). During the recent 25 January celebrations marking one year since the uprisings, women reported that they were sexually assaulted and harassed by men who encircled them in Tahrir Square. Incidents like this, and a similar one on International Women's Day on 8 March last year, have been seized upon to illustrate that women's rights have not progressed since president Hosni Mubarak stepped down (see WVoN story). But is this a fair assessment? The writer and activist Nawal El Saadawi for instance, is convinced that the harassment that went on in Tahrir was carried out by the same pro-government thugs who attacked the people in Tahrir Square in February last year and who threw rocks from the roof during recent protests against the Supreme Council of Armed Forces shortly in November. If that's the case, then it means the attacks against women and the harassment they experienced are part of the counter revolution that those Egyptians at the heart of the revolution claim began on 12 February. In this context even the relaunch of the Egyptian Feminist Union can be a complex issue: some women in Egypt are concerned that its re-emergence is a sign that the military regime is up to the same tricks as Mubarak, trying to co-opt women's activists and give legitimacy to elections (see WVoN story). Even if the harassment in Tahrir Square was not carried out at the instigation of the regime, is it realistic to expect that all sexual discrimination would come to an end after 11 February when Mubarak stepped down? The western media, with its thirst for quick fixes perhaps isn’t best-placed to make sense of the long game of revolution. What went on in Tahrir Square between 25 Jan and 11 February showed the world the “best of humanity” according to the writer Ahdaf Soueif. Another writer, Sahar Elmougy, described the events during those 18 days as “to a great extent feminine" revealing "the bracing, joyful feminine soul". But although something extraordinary happened, it is also clear that those 18 days didn't fix everything – the ongoing fighting with SCAF shows that there is more work to be done to create a just and equal society. But if Egypt’s revolutionaries understand they are involved in a process that will have setbacks and challenges, are women doing enough to ensure that their rights are safeguarded during the days ahead? Iranian-born Sussan Tahmasebi says she has not only urged women's rights activists to maintain links with Islamic women on issues that they can agree on, but also to resist pressures to "park" their demands until after the revolution. This is one of most important lessons women could learn from Iran, says Tahmasebi, who is working with the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) to encourage discussions between women in the Arab region. "We've seen this happen in Iran, we've seen it happen everywhere people are fighting for reform," she says. "Women are told they should be using their energies to fight for reform and democracy and when we've achieved democracy, then we can achieve women's rights. “But women's groups in Iran became more effective during the 2005 elections when they decided to express their own agenda no matter who was in power. "It's critical that the women's movement has its own political agenda that is not tied to other political groups," said Tahmasebi, who argues that women's rights are at the centre of the transition to modernity and the transition from dictatorship to democracy. "Unless women realise that women's issues are a really big part of what defines the collective identity and that much of this transition is really fought on women's bodies, they are going to lose a lot."

What do Taliban inclusive peace talks mean for women? Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:30 AM PST Jem McCarron WVoN co-editor Today Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, visits Kabul to emphasise Pakistan's commitment to peace talks with the Taliban ahead of the departure of foreign troops in 2014. As a woman, will she be able to help ensure that the rights of women are not ignored? Just over ten years ago following the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban regime collapsed. This weekend as part of ongoing peace talks the US and the Taliban are negotiating the release of five Taliban officials currently held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On Sunday senior officials in Kabul announced that the Afghan government will be holding talks with the Taliban in coming months. Afghan officials are hoping to use the meeting to open communications with the Taliban council, Quetta Shura, rumoured to be based in the Pakistani city of Quetta. Whilst the political manoeuvring takes place in and out of the public eye, concerns for what this means for the women of Afghanistan are rising. The Taliban appeared in Afghanistan in the early ’90s following the withdrawal of Soviet troops, and were a formidable force by 1994. During that regime, the country was subject to gender apartheid. Women and men were segregated under a harsh form of Sharia imposed by a squad of 30,000 men working for the Ministry of Vice and Virtue. Women had to be covered from head to toe in a burqa and could only venture out of their homes if accompanied by a family member. They could not wear high-heels, lest their approach be heard and excite men; they had to speak quietly so that no stranger would overhear them and they could not be photographed or filmed. Ground floor windows had to be shuttered to prevent passersby seeing women in their homes and they were banned from appearing on balconies. Girls over the age of eight were not allowed to attend school, something the Taliban claimed to be a temporary situation whilst they ensured the security of women getting to and from school. In 1996 the Taliban banned women from employment, except those working as health professionals. Sadly many of those quit due to the practical difficulties of getting to their workplace. Women were marginalised almost entirely, Taliban-governed Afghanistan was a country dominated by men, with women barely seen and never heard. Today though, the Taliban argue that they have changed. Maulavi Qalamuddin, once head of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue and now a member of the High Peace Council is no longer overseeing public executions of women accused of adultery, but is instead involved in the creation of a network of schools for girls. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal Qalamuddin said: “Education for women is just as necessary as education for men. In Islam, men and women have the same duty to pray, to fast—and to seek learning.” This view is echoed by other Taliban officials such as Zabihullah Mujahid. “As a movement gets older, it becomes more mature, and makes positive changes.” In today's Afghanistan women have had to face significant difficulties since the US invasion in 2001, but many have embraced the freedoms brought about by the departure of the Taliban. Worryingly, recent negotiations have all but excluded women and there are fears that without a place at the table the voice of women will, once again, not be heard. The chair of the Independent Human Rights Commission, Sima Samar was reported in the Alaska Dispatch saying that: "The international community] talks about women's rights, but then they don't include them [in peace talks]. Women's involvement should be one of the conditions. “The problem here is that it's not only the Afghans, it's the international community that also sees that women are not capable or useful in the negotiations." The general consensus amongst experts is that peace cannot be achieved in Afghanistan without the Taliban on board. It is up to the rest of the world to ensure that women are given a place at the table and an active role in the decisions about their country's future.

Miss Undergraduate: two sides of the story Posted: 01 Feb 2012 01:30 AM PST Jane Osmond WVoN co-editor BBC News recently ran a piece about a protest planned against a 'Miss Undergraduate' event which is to take place at the University of Birmingham in February 2012. The qualifying event featured the wearing of ball gowns, rather than swim suits, and was open to all undergraduate women of all ages, shapes and sizes.  A further three heats are to come, with the final taking place on 21 February. Twenty percent of the ticket sales from the event – set up by Touch Promotions – is to be donated to Cancer Research UK. The protest, which is being organised by the University of Birmingham Women's Association (UoBWA), is to take place on the night of the Miss Undergraduate final. Catie, a spokeswoman for the UoBWA, said that she first became aware of the event after it was heavily advertised on the University campus and commented: Some people are claiming that the event is harmless fun and that it empowers women, but we feel that beauty pageants promote the idea that women should be judged solely by their appearance: with one in 20 women having eating disorders and one in seven suffering sexual assault or violence in their lives, these things should be challenged as they promote this focus on women's appearance as a normal day to day thing. To date, Catie confirmed that the organising committee is 50 strong, but that they have received a lot of support from women and men across the campus. The UoBWA has also received a statement of support from The Guild of Students condemning the event: The Guild of Students is committed to transcending stereotypes and prejudices, instead celebrating the diversity of our student body and the population more widely. As a result, we condemn this event, viewing it as an a obstacle to equality and as an expression of social values which damage the health and happiness of students. Meanwhile, Jessica, a student contestant who is studying at the University defended the event in a piece for the University's Redbrick magazine. Jessica does not regard herself as a feminist, but does believe that ‘women have equal rights as men and should act so’. She further commented: I took part in the contest to try and disprove the idea that women are passive and unintelligent. I took part as a university student, with high aspirations for the future. As for the protests, there will always be protests against all kinds of events. Those are the opinions of the people that protest. I have not spoken to many other students about this event, I would advise an impartial film crew to record reactions. I am aware that the protesters are going to go around campus this week to scaremonger people into fighting their cause, and this emotionally-fuelled interviewing technique is neither valid or generalisable. I can understand why the protest has been organised however I believe that many of their points of argument are invalid, as outlined in my speech [to Redbrick Magazine]. Alexander Blair, managing director of Touch Promotions, also defended the event in the BBC News piece: [The contestants] are judged in part on how they are dressed – not the form of the female body – and also how much money they have raised.” Rather than a protest against the actual event, Catie confirmed that the UoBWA were planning an alternative which would celebrate things such as talent and 'all forms of beauty'. Also, in order to highlight that judging women by what dress they wear is indeed focusing on the body, there is a possibility that male protestors will put dresses on too. However, on a practical level, the aim of the current protest and the planned alternative event is to challenge the organisers to think twice in the future when planning events of this kind and also to raise awareness around the campus about the objectification of women: We are hoping to challenge the organisers of this event in order to get them to recognise that this kind of event has a set of hazards attached to it, but also to primarily engage the students on the campus and let them know about the issues such as this – we want people challenging it all the time. As a feminist, I find it hard to accept that the focus on women's bodies in this manner is a positive event, even though it will surely raise much needed money for breast cancer. Despite the lack of a 'swim suit round', the women were still judged on their dress, hair and makeup in the qualifier, and I assume, that this judgement criteria will continue to be used for subsequent heats and the final. It seems I am not alone in my repugnance at this type of event and all its connotations, as evidenced by protests against the 60th anniversary of Miss World back in November 2011. Rebecca Mordan , who helped organise this protest commented: You can’t pull the wool over young women’s eyes…They’re living and growing up in a culture that sees pornography as increasingly mainstream. This is the soft end of that, reducing women down to the sum of their parts…the wide age range of the protesters showed that feminism was still relevant today. Kat Banyard, author of The Equality Illusion and founder of the organisation UK Feminista also weighed in with her opinion:  Miss World has absolutely no place in a world that treats women and men equally. It perpetuates the beauty myth [and] indoctrinates people across the world with its toxic ideals. We know that [those ideals] have a very harmful effect. However, breast cancer is a serious and sometimes fatal disease: according to Cancer Research UK:  In 2008, 48,034 people in the UK were diagnosed with breast cancer 11,728 people in the UK died from breast cancer in 2009 It has been estimated that the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer in 2008 is 1 in 1,014 for men and 1 in 8 for women Therefore, there is an obvious need for funds to research this disease in order to find both preventative and treatment solutions. Certainly Cancer Research UK does not seem to have a problem with accepting donations raised in this way. Paula Young, spokeswoman for Cancer Research UK has commented on the event, saying: Cancer Research UK relies totally on public funding and we couldn’t carry on our vital work without the wide variety of fundraising our supporters take part in. We would only ever turn down a donation if we felt that the majority of our supporters would not approve of it. There are certain events that we will not accept proceeds from, such as those which are illegal or pose a risk to the charity and its supporters. We do not believe that taking money from a beauty contest falls into any of these categories. Young added that the charity believed that its supporters would want it to accept the funds. So there we have it – on the one hand the event is seen as harmless fun and raising money for a good cause; on the other hand as fostering the already toxic culture that we live within that objectifies women as body parts at every turn. For me, the crucial question relates to the original decision to go ahead with such an event.  Being unable to find a telephone number or email address for Touch Promotions, I could not ask about their decision-making process. However, the information I did find  states that the three directors are men, and I can only assume that they – as men who would in all likelihood see nothing wrong with women parading and being judged on their looks in public – made an ill-judged and ill-informed decision about what type of event would be most likely to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Further, Cancer Research UK's response is also quite astounding, given that there is acres of evidence to suggest that one of the most traumatic effects of breast cancer for women survivors is often how the loss of their breasts affects their ability to feel like women (see here, here and here). Consequently, how Cancer Research UK can condone an event that focuses and celebrates judgements based on the bodies of females is beyond me. So for me the answer is: Beauty contest? No thank you.

Time to change our view of the gamer Posted: 31 Jan 2012 03:02 PM PST Jem McCarron WVoN co-editor If you hear the phrase 'social gaming' do you imagine middle -aged professional women who are happy with their lives and having lots of sex? No? Well, neither do most people, but recent research is changing the way that markets think about games and women. According to a study conducted in October 2010 women make up 54 per cent of social gamers and their average age is around 43. The majority have attained a college level or above education and 44 per cent of gamers are earning over $55,000 with 41 per cent in full time employment. Social gamers are as likely to be married with children as they are to be single without. And they're social creatures too, spending more time with friends and having sex more often than their non-gaming counterparts. In essence, today's gamers are educated, affluent, mature women, a world apart from most people's preconceptions of the young, unemployed, male geek. As if this wasn't enough to throw the industry into disarray, a study carried out at the end of 2011 by Park's Associates on behalf of HSN (Home Shopping Network), found that women have overtaken men in their love of gadgetry, 88 per cent of women bought tech this year compared to 83 per cent of men. It appears that on many levels women are now equalling or exceeding men when it comes to online gaming, social gaming and gadget buying. This is big news for an industry that has traditionally only had to worry about marketing to men. As Facebook prepares to float on the stock market later this year the social games that are making a tidy profit from its users are also hot property. Combine the interest in social gaming with the increase in popularity of smart phones and the onslaught of mobile games available to while away a few spare minutes and you have an area of great interest to marketers. Zynga, for example, created 'Farmville'. You may have come across it on Facebook - it's one of the most popular aspects of the social networking site. It is, as the name implies, a game about the fundamentals of farming, ploughing, sowing and harvesting of fruit and vegetables. Farmville is a fremium game, free to play, but users can purchase premium content and the growth in smart phones means that these sorts of games are no longer tied to desktops, but can go with the gamer, and crucially, be played at any odd free moment. Hoping to take advantage of our apparent love of gaming is Gamification, a buzz word coined in 2010 by Jesse Schell, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center and founder of South Side-based Schell Games. Gamification is the technique of creating a game out of the most tedious of activities, such as responding to a survey or shopping. Air miles or loyalty cards are perhaps the most basic form of gamification, but with the advent of the smart phone, the possibilities become seemingly endless. An excellent example of the power of social gaming is when the electronics retailer, Best Buy placed virtual stores in Zynga's 'Cityville' game, resulting in more than a million Facebook fans in just one week. In the UK the Department for Work and Pensions developed an internal game called 'Idea Street'. Within 18 months they had around 4,500 users and 1,400 ideas. 63 of these ideas had been implemented. UK-based technology research company Gartner Inc claims that by 2015 more than 50 per cent of organisations responsible for innovation will be using gamification. What is clear is that women will be at the heart of this. As people realise that gaming isn't just for the kids, women are emerging as the new target audience and all the research so far says it makes them happier, more socialised and sexually fulfilled.

Senator’s humorous response to mandatory ultrasound bill Posted: 31 Jan 2012 11:27 AM PST Alison Clarke WVoN co-editor  When is it appropriate to compare a man’s erectile dysfunction to having an abortion? I ask because yesterday a state senator in the US, Janet Howell, tried to amend a bill requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before an abortion, by adding a clause stating that men should have a rectal exam and a cardiac stress test before getting a prescription for erectile dysfunction. Sadly, Howell’s amendment was rejected, although she got 19 votes in favour and only 21 against. Six of the seven women in the Virginia senate voted for her amendment. Perhaps not surprisingly, the sponsor of the mandatory ultrasound bill, Senator Jill Vogel, did not. Vogel’s bill was passed. Still, Howell clearly has a sense of humour, telling the Huffington Post: "We need some gender equity here. The Virginia senate is about to pass a bill that will require a woman to have a totally unnecessary medical procedure at their cost and inconvenience. “If we're going to do that to women, why not do that to men?" Good question.

Cosmetic surgery: where will it end? Posted: 31 Jan 2012 11:12 AM PST Laura Bridgestock WVoN co-editor After the recent PIP scandal, which exposed millions of women to potentially harmful breast implants (see WVoN coverage), it is perhaps surprising to learn that the cosmetic surgery industry is set for another year of substantial growth. According to the International Master Course on Aging Skin (IMCAS) – based, like PIP, in France – worldwide profits from so-called "beauty procedures" are set to increase by more than 11% in 2012. In 2011, the  value of the industry reached somewhere between $4.1 billion and $4.9 billion. The fact that the PIP scare has had no apparent impact is less surprising when put into context. Those 300,000 PIP implant customers may seem like a lot – but they're only about 1.5% of the estimated 20 million women with implants worldwide. Breast implants remain among the most popular cosmetic alterations. In the UK, women accounted for 90% of all cosmetic procedures in 2011, and more than 23% of all procedures were breast enlargements. The list of available procedures is ever-increasing – not such a surprise, given the profits providers stand to make. What seems particularly disturbing is the increasingly casual attitude adopted by marketers. One company, manufacturer of a "radio frequency device" that "tightens skin" boasts: "Because there’s little if any downtime, Pellevé is a perfect solution for women who’d like a fresher look before a big event for less than the cost of an afternoon of shopping." This sickens me for several reasons – not least the implication that women's lives revolve around primping, being "social butterflies" and shopping. It also makes cosmetic surgery sound more like a haircut than a serious life decision, or a social phenomenon that is disconcerting and complex at best, and astonishingly sinister at worst. In the USA, this increasing casualness is seen in a growing trend of marketing cosmetic procedures as pre-wedding preparations. Companies such as this one offer a "bridal discount" and a full schedule counting down to the wedding – from breast augmentation four months before to a "microdermabrasion power peel" with three days to go. The term "bridalplasty", coined to describe these pre-wedding procedures, was popularised by the 2010 reality TV show of the same name, in which brides-to-be competed to get procedures from their "wish lists". All of which prompts the question, where will it end? Last year Kate Winslet spoke of recruiting fellow actresses Rachel Weisz and Emma Thompson to form a "British Anti-Cosmetic Surgery League". Winslet has also spoken out against the media's use of photoshopping to present distorted representations of women. If in any doubt about the relation between media photoshopping and the continued growth of the cosmetic surgery industry, check out this 2009 article. It does a good job of illustrating the extent to which women are routinely chopped up, filled out and slimmed down on the editing table, just as in the operating room.

My “pink button”? Posted: 31 Jan 2012 11:08 AM PST Alison Clarke WVoN co-editor  Although I assumed that my pink button was my clitoris, according to this beauty product ad, it is none other than your labia. So what’s it for? Well, nothing really, unless you keep a check on the colour of them to know when they’re, well, off-colour. I don’t think I can improve on the sales blurb, which goes like this: “My New Pink Button ™ is a temporary dye to restore the youthful pink color back to your labia. There is no other product like it. “This patent pending formula was designed by a female certified Paramedical Esthetician after she discovered her own genital color loss. “While looking online for a solution she discovered thousands of other women asking the same questions regarding their color loss. “After countless searches revealing no solution available and a discussion with her own gynecologist she decided to create her own. Now there is a solution!” Are there really thousands of other women asking this question? And how did the “female certified Paramedical Esthetician” know she was off-colour? And far more to the bloody point, why does she need a certificate to know she’s female? She can’t have been that off-colour. I’m afraid, though, that there’s no point in rushing to buy a new pink button, as it’s currently out of stock. Having created a demand for something that’s not needed, I wonder if being out of stock is yet another marketing ploy? In case you’re tempted (I’m sure you’re not), here’s a review to really put you off.

Story links, 31 January 2012 Posted: 31 Jan 2012 06:57 AM PST Every day we’ll post up a number of story links that we think are interesting. They won’t necessarily be from that day, but usually will not be more than a few days old.       Story links: Davos women minority, Bloomberg News, January 31 2012 Release woman activist accused of listening to ‘revolutionary music’, AI, January 30, 2012 Jay-Z’s newfound feminist fatherhood, Sociological Images, January 31, 2012 Syrian women recruit resisters in flashpoint town, January 31, 2012 Women in Egypt heed warning from Iranian women on rights, Global Press Institute, January 26, 2012 Women still a minority at Davos, Philly Inquirer, January 31, 2012 Why not become a prostitute, asks talkshow host, January 31, 2012 SBGV on rise in Hargeisa IDP camps, February 1, 2012

Hope for Haiti: women’s football Posted: 31 Jan 2012 05:55 AM PST Penny Hopkins WVoN co-editor In recent months the most common headline about Haiti has been along the lines of: “Where has the aid gone?” It is fantastic to be able to focus on an alternative story. The Haiti women’s football team has just competed in a tournament to select qualifying teams for the London Olympics later this year. They didn’t qualify, but just the fact that they were there sent out a huge message of hope for the country, which is still struggling to recover from the devastating earthquake of 2010. After losing to Costa Rica in their opening game, a second one-sided match saw the team lose 6-0 to Canada. They won their third match against Cuba, 3-0. However, the scores were only part of the story. National sides are obliged to have two sets of kit. When the Haitians arrived for the tournament in Vancouver they had only one. Their goalkeeper did not have any proper gloves. The British Columbian Soccer Association donated $2,000 for a second set of uniforms and the Canadian women’s team began fundraising for more. There is perhaps a parallel to be drawn with the Japanese women’s team post-tsunami. Just a f ew months after the disaster, the team won the Women’s World Cup in Germany, beating the strong favourites, the USA. In Haiti, devastation has been incredibly difficult to rebound from. The 7.0 strength earthquake killed 300,000 people and made a further 1.5 million homeless. Two years on, thousands are still living in tented cities, and diseases such as cholera and typhoid are rife. Along with so much else, Haitian soccer was destroyed. Thirty members of the Haitian Football Federation, including women’s coach Jean-Yves Labaze, were killed when their headquarters collapsed. The main stadium in Port-au-Prince, Stade Sylvio Cator, was used as a tented city for over a year afterwards. Keen to take part in the Olympics qualifying tournament, the remaining team members had to issue a plea for players studying and living abroad to return. They did, and were shocked to find their teammates living in tents with little equipment and no facilities for training. Foreign players with Haitian backgrounds were also recruited to play. Americans Kimberly Bourlos, Samantha Brand and Tatiana Mathelier and Canadian goalkeeper Ednie Limage joined the team. As Ednie Limage put it, “We keep going. We want to show there’s hope. That’s why we came to help them, to give them hope that something big can happen to Haiti.” This football-mad nation was clearly never going to let go of its passion for the game – as these women’s determination has shown. Football’s governing body, FIFA, has donated $3.2 million towards relief efforts, and also towards rebuilding football for men, women and children. A website devoted to raising money for the redevelopment of women’s football in Haiti was created in 2010. It still includes a wish list of needed items, including first aid kits and portable ultrasound equipment.

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