Thursday, March 1, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Broadcasters urged to increase numbers of female experts on air

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 09:30 AM PST

Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor

Broadcasters in the UK are being called to sign a pledge that they will escape the 'women as case studies or victims' trap and invite more female experts on their news and current affairs shows.

Channel 4 News is the latest news programme to sign up to the ‘Expert Women‘ campaign launched by industry magazine Broadcast and City University's journalism programme this month and it is hoped that ITV News, which is produced by the same company, ITN, and Sky News, will soon follow suit.

The campaign, which includes a petition calling on the BBC, ITN and Sky News to ensure 30 per cent of ‘experts’ used on TV and radio are women, was the result of research carried out two years ago by Lis Howells, City University’s director of broadcasting and head of the MA courses in broadcast and TV journalism,  and her students.

On a “good day” you could listen to Radio 4′s Today programme for 20 minutes without hearing a female voice, they found.

More recently, there has been a focus on the numbers of women who work in broadcasting – Sound Women was launched last year with the aim of raising the profile of women working in the radio industry (see WVoN story).

After the Cultural Diversity Network recently published a report showing that the public wanted more older women on screen (see WVoN story), BBC director general Mark Thompson also admitted he had "got it wrong" when it came to employing older women.

But the "real scandal" is not about the female journalists or presenters, but the "huge gap" that exists between male and female experts, says Howells.

"We started off with all women but then realised that among professional journalists, it's bad but what was really bad was the numbers of members of the public taking part," she says.

"You get women on talking about diseases and family and lifestyle stuff, but you don't get them as authority figures."

This absence of women is also partly explained by age, says Howells: “Authority figures tend by their nature to be older and older women aren’t as attractive on TV and radio to producers and reporters.”

There has been little or no improvement in recent years according to a lengthier research project carried out by students over four weeks last summer.

The Today programme had six times as many male as female experts on every show, Sky's Sunrise and BBC Breakfast did better with four while Daybreak and Radio 5 Live averaged three times as many male as female guests.

The research also showed that women were much likely to take part in programmes as case studies or victims.

Channel 4 News has said that improving the male-female ratio on the programme will be a "big focus" during the coming year.

It also said it would look at why there are so few spokespeople for organisations are women, why women appeared less confident about "debating a polemic point" and why, "from anecdotal guestbooker evidence" they seem less likely to consider themselves “experts” on a topic.

Howells, who will be overseeing ongoing monitoring which will be published each month in Broadcast, said it was hoped a directory of women experts would be produced to help broadcasters with the task.

But women – particularly older women – need to be willing to go on air as experts, says Howells, who after a period of saying 'no' to requests to appear on TV or radio says:

"I pull myself up short and say 'look, just do it and if you make a mess of it, you make a mess of it and if you look like a wreck, you look like a wreck."

But if women’s looks are an issue on TV, it doesn't explain their absence from radio, she says:

"The irony of it is that it's even worse than TV for both professional women and interviewees as well. It isn't just about looks by any means because if it was, radio would be full of argumentative, interesting, combative fascinating women, and it's not.”

By agreeing to speak as an expert on TV and radio, women will encourage others to follow suit, says Howells.

"I appreciate that a lot of women don't want to do it – but that's because women don't do it," she says.

"There's just this whole thing that if you are a woman and you express an opinion, I think you are more likely to be criticised, so it's hard for the trailblazers."

Women urged to fight Greek austerity measures

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 06:30 AM PST

Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor

We are already seeing signs of the despair many Greek women feel as a result of recession and the austerity measures imposed by the European Union as bailout conditions.

Women have also played a part in the protests against the Greek government’s acceptance of the austerity measures and the ferocious cuts in living standards they imply.

But some women’s rights activists are now calling for a movement that will focus on fighting the erosion of women’s rights as they  not only face unemployment and hardship, but also bear the brunt of cuts in state activity.

Sonia Mitralia, a member of the Greek Committee Against the Debt and the Women's Initiative Against the Debt and Austerity, insists women need to join together to fight the cuts because"the debt crisis and the subsequent austerity measures affect us women first, in every aspect of our lives. So if we women don't organise ourselves to resist, no one else will do it for us".

Unemployment has already risen sharply among women  as public sector jobs disappear –  20.9 per cent were out of work in November last year, compared to 14.9 per cent among men, the latest figures show and more than half of young women between the ages of 15 to 25 don’t have a job.

The impact of cuts to services is also being felt as cash-strapped Greeks find themselves cut out of subsidised healthcare –  pregnant women are reported to have have been turned away from hospitals because they can’t afford to pay at least €900 up front in order to give birth there.

After two years of political and financial turmoil, the future for Greece looks extremely bleak, with more cuts, including  a further 3.2 billion euros in spending and pensions due this week.

Women will suffer a double whammy because they are often the ones who take on the work of caring that the state no longer provides, Mitralia claims:

"Not only are we condemned to poverty and precarity, but they also burden us with the tasks that were the job of the State, with all that it brings in terms of fatigue, stress, premature ageing, unpaid work and additional expenses!"

Suicide rates have doubled since the beginning of the crisis and prostitution and domestic violence are also said to be increasing.

Overall, women could lose “the few rights and victories they've obtained through the struggles of the last few decades” as the agenda of the IMF and European "modernisers" seems to be also serving the interests of the "misogynous patriarchal" establishment  that wants to see women return to more traditional roles.

Urging people across Europe to work together to fight the cuts, Mitralia said women needed an independent and autonomous women's movement against debt and austerity:

“Not only because no one can do it for us, but also because capitalism and patriarchy are so closely intertwined that any fight against one of these tyrants will be a shaky one if it is not also fought against the other.”

UN address position of rural women worldwide

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 05:30 AM PST

Eleanor Davis
WVoN co-editor

The UN Commission on the Status of Women has started its two-week session, which is focusing on the empowerment of rural women who make-up one fourth of the world’s population and whose role in hunger eradication and sustainable development is crucial.

Charing the Commission, Marjon Kamara from Liberia said:

"These are exciting times in New York when women, ministers and experts on gender equality converge in New York to discuss issues pertaining to women."

Focusing efforts on rural women will be a step towards reaching Millenium Development Goal number three: gender equality.

Although women constitute the majority of the food-producing rural workforce worldwide, they still made up 60 per cent of the chronically hungry in 2010.

Women's involvement in decision making and economic ownership is key, as millions are living below the poverty line. Giving rural women a voice in decision making will promote new ways to address global crises such as climate change, development and poverty.

UN Women will look to work with civil society bodies to encourage women's involvement in decision-making, said Michelle Bachelet, UN Women's Executive Director:

"UN Women is in the process of establishing advisory councils with civil society at the national, regional and the global levels. Engagement with civil society is fundamental to progress and we look forward to very strong collaboration.

"Rural women are on the frontline of climate change. They are managers of natural resources. They are leaders. They know about peace and security. And none of us can afford to perpetuate the barriers facing rural women or to leave them out of decision-making."

Horrifying reality of Australia’s ‘forced adoption’ scandal

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 05:30 AM PST

Karen Whiteley
WVoN co-editor 

An Australian government inquiry into ‘forced adoptions’ heard testimony from one of the doctors who witnessed new mothers having their babies taken away from them against their will in a Sydney hospital.

Whilst working as a medical student at Crown Street Women's Hospital, Brian Hoolahan watched repeatedly as unwed teenaged mothers had their babies forcibly taken from them immediately after giving birth while they were held down by staff.

He described the scenes as ‘the cruellest thing I've ever seen’.

Hoolahan described how the babies were taken: ‘'The baby was whisked away while she was being held down so the mothers never got to see or touch their child.

'I remember the girls calling out “I just want to touch my baby, please let me see my baby”, and they were crying and howling and it was the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life.

'As far as trying to do anything about it, I was absolutely powerless … I was a young student and I expressed my opinion but nobody really listened.'

The Senate inquiry into how tens of thousands of young mothers between the 1940s and the 1970s were effectively forced to hand over their children for adoption began last year, following years of pressure from some of the women affected by the practice.

It heard heart-breaking evidence from some of the mothers themselves last September.

The inquiry has looked at what role, if any, the government played in contributing to the scandal through its policies and practices. It has also looked at what can be done to address the consequences of the practice for both the mothers and the children involved.

The inquiry will give its findings today, but the government of the state of Western Australia has already issued a formal apology to the women involved.

Research uncovers possibility of unlimited supply of eggs for women

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 04:30 AM PST

Jem McCarron
WVoN co-editor

New research could revolutionise the long-held theory that women have a finite amount of eggs.

A team of US doctors have shown that eggs that can be grown from stem cells found in adult women could potentially be fertilised.

There are strict rules regarding experimentation on human eggs, so the team, headed up by Dr Jonathan Tilly at Massachusetts General Hospital, have used mice in their research.

Dr Tilly has been working on the theory that women can produce more eggs since 2004 and this latest study, published in the Nature Medicine journal, confirms and elaborates on his original findings.

"The discovery of oocyte precursor cells in adult human ovaries, coupled with the fact that these cells share the same characteristic features of their mouse counterparts that produce fully functional eggs, opens the door for development of unprecedented technologies to overcome infertility in women and perhaps even delay the timing of ovarian failure." said Dr Tilly.

A study in 2010 by researchers of the University of St Andrews and Edinburgh University, found that by the age of 30 women have just 12 per cent of their estimated two million egg store left, by 40 that is only three per cent.

Egg age is also a factor often noted in cases of fertility problems.

Although doctors are a long way from being in a position to use stem cell eggs clinically, this study offers hope for women experiencing infertility or facing sterilisation through chemotherapy for example.

Dr Allan Pacey, a fertility expert at the University of Sheffield told the BBC "If this research is confirmed it may overturn one of the great asymmetries of reproductive biology – that a woman’s reproductive pool of gametes may be renewable, just like a man’s."

Obama’s popularity among US women on the rise

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 03:40 AM PST

Karen Whiteley
WVoN co-editor 

According to a recent survey, President Obama is becoming more popular among women voters.

Obama’s overall approval rating among this vital demographic stands at 53% this month after dropping to 43% at the end of last year, according to a recent Associated Press/GfK poll.

Obama’s approval ratings among the general public have also risen following signs that the US economy is starting to emerge from recession.  The poll suggested women are giving Obama more credit than men are for the economic upturn.

For women voters, it’s also thought that the current debates on abortion and access to contraception among Republican presidential candidates are turning them towards Obama.

Whilst abortion has long been a hot topic in the States, candidates such as Rick Santorum, have raised the idea that even birth control is ‘harmful’ to society and to women.

Republicans also supported the protests by religious groups against a requirement in Obama’s healthcare bill that religiously affiliated institutions, in line with all other employers, give full contraception insurance coverage for female employees.

Patricia Speyerer, 87, of Mississippi, a GOP-leaning independent said, ‘Republicans are making a big mistake with this contraception talk, and I’m pretty sure that they are giving [the election] to Obama. It’s a stupid thing.’

Linda Young, president of the National Women’s Political Caucus, which favors abortion rights, would agree, ‘Women are used to making decisions and running their lives,’ she said.

‘To hear their right to contraception questioned in 2012 is shocking, and it’s gotten a lot of people’s attention.’

In the face of the protests, Obama proposed a compromise that would allow religious organisations to opt out of providing insurance coverage that would include birth control for women, but force insurers to provide such coverage instead.

It was feared that the backdown would alienate female Democrats, but the latest figures suggest this hasn’t been the case.

For Obama’s chances of re-election, women are crucial. They vote in larger numbers than men in presidential elections, and more women identify as Democrat than Republican.

He would not even be a president today had he not been more popular than the Republican Senator John McCain among women voters in 2008. The Republicans would need to win more than 40% of female voters in order to beat him.

Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy saving faces of Pakistan’s acid attack victims

Posted: 29 Feb 2012 02:30 AM PST

Jem McCarron
WVoN co-editor

The Oscars are all about the Beautiful People, so it is somewhat ironic that the Best Documentary (Short) winner, Saving Face, tells the stories of women who have had their faces destroyed through acid attack.

At the Academy Awards ceremony held in Hollywood on Sunday 26 February, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, alongside co-director Daniel Junge, raised the iconic statuette to an applauding crowd as the first Pakistani to win an Oscar.

Ms Obaid-Chinoy made history simply by being nominated, winning is a dream come true.

Wearing a Pakistani dress and jewellery made by Pakistani women, she dedicated her award to "all the women of Pakistan working for change, don’t give up on your dreams, this if for you."

This award comes just days after Pakistan introduced the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill  and is great news for a country that is suffering an international image crisis.

Valarie Khan, Chair of Acid Survivors Foundation, an organisation that worked closely with Ms Obaid-Chinoy said "This documentary shows we are not powerless – Pakistani women…are not victims any more, but agents of change."

The BBC quoted an unnamed acid attack victim "I don’t have the words to thank Ms Obaid-Chinoy for what she’s done. I think it will become easier for women now and it will scare perpetrators"

In an interview with the Huffington Post last year, Ms Obaid-Chinoy said:

"You have a nation of 180 million people, in a country armed with nuclear weapons that cannot educate its own population. The irony is enormous!

"Can we overcome all of this? Yes, but can we overcome this overnight? Absolutely not. The only way to do it is to invest in infrastructure and in your people, but the government of Pakistan is too busy investing in itself. "