Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

When women’s services are forced to fail, we all pay the price

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 08:00 AM PST

Sarah Cheverton
WVoN co-editor

The Islington Tribune reported this week that advisers from the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) are concerned that non-English-speaking women were being denied places in North London refuges.

Refuges confirmed that they can no longer afford translation services due to the cuts and are being forced to refuse women as a result.

IKWRO’s Director, Diana Nammi, stated in the article that individual refuges are not to blame.

"We are seeing a trickle effect. Central government thinks bankers' lives are more important than women's lives, so they give money there. Refuges don't have the money in north London, so they have to turn women in the borough away."

The Tribune’s report provides the latest evidence of the impact of government cuts on domestic violence services.

However, Lynn Featherstone, Home Office Minister for Equality told the Guardian recently, “I would rebut very firmly that the sector is in crisis.”

Her rebuttal notwithstanding, it would seem that the evidence from the violence against women sector paints a different picture.

Recent research by Sylvia Walby for Trust for London found that an average of 230 women a day were turned away from Women’s Aid refuges last year, following funding cuts of 31% to the sector.

The report found that women experiencing violence were increasingly being told to find shelter in police stations, A&E departments and even Occupy camps.

Last June, the Women’s Resource Centre reported that 95% of women’s organisations were facing cuts over the next year.

Sound like a crisis yet?

Currently the most devastating impact of the cuts is being felt by those most vulnerable women in our society: not only women with limited or no English, but also women with no recourse to public funds, or women in minority groups experiencing forced marriage or honour-based crimes, for example.

New commissioning models disadvantage many smaller, specialist services, which are closing or being merged into larger organisations as a result.

Hannana Siddiqui, of Southall Black Sisters, recently told the Guardian, “We have built up the expertise to meet the needs of hard-to-reach BME women. And if you reduce the quality and quantity of provision that has serious implications. More women are turned away, there are more suicides, more homicides, more forced marriages.”

As a result, hope is dimming for marginalised women whose only hope for escaping violence comes from such specialist services addressing the needs of women from the hardest to reach groups.

While Lynn Featherstone stands blithely by denying the evidence that the cuts programme is devastating the lives of all women experiencing domestic abuse, there is also a danger here that women’s services will increasingly be pitted against each other in the struggle to compete for available funding.

Social commentators are currently decrying the effect of funding cuts in turning the working against the non-working poor, and we are in danger of sidelining the rights of marginalised women in a similar way.

Laurie Penny recently wrote in the New Statesman:

“Last week during a radio phone-in, I spoke to a woman whose voice shook with rage at the idea that immigrant families might be receiving tens of thousands of pounds in payments when her own benefits are due to be cut. It’s a callous but effective strategy: turn the anger of the working poor against the non-working poorer, diverting attention from the biggest redistribution of wealth to the very rich in a generation.”

It is easy to imagine the same views being expressed as an excuse to let slip away the hard-earned progress and long-fought victories in the struggle for the rights of marginalised women in the UK, a struggle which is far from over.

We should resist this impulse, and not only because it plays into the hands of the government. More simply, and along with the broader political and economic approach of the Coalition, it doesn’t work.

Heather Harvey, Research and Development Manager at EAVES told the Guardian:

“Women are literally having to find a way of staying safe on the streets, or staying in violent relationships where they could end up dead. And the ultimate costs of that are huge – to the police, the NHS, the courts – it’s a total false economy.”

Services that support, protect and advocate on behalf of women experiencing violence are vital to our society. Women’s organisations across the UK understand and negotiate the complex reality of violence against women and girls across the UK.

In so doing, they save money and resources needed by our police and health services, but most of all, they save lives.

We ignore their increasingly desperate pleas at our peril.

Because if these organisations and services are forced to fail as the government stands idly by pointing the finger anywhere but at itself, we will all be left with blood on our hands.

Refer Syrian regime to International Criminal Court says Amnesty director

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 07:00 AM PST

Jackie Gregory
WVoN co-editor 

Amnesty International is calling for the Syrian regime to be referred to the International Criminal Court.

It says the UN Security Council should stop making excuses and act now to stop the slaughter of Syrian citizens by indicting the current administration.

Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty, also demanded the security council impose an arms embargo on Syria and freeze all the assets of President Bashar al-Assad and his senior associates.

Addressing  a crowd of thousands who had gathered in Trafalgar Square on Saturday for a global day of action, she said: "The [Syrian] government say they are not doing anything wrong – well then they should allow into Syria international human rights monitors, including Amnesty International, and give international media the freedom to move without being harassed or killed.

"What have they got to hide if they are not doing anything wrong?

"And the UN Security Council must act with responsibility and refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court – no more talk of "be realistic" or "it will never happen" – make it happen – protect the people – enough excuses."

She also said that Russia must make clear to the Syrian regime, in public and in private, that the military assault on Homs must stop immediately.

Setting out a vision of what a human rights revolution would achieve, Allen said that it would create societies where there would be no laws and practices that discriminate against any minority groups and that women's rights and their political participation would be guaranteed.

The day of action to show solidarity with peaceful protesters in Syria, Egypt, the Middle East and North Africa was organised by Amnesty International, and saw rallies in 21 countries from Peru to Austria and in Ireland, where supporters (pictured)  joined in a one minute silence.

The event in London featured live link ups to people in the Syrian towns of Deraa and Idlib.

More than 5400 people, including dozens of children, are believed to have been killed in Syria since protests began in March last year.

To mark the day of action film makers Leah Borromeo and Peter Kennard uploaded this film on YouTube.

It  includes messages from Sarah in Cairo describing how she goes out with a stun gun and pepper spray to protect herself as she feels less safe now than when Mubarak ruled, and from Alia in Cairo who wants the revolution to end so people can concentrate on building up the country, and start to heal “the heartbreak”.

UN: empowering women critical for the future of our planet

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 06:15 AM PST

Sara Dzregah
WVoN co-editor

The way forward towards sustainable development needs gender equality, according to the new report from the UN’s Global Sustainability Panel.

The report, ‘Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing‘, was released on 30 January in Addis Ababa.

The Panel’s Co-Chair, President Tarja Halonen, said: “The Panel has concluded that empowering women and ensuring a greater role for them in the economy is critical for sustainable development.”

The 22-member High-level Panel on Global Sustainability was established by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in August 2010 and tasked with developing a new plan for sustainable, low-carbon, development. This is an area of top priority for the Secretary-General.

“We need to chart a new, more sustainable course for the future, one that strengthens equality and economic growth while protecting the planet, ” he said on receiving the report.

Women’s empowerment and gender equality runs like a thread through the report, weaving together the needs of the planet with the immediate needs of women and the importance of releasing their potential. It makes 56 recommendations, many of which explicitly address gender inequality.

“Any serious shift towards sustainable development requires gender equality. Half of humankind’s collective intelligence and capacity is a resource we must nurture and develop, for the sake of multiple generations to come,” the report said.

It urges governments and the business sector to recognise the economic benefits of women’s full participation in the economy. Allowing women farmers access to land and resources, improving access to capital and financial services, and supporting the rise of female leaders, are highlighted as key factors to address.

The report also stresses the importance of equality in the workplace, access to education, health services and family planning.

The report, and its recommendations, will feed into other intergovernmental work, such as the Rio+20 Conference in June.

World Bank report on gender equality misses bigger picture

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 05:30 AM PST

Sarah Cheverton
WVoN co-editor

The World Bank's World Development Report 2012 is the first ever devoted to the issue of gender equality. But does it go far enough to challenge the more complex – and controversial – issues impeding global gender justice?

Fundamentally, the report holds that gender equality is "smart economics" – making a better and more productive workforce, healthier children and families, and a more representative society.

More importantly, it also makes clear that gender equality is a human right, which marks a notable departure from the World Bank’s usual line that gender equality is good for development.

Kudos is rightly given for improvements in global gender equality over the last 40 years – more women in the labour force, in education, and increased women's average life expectancy.

But other gender gaps persist.

The worst of these is that women and girls are more likely than males to die in less wealthy countries than their counterparts in richer nations – there’s an estimated 3.9 million “excess female deaths” under 60 each year. Of these, about two-fifths are never born due to a preference for sons, one-sixth die in early childhood, and one third die in their reproductive years.

More broadly, school enrolment for girls remain lower than boys, and unsurprisingly, "women everywhere tend to earn less than men."

Women also continue to struggle to make their voices heard – in their homes, in their governments and in the media.

So what prevents gender equality?

Well the picture is complex, but most importantly, the report asserts that income growth alone does not deliver gender equality. Geography, ethnicity and disability, for example, all have an impact.

In China and India, for example, while economic growth has been rapid, excess female mortality has either stayed the same or grown worse.

The report makes four main domestic policy recommendations.

Firstly, governments must address the ‘excess deaths' of women and girls by improving services such as maternal care and sanitation.

Secondly, address the gender gap in employment and economic opportunity, including through improved childcare, access to resources, and through quotas.

Thirdly, allow the voices of women to be heard at all levels. Improve women's control over household resources, ownership of assets and property rights, and increase representation in politics and professions.

Finally, shift the message to young people so that gender inequality is not reproduced. The report recommends education and health information programmes, providing job and life skill training and improving access to positive role models for young women.

The report is a positive step forward, but Shahra Razavi, UN Research Co-ordinator for UN Research Institute for Social Development, highlights some critical shortfalls, describing it as “an opportunity both welcomed and missed”.

One of the glaring problems, says Razavi, is the assumption that labour markets are gender neutral rather than being "'bearers of gender'" through, for example, gendered definitions of skills that result in gender-based wage gaps.

Discussion is also absent on the disproportionate impact on women of a shrinking public sector now increasingly under attack, or the concentration of women in its lower-paid frontlines.

But even more problematic is the lack of attention paid to the more controversial and complex rise of fundamentalist forces attacking, for example, women's sexual and reproductive rights, as well as their access to employment and education.

The World Development Report takes a strong view that "globalization can help." However, this neglects the more negative impacts of globalization upon women.

For example, says Ravazi, "women often intensify both their paid and unpaid work to compensate for cutbacks in public welfare expenditure and drops in the earnings of other household members."

Razavi warns that the report places too much emphasis on conditional cash transfers or CCTs (that pay recipients for certain actions, such as keeping a girl in school), despite evidence that they can reinforce traditional gender division.

"While [CCTs] have some potential to support women in their role as caregivers…they do not broaden their options beyond that role…discouraging men from care-giving, while they overburden women."

Whilst the 2012 World Development Report should be noted as representing "an important turning point in the World Bank's thinking on gender equality", what is missing from its discussion is arguably more important than what is included.

This more than anything else, says Razavi, will limit both its "usefulness to the policy maker as well as its staying power" for those with a real and lasting interest in global gender equality.

Out of the Doll’s House?

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 04:15 AM PST

Jane Osmond
WVoN co-editor

When I began writing for Women's Views on News nearly two years ago, I realised that I needed to plug myself into cyberspace to source relevant stories about women.

What I found was an active 'feminist blogosphere' featuring thousands of women all over the world writing about their experiences of being a woman within male-dominated societies.

I was astounded.

I was astounded not just at the sheer quantity of the stories, but also the quality, which range from the hilarious to the soul-searing: story after story from women attempting to challenge their second-class status within the world.

However, I was more astounded that this vibrant, active blogosphere is almost invisible in the mainstream media.

If you are the kind of person who does not read outside this mainstream you could be forgiven for thinking that feminists are angry-bra-burning-hairy-armpit-harridans who have nothing better to do than shout about a fight that was won a long time ago.

I like to think that this is beginning to change, not least because we now have Women's Views on News, which – despite having no funding and relying on volunteer writers – is going from strength to strength (shout out to Alison, our founder).

Having had my eyes opened, I then began to notice that the women within this blogosphere are using cyberspace to create networks – forming protest groups, feminist groups, any kind of group – that give them a critical mass of opinion which has, finally, begun to be recognised by the (overwhelmingly male) gatekeepers of the news, boardrooms and business.

Recently in the UK, we have seen the BBC do an about-turn on the lack of representation of women in news cycles,  we have the Leveson enquiry  which has focused some of its efforts (I know, I know not enough) on the representation of women in the media, the lack of women in boardrooms, and the mistake Hooters made by trying to force its self-styled ‘breastaurants’ on the city of Bristol (thank you Bristol Feminist Network).

On a more local level, online platforms such as Facebook (oh Facebook – why does your platform offer so many opportunities for really constructive networking for women, but at the same time give a platform to some very disturbing people who use rape jokes and death threats to try and silence those women – but that is another story) has facilitated the rise of feminist groups throughout the country.

One of these feminist groups is based in Coventry and, for me, epitomises the very welcome rise of grass roots feminism.

The Coventry Feminist Culture Club was set up in January of this year, and the founder, Naomi commented:

I wanted to do something that had a bit more of a broader scope, a bit more of a social based group…sometimes it can feel a bit lonely as a feminist.  You might come out and say you are a feminist in a group of people and often you feel very isolated. I started to realise that there are other people out there that feel and think the same way and I thought it would a good way to encourage others and find support and friendship.

Asked how long she has self-identified as a feminist, Naomi said it was a gradual process in that although she was always offended by sexist jokes, it is only as she has matured that she could put the way she sees the world into context:

I think I have always been feminist minded but I wouldn't have always called it that – over the past couple of years my own thoughts have taken form a bit more solidly… I have really understood what [feminism] means to me.

For Naomi then, being a feminist is caring about equality and using her passion to address the injustices that women suffer just because they are women and she wants ‘to be part of changing that'.

To date the group boasts over 30 members, some of whom shared their vision of what feminism is about:

Challenging sexist attitudes and inequalities, fighting to make the world a better, safer, fairer place for all women (Sarah G)

A movement that aims for global gender equality – economically, politically and culturally creating a world where women and girls can live free from violence, abuse and oppression (Sam R)

Feminism is a movement that campaigns for freedoms, freedoms for women to be women without fear or risk of prejudice, violence or discrimination because of the fact they are women (Sarah L)

Several social events are planned, including a visit to the University of Warwick Arts Centre to see the Vagina Monologues (all proceeds to V-Day and CRASAC) and a visit to the Belgrade Theatre to see Nora, Ingmar Bergman's adaptation of Ibsen's A Doll's House.

However, although 30 is a good number of women to attract to the group in such a short space of time, when put into the context of the number of women over 18 in Coventry – 48.8 per cent of a population of over 220,000 according to the 1991 census – it is very small indeed.

Was this, I asked Naomi, because women – particularly of her generation (born in the early 80s) – do not tend to identify themselves as feminists?

Yes, it makes me quite sad and quite angry because on the whole most women I know are feminists in one way or another they just don't like the word, but for me it is a word that I am proud of and happy to say.  I think when you say that you are a feminist, people give you a funny look and roll their eyes – even the women who feel exactly the same way about things you get passionate about – they just don't like the word… they don't want to put their hands up and say they are feminist.

Naomi thinks that the word 'feminist' is problematic for many women, not only because of the aforementioned 'bra burning' image, but also because a lot of women think that the fight is over:

One of the biggest obstacles is people's apathy and people thinking that we have already got equality and it drives me barmy when I see articles in the newspaper and hear people saying it – that we don't need feminism anymore because we have got it and done it.

However, as Naomi points out, this is quite obviously not the case when considering the lack of positive, powerful female role models for women growing up:

All of the power structures and everything that controls our planet and our world is still so heavily led by white middle class men and that is an obstacle. I think the problem is that younger women coming up who could be the leaders of tomorrow still have so few role models to aspire to: instead of seeing strong women role models who tell them they can achieve anything they want they are just surrounded by media throwing the old old idea that women are there to be looked at.  This is an idea which is out of date and I think that needs to break before a lot of women can realise what they actually can achieve.

Although the Coventry Culture Club is not a protest group, it does offer a space for like-minded women to meet and talk about their feelings about being women. As one member commented:

Other feminists provide me with hope, inspiration, courage and a sense of belonging.

For me, local grass roots groups such are these are the beginning of something – and that something is the gathering together of women who are tired of not having their opinions and voices heard, are tired of feeling like outsiders in their own communities, are tired of hearing that the only roles that women get to play rely on how 'hot' they are, when this very 'hotness' marks them out as targets to be used and abused.

Over 130 years after Ibsen, we are – it seems – sadly still in the Doll's House.

However, when viewed as a chain of like-minded women – from local Coventry Feminist Culture Club to UK Feminista Midlands, to UK Feminista to Gender Across Borders - maybe, just maybe, not for much longer.

Show love for Zimbabwean women activists on Valentine’s day

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 03:00 AM PST

Jackie Gregory
WVoN co-editor 

Members of a women's rights group in Zimbabwe face court today (Monday) after being arrested for celebrating the tenth anniversary of their founding.

Ten activists and four bystanders, including a 16-year-old girl and a pregnant 18-year-old, were detained last week (Feb 7) when the Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) held a peaceful demonstration in Bulawayo.

They were bailed the next day, with the ten activists being ordered back in court and the bystanders released without charge. The activists, including WOZA's leader Jenni Williams, face criminal nuisance charges.

According to WOZA, all 14 on their release suffered flu-like symptoms because they were allegedly kept in a "filthy cockroach-infested open fence area of the police cells three hours from 11pm to 2am on the first night."

WOZA also say that four of those arrested were beaten.

Now Amnesty International UK is calling on supporters to send a rose to the Zimbabwean Ambassador to London to show solidarity with the women on Valentine's Day.

WOZA use roses on their annual Valentine’s day protests to demonstrate “the power of love can overcome the love of power.”

Every year they organise big protests in Zimbabwe on February 14.

Last year more than 1,800 people took to the streets of Bulawayo in WOZA’s biggest ever Valentine’s Day protest. Men and women aged from 17 to 93 years old participated, with hundreds of red roses, Valentine Cards and newsletters distributed to passers-by while they marched.

WOZA was formed in 2003 to provide women with a united voice, encourage them to stand up for their rights and freedoms, and to empower female leadership in the community.

It estimates its countrywide membership to now be more than 70,000 women and men.

Details of how you can support the Valentine's Day event this year can be obtained from Amnesty.

Story links, February 13, 2012

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 02:20 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 welcomes charges against army colonel over mass rapes in Guinea, February 10, 2012
BBC pays women stars 40 times less than soccer sages, February 13, 2012
The demeaning politics of rape and pornography, February 13, 2012
Jessica Korda wins Women’s Australian Open, February 12, 2012
Women’s history in newspapers runs deep, February 12, 2012
Santorum says he backs working women, February 12, 2012
Tymoshenko’s daughter says mother denied painkillers, February 13, 2012
Jolie earns Serbian scorn for war film, February 13, 2012
Women’s rights in Egypt join liberal outcasts, February 13, 2012
I’m not okay with Chris Brown performing at the Grammys, Hello Giggles 

Women and children targeted in South Sudan ethnic violence

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 02:15 AM PST

Sara Dzregah
WVoN co-editor

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the Government of South Sudan to take decisive action to identify and prosecute those responsible for recent violent attacks in the Jonglei region.

“This goes far beyond traditional cattle-rustling,” said the Africa Director at HRW, Daniel Bekele. “The conflict is far more vicious, involving the deliberate targeting of villagers, including women and children, for abuse and has taken dangerous ethnic and political overtones.”

On December 23 last year, an estimated 8000 armed men from ethnic Lou Nuer villages in central Jonglei, launched an attack on ethnic Murle villages in the eastern part of the state. The town of Pibor was particularly badly hit.

The attackers burned down villages, killed and injured people with machetes and guns, and abducted women and children.

A witness said he had seen three dead women who appeared to have been raped with blunt objects.

The death toll has not yet been officially verified, but Merle leaders reported more than 3000 deaths. Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes and remain displaced.

Since early January, the South Sudan government has promised to investigate the attacks but so far there is little evidence of progress.

Meanwhile, there have been retaliation attacks by Murle earlier this month, and more attacks are expected.

“To stem this horrific cycle of violence, the organisers have to be held to account,” said Mr Bekele.

International aid organisations working in the country have expressed concern about their ability to provide adequate assistance.

The United Nation’s World Food Program has registered more than 30,000 people in Pibor in need of aid.

South Sudan UN Humanitarian Coordinator, Lise Grande, highlighted the lack of agencies working in the area as a major problem in helping those affected.

“In some of the worst-hit places, there are only a handful of partners on the ground. In some places, there are none,” she said.

Human Rights Watch proposed an independent commission to be established to support South Sudan in the investigations into the violence.

The South Sudanese government has indicated that it is considering a civilian disarmament operation in the affected areas.

“All pretty girls are right wingers” says Ann Coulter

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 01:15 AM PST

Sarah Cheverton,
WVoN co-editor

Firstly, I have to ‘fess up. Until today, I had never heard of Ann Coulter.

Apparently, she’s an American social and political commentator – although commentator here really just means, ‘someone who says things’.

Which Coulter definitely does.

According to Wikipedia, Coulter is “well-known for her conservative political opinions and the controversial ways in which she presents and defends them.”

I sensed that.

In her most recent rampage at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Ann completely respun the old ‘feminists are ugly’ line in a way I could not have foretold.

“I think all real females are right-wingers,” she began.

I’m not even sure what that means, to be honest.

She continued, “I can tell you that based on experience – and my bodyguard will back me up on this – all pretty girls are right-wingers.”

Oh, no you didn’t.

With this one comment, Ann Coulter has started – at least in my warped mind – the weirdest game of trumps ever.

Not to mention the now-likely launch of the Miss (Political) Representation contest at the next Conservative Party Conference. Cue images of David Cameron murmuring to George Osborne across the judging panel, “Since we’ve got ‘em, we might as well flaunt ‘em!”, as Louise Mensch, Ann Widdecombe and Margaret Thatcher totter by.

But Coulter wasn’t done.

“I mean, the reason unattractive – I suppose – the reason liberal women are liberal is because they have to date liberal men and we’ve seen from Bill Clinton and Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Anthony Weiner, we’ve seen how liberal men treat women, I’d be angry too.”

Yes, that’s right. I’m a feminist because Clinton couldn’t keep it in his pants.

I just pass time campaigning about things like the low rape conviction rate, unequal pay, and the gendered labour market to make myself look smarter, which is especially important given that I’ve lost out on those right wing good looks.

And while we’re on the subject of equal pay, Ann had some pearls of wisdom for us here too.

“I’ll take 69 cents on the dollar – or whatever current feminist myth is about how much we make – just to have to never have to pay for dinner. That seems like a fair deal to me.”

I have to warn you here, if you read that too many times, your brain may implode. It’s actually dangerous to take in that much implied crazy in one straight hit.

Because she did just call the pay gap a lie (someone call the UN – they are wasting a LOT of resources on this non-issue). And somehow, at the same time, she managed to say that even if it isn’t a lie, it’s more than made up for by the things men buy us. Like dinner.

Except if you’re a feminist. Because then you have a face like an arse so men probably aren’t buying anything for you. And that’s why you keep banging on about the imaginary pay gap.

Obviously.

Having discovered her so late, in many ways it seems like a terrible loss not to have found Ann sooner.

Particularly since these are only the latest in a long line of attempts to out-crazy herself.

Some of her other gems include:

“If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.” (New York Observer, 2007)

Or my personal favourite, from Wikiquotes: “I am emboldened by my looks to say things Republican men wouldn’t.”

And while we’re still dwelling on looks, my final surprise came when I saw a picture of Ann Coulter. Because I have to admit to a bias of my own here.

Just judging her on what she said, I had assumed that Ann would be a cross between a caricature of Miss Havisham and either half of Hinge and Bracket (a note to our readers in other countries, or anyone born post-1975, I can’t even begin to describe these to you – check this out instead).

Which is to say, I thought the only way someone could get away with being paid to be this crazy would be if she was old and crazy.

You know, like how you forgive your nan for being a bit racist sometimes because it was a different world ‘in her day’.

How wrong I was.

Because Ann Coulter is not old. She’s barely past fifty and looking great.

But then,  I suppose that only proves her theory – all the pretty girls are right wingers.

And Ann Coulter certainly proves mine – that all Tories are insane.

Facebook and 1984

Posted: 13 Feb 2012 12:45 AM PST

Jane Osmond,
WVoN co-editor

Regular readers of Women’s Views on News will remember our recent Facebook Rape Campaign which resulted in Facebook having to remove a particular page that advocated rape against women through the use of 'rape jokes.'

The campaign, which went global, started last October and ended in November with the removal of the page 'You know she's playing hard to get when your chasing her down an alleyway.'

But, sadly, Facebook did not change its policies to ban this type of page or the thousands like it. Instead Facebook decided that if people added a 'humour' or 'satire' tag on pages such as these, then they could stay up.

In effect then, Facebook is still allowing pages that promote misogynistic, not to say downright threatening comments, against women.  A cursory glance reveals various pages which are still in existence, which I will not link to in order to minimise page traffic, the lifeblood of Facebook.

However, if you really wish to get a feel for the types of comments I am talking about, please check out the evidence against ‘Uni Lad’, a website run by Plymouth University students recently taken down after a storm of protests (see WVoN story).

Moving forward to the end of January 2012, Facebook, with a complete lack of irony, launched a 'Women Connect' app which it states is aimed at:

“…raising awareness around issues of gender equality and women's empowerment. By building technology that allows people to easily connect and share, we are helping women's organizations and causes connect with supporters around the world.”

I’M SORRY???????

Being speechless in the face of this blatant disregard of its own propensity to destroy women's empowerment opportunities – by allowing pages that not only offend women, but actively threaten them if they speak – please do read change.org's article about this travesty here.

From this article you will be directed to a link to the petition and also to the page itself where you can leave your own comments.

Meanwhile, this situation – where Facebook on the one hand actively condones the abasement of women on its platform, and on the other promotes the raising of awareness of women's empowerment – reminds me of George Orwell's notion of doublethink, used in his novel 1984.

In essence, doublethink is helpfully defined by the online Merriam-Webster dictionary as:

“a simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas”.

I first read 1984 over 20 years ago and was struck by how prescient it was in many ways – how the state uses war to keep the industrial complex going, the use of Big Brother to keep the population under control and now, the use of doublethink.

Facebook, get your act together please.