Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Divorced women gain rights to property under new Indian law

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 01:30 PM PDT

Jackie Gregory
WVoN co-editor 

Getting a divorce will soon be speedier and easier in India after the government amended the law.

Women will also be entitled to a share of the property from the marriage, and the rights of adopted children will be considered the same as biological children.

Ministers approved the Marriage Laws Amendment Bill last Friday, which means couples will also be able to gain a divorce on the grounds of an “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage”.

But the mandatory six month ‘cooling off’ period has been scrapped, leaving this now to the discretion of a judge.

While the reforms are broadly welcomed by women, some are concerned by the new grounds for divorce.

Speaking to the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS), lawyer Meenakshi Lekhi believes that this would amount to giving the husband an excuse to walk out of the marriage for a much younger spouse.

However the new law states women would be able to lodge an objection if a man sought to dissolve a marriage on these grounds.

Meanwhile, the leader writer of India Today welcomed the move to share property rights. Until now women have relied on their former spouse to make maintenance payments.

“The share in the property acquired by her spouse, that the amendment guarantees, would go a long way in providing women some degree of financial security after a divorce.

“Moreover, when one views the issue purely in terms of power relations, an assured share in property is a much more empowering compensation than the rather patronising payment of maintenance.”

It adds that the challenge now is to ensure that poor, illiterate women are made aware of the divorce law changes.

Ranjana Kumari of the Centre for Social Research, and a prominent campaigner for women’s rights, welcomed the new grounds for divorce, but was concerned about the watering down of the six month ‘cooling off’ period.

She told IANS: “A hold on period at times helps in cooling frayed tempers and the marriage is saved,” she says, adding that “after all in our society marriage is sacred thing” .

Kumari welcomed the woman’s right to share in marital property but believes that the amount to which she is entitled (eg 50 per cent) should have been specified. Instead this has been left to the courts which Kumari fears could mean more slow-moving litigation.

India is well-known for its torturously slow divorce proceedings as Pamposh Raina highlighted in the New York Times.

She quotes lawyer Kirti Singh, speaking ahead of Friday’s decision, who said that her research showed that 80 per cent of more than 400  separated or divorced women surveyed blamed “cruelty or domestic violence in their marital homes”.

The violence centred around dowry demands, extra-marital affairs, and the taking of a second spouse.

The study, called “The Economic Rights & Entitlements of Separated and Divorced Women India,” was conducted by a team of researchers, women’s rights activists and lawyers, for the Economic Research Foundation of India between October 2008 and September 2009 and will be published later this year.

Where are all the women? Sexism in the UK media industry

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 12:00 PM PDT

Thelma Etim
WVoN co-editor 

Women working in the media are still subjected to "old style" sexual discrimination, according to speakers at a conference organised by the  journalists’ union earlier this month in London.

Negative attitudes towards women who have children, non-existent childcare provision,  and "boys club banter" in newsrooms still hinder their professional advancement.

That was the general consensus at the event entitled “Where are all the women? Sexism in the media industry – organising the fightback” on March 14.

Dozens of female media professionals including editors, journalists, columnists, actors and academics attended the meeting which was chaired by the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Michelle Stanistreet.

Photographer Jess Hurd, the first of 10 speakers which included shadow media minister Helen Goodman MP, gave a stark account of how a "climate of fear" has taken hold of her fellow female colleagues.

"Most of my colleagues are scared to speak out," she said.

According to Ms Hurd, women photographers, who tend to be aged between 26 and 30, are more likely to have part-time contracts rather than permanent ones, are allocated fewer shifts than men and work for lower rates.

She also painted a picture of an environment where women were "played-off each other".

"’You have to be a bloke – short of scratching your bollocks in public,’ one woman photographer said," she told the audience.

Helen Lewis, assistant editor and columnist at the weekly political magazine, New Statesman, talked about the abuse facing female bloggers.

She suggested a plan of action that included "better moderation of comment threads" as well as "getting bosses and the police to take them [abusive comments] more seriously".

Author and broadcaster Linda Bellos OBE, who is chair of the Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners, called for more solidarity among women professionals and "less of the sharp elbows".

She also advocated the "sharing of contacts".

Alison Clarke, founder of Women's Views on News (WVoN) – the daily news and current affairs service – explained that the dearth of mainstream news coverage about women around the world led her to create her website.

“There are things happening in the world to women that no-one knows anything about," she argued.

Her comments echo findings by the journalist Kira Cochrane who discovered that, “in a typical month, 78 percent of newspaper articles are written by men".

Lynda Rooke, chair of the women’s committee of actors’ union, Equity, pointed out that "although 50% of the members [of the trade union for professional performers and creative practitioners] were women, male actors were cast in TV roles at a 2:1 ratio."

Alex Klaushofer, co-founder of the website New Model Journalism, noted "an emerging trend", which appeared to show men were advancing more quickly in digital media than women.

As for childcare provision, Maureen Paton, author and member of Women in Journalism, said more workplace creches were needed.

Ms Goodman, the final speaker, described the "narrow perception of women [in the media]" as "deeply pernicious".

Echoing Ms Clarke’s earlier comments, she concluded: "When there is not a proper mass of women in media organisations women’s issues are trivialised."

Others speakers included Lisa Campbell, editor of Broadcast magazine, Liz Howell, Head of Broadcast journalism at City University and Labour Studies and Women’s Studies academic, Sue Ledwith.

Women in rural Kenya battle both patriarchy and climate change

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 10:30 AM PDT

Laura Bridgestock
WVoN co-editor

Women's groups in rural Kenya are combating both oppressive patriarchal customs and the effects of climate change, to improve their own lives and ensure better futures for their communities.

It is only since August 2010, when Kenya's new constitution came into force, that women have been legally able to own land in the country.

This is reflective of the wider picture in Africa; according to Faustine Wabwire, a representative of Bread for the World, women in Africa make up more than 60% of the agricultural labour force, but own less than 20% of the land.

While Kenya appears to be taking steps in the right direction, some critics have argued that in many rural regions, people are unaware of the changes to the constitution – or are simply choosing to continue to abide by patriarchal customs, which deny women landowning rights.

At the same time, many positive stories are emerging. A growing number of initiatives have resulted in more women leaders in agricultural work, particularly in projects to combat the effects of climate change – which threaten to make life in this arid country even tougher.

In Muiri village, women are increasingly taking charge of agro-forestry projects, designed to protect the soil and provide shelter, to ensure a good yield even in particularly harsh years.

In another rural community, near Marsabit, women grouped together to dig a latrine – a task that had previously been left up to the men to do (or not).

They have now formed an investment club; each contributes a small sum, and members can then apply for loans, to start businesses or to cover costs of sending children to school.

Their next project is to buy a machine so they can produce bricks to build their own houses – how inspirational is that?

Then there's the Kenya Climate Justice Women Champions group, which is lobbying for greater recognition of the key role women can play in combatting climate change, and indeed fostering progress in all areas of society.

Meanwhile the Green Belt Movement reportedly has a network of more than 4,000 Kenyan communities involved in sustainable agricultural initiatives, led by women.

Odenda Lumamba, coordinator of the NGO Kenya Land Alliance, says there have been widespread calls for women-led projects to be given priority, if – as is expected – the government starts subsidising community development schemes.

Let's hope the government recognises the importance of supporting these women – as a means of speeding progress towards gender equality, and empowering them to continue the fantastic work they are already doing to improve life for all in their communities.

No shame for Harvey Nichols’ ‘walk of shame’ advert

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 09:00 AM PDT

Brogan Driscoll
WVoN co-editor 

The UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has cleared retail giant Harvey Nichols following complaints about a controversial ‘Walk of Shame’ advert.

Last Christmas the firm uploaded an ad onto You Tube which urged women to "turn a Walk of Shame into a Stride of Pride" – by wearing an expensive dress from their store.

It also encouraged women to share their stories on Twitter via the hashtag, #walkofshame.

The ASA said the ad showed several women in evening wear making their way home in the early morning, apparently after a night out, looking dishevelled and, well, ashamed.

This was followed by some on-screen text which stated “Avoid the Walk of Shame this Season”, followed by footage of a smartly-dressed woman approaching the entrance of a flat and confidently acknowledging a postman.

The ASA received four complaints in total.

One argued the ad was sexist because "it reinforced negative stereotypes of women, and in particular those women who chose to have casual sex".

Another thought the ripped tights alluded to sexual violence, while others claimed the advert suggested that "lower class women who had one-night stands should feel shame, whilst more wealthy women who behaved in the same way should feel proud".

Harvey Nichols denied that the advert was a reference to casual sex, claiming the women featured could have easily stayed at a friend’s.

They also denied any connection with sexual violence or social class, having "deliberately selected a mixed cast of characters".

The retailer claimed instead that the advert was intended "to raise a smile by reminding people of a familiar hazard of the Christmas party season".

They also pointed to the ratio of likes to dislikes to the YouTube video, which currently stands at 1,304:226.

The ASA decided that "some people might find the theme of the ad distasteful, but we concluded that it was unlikely to cause serious or widespread offence" and that no further action was therefore required.

What do you think?

Join London protest against Nike’s exploitation of Bangladeshi women workers

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 07:30 AM PDT

Alison Clarke
WVoN co-editor 

On Saturday 31 March, the campaigning group UK Feminista, will be protesting on  London's Oxford Street against the exploitation of Bangladeshi garment workers.

The group is asking people to stand in solidarity with the women producing Nike's sportswear for the 2012 Olympics who are systematically being denied their rights.

New research released by War on Want shows that Bangladeshi garment workers, 85% of whom are women, are being cheated of their maternity rights, face sexual harassment, and receive poverty pay.

Those who join unions to demand better pay and conditions risk losing their jobs.

However, thousands of women have defied intimidation to fight for their rights as workers in the garment industry.

On 31 March feminists in the UK will get out onto the streets to join their struggle.

Meet up outside Nike, Oxford Circus at 11.30am.

For more information, contact fiona@ukfeminista.org.uk.

Pressure pays off – at least one Saudi woman will take part at 2012 Olympics

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 06:00 AM PDT

Penny Hopkins
WVoN co-editor

It has taken a damning 51-page report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), widespread condemnation from sporting and non-sporting bodies alike, and plenty of high-level diplomacy on the part of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), but is seems that the Saudi Arabian authorities will allow at least one woman to compete in the London Olympics.

Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz said that female athletes will be allowed to go provided that “their sports meet the standards of women’s decency and don’t contradict Islamic laws.”

Tokenistic it may be, but until this week, even that seemed unlikely.  So, at this moment, the IOC will grab the concession with both hands.

The two other countries never to have sent a female competitor, Brunei and Qatar, have already indicated that they will comply with the Olympic Charter promoting gender equality.

This is especially pertinent to Qatar which has bid for the 2020 games and cannot hope to win if its discriminatory practises continue.

However, this Olympian ideal is a relatively new one.  The IOC itself has a less than impressive history of gender equality.

Established in 1894, there was no female committee member until 1981.  Today only 20 of the 106 committee members are women.  There were no women at all at the first modern games in 1896.

By 1912 the London games saw 44 women taking part, a meagre 2.2% of the total.  In 1996 there were still 26 all-male teams competing.  It wasn’t until 2007 that the Olympic Charter was amended to “encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures”.

By the 2008 Beijing Games women accounted for 42% of the total comptetitors with only Brunei, Qatar and Saudi Arabia sending an all-male team.

HRW has called the Saudi actions ”a positive step toward ending the country’s pervasive discrimination against women in sport.”  All well and good, but how ready  to take part can these women be ?

There are no physical education classes for girls in state-run schools. Conservative clerics have warned that the effort required in running and jumping may cause damage to a woman’s hymen and thus ruin her chances of marriage.

In a crackdown in 2009, women’s gyms, swimming pools and running tracks were closed.  There are no official sports facilties for women.

But there are women determined to take part in the sports they love.  There are underground athletics clubs and football teams established using hospitals and health clubs as bases, but participants are not going to be drawn from these.

IOC President, Jacques Rogge, has indicated that there may be options that would allow women who don’t meet the required standard to compete, but we are unlikely to know the final outcome until the meeting of the IOC Executive Board in Quebec at the end of May.

A list of  potential athletes has been put forward.  Favourite must be equestrienne Dalma Rushdi Malhas, who, when overlooked by the Saudi authorities for the 2010 Youth Games team, financed herself and won a bronze mendal at the games in Singapore.

Ironically, as an all-male equestrian team has already qualified for the games, Malhas would have to take the place of a man if she is to participate.  Indeed it may be that she will be the only one, although there are also suggestions the Saudis may send as many as three female officials to the games.

Although there is fierce opposition to the relaxing of the official Saudi stance, more liberal voices are making themselves heard, pointing out that the Koran does not specifically bar women from taking part in sport.

All of the women who currently do – both officially and unofficially – will be hoping that those voices gain sway in determining the future of their sporting lives and, indeed, their lives in general.

Until that time, they will have to hang their hopes on the token woman or women who make their high-profile appearance at this year’s Olympic Games.

Standing in the (Louboutin) shoes of Asma al-Assad

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 03:30 AM PDT

Jackie Gregory
WVoN co-editor 

When your partner's day job includes the mass slaughter of his own citizens, what is a woman to do?

Speak out and stand up for those who cannot speak – or get online and salivate over a whacking great pair of Christian Louboutin's?

As Bashir al-Assad, the president of Syria, went on a killing rampage, his British-born wife Asma al-Assad indulged in an enthusiastic shopping spree.

This is according to emails leaked to The Guardian, considered genuine but which cannot be 100 per cent validated.

In one, al-Assad apparently chatted about 16 inch heels which cost $5,000 and ordered chandeliers and bespoke cabinets from Paris.

Clearly it's abhorrent and indefensible  –  the actions of a deluded Marie Antoinette.

But the very uncomfortable question in all of this is: how would we ourselves react in her shoes?

Some say she is a serious-minded and loving mother who is trapped in a gilded cage, a puppet herself of the regime, whose survival tactic is to stand by her man.

A former acquaintance, Brigid Keenan, told ITN news that she could not condemn al-Assad, 36,  because she did not know her circumstances.  She said that the president's wife seemed like a nice woman, who was very much in love with her husband.

Keenan said: "I am very surprised that she hasn't left but it might be impossible for her to leave but I don't know what her circumstances are and I wouldn't want to judge."

Others are swift to stamp on this kind of reaction as apologist and say categorically, no matter her personal circumstances, al-Assad should have had the moral stamina to speak up a long time ago.  Just as ordinary Syrians have tried to do.

Indeed the leaked emails suggest that Mayassa al-Thani, daughter of the emir of Qatar urged her to stop being in denial.

“The opportunity for real change and development was lost a long time ago. Nevertheless, one opportunity closes, others open up – and I hope it’s not too late for reflection and coming out of the state of denial.”

In another email in January, she urged al-Assad to leave.

“In all honesty – looking at the tide of history and the escalation of recent events – we’ve seen two results – leaders stepping down or getting asylum or leaders being brutally attacked.

“I think this is a good opportunity to leave and restart a normal life. I am sure you have many places to turn to, including Doha.”

Historian Gaia Servadio, who worked with al-Assad on an arts project, is clear that she should have spoken up.

“She was very much, as we would say, left wing. She (created) a very, very good impression.  She seemed to be very bright, very respectful of others,” said Servadio, in an article by Maria Golovnina for Reuters.

“It’s a very nasty regime … Thousands of people have been killed.  So it’s very difficult to say:  poor woman.  She certainly should have found a way to talk.”

Now al-Assad, her mother-in-law and two sister-in-laws, have been hit with European Union (EU) sanctions, which means there will be no more gilded baubles from Paris.  They cannot travel on the continent and their assets have been frozen.

However as al-Assad holds British citizenship, there is nothing stopping her from coming to the UK where her parents still live.

Known as Emma in her younger life, Asma Akhras was born and brought up in a comfortable home in west London.  Her father was a Harley Street cardiologist.

After attending an independent school, she completed a degree in computer science at Kings College, London in 1996, during which time she met Bashir al-Assad who was in the capital studying ophthalmology. She then worked for JP Morgan as an investment banker.

Bashir al-Assad 's destiny to follow his father as president was sealed when his brother Basil, the heir,  was killed in a car crash.  The couple married in 2000 and moved to Syria and now have three children Hafez, 10; Zain 8; and Kareem 7.

At first al-Assad was viewed as a reformist, with Vogue magazine describing her as a 'rose in the desert'.  She won a number of international awards for her work advocating women's and children's rights and promoting rural development.

But in the past year this image has changed. Theodore Dalrymple, author of Spoilt Rotten: Toxic Sentimentality, talks in The Telegraph about her  'metamorphosis from Mrs Assad to Eva Peron and then to Elena Ceausescu' .

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely, a famous quote of Edward Dalberg Acton in 1887.  In the court of al-Assad, Dalrymple argues that power not only corrupts but insulates from reality.

"Bad actions are rationalised as necessary and then even as good," he says.

In one revealing email, al-Assad allegedly jokes that she is the 'real dictator'.  In a discussion with a friend about their spouses, The Telegraph reports her saying : "As for listening – I am the REAL dictator, he has no choice …" she wrote on Dec 14.

But it seems that she has chosen not to use her voice to stop her husband slaughtering Syrians.

Instead she has retreated into sentimentalism and justification.  On Mother's Day, she met with mothers who had lost children to the rebels.

The Guardian reports her as telling them: "If the father goes the foundation of the home is lost, but if the mother goes, the heart of the home is lost with her."

We may rightly stand and condemn but a second question:  Has the world's response been much different to Asma al-Assad's?

While the killings have gone on, we have continued to shop, preferring to pay more attention to our own material needs, the plight of the Syrians are in our consciousness for about as long as the TV news report lasts and then we move on to something else.

Countries have made their excuses about why no firmer stance has been taken against the regime. There seems to be a delusional wish that it would all go away quietly.

We empathise, sympathise but as world citizens, the vast majority of us have so far failed to truly speak out or take action.

There's something rotten in the state of Syria, there could well be something rotten in the heart of Asma al-Assad, but the stench has no borders, and there is something rancid with the response of the rest of the world.

Women in Germany earn up to 25% less than men

Posted: 26 Mar 2012 01:30 AM PDT

Laura Bridgestock
WVoN co-editor

Despite being considered one of the world's most developed nations, and having a successful female politician as its head of government, Germany still has a large gap to close in terms of pay equality.

Recently released statistics reveal that in 2011, women in Germany earned 23% less than men.

This is one of the largest pay gaps in Europe, and according to the national statistics office, Destatis, has remained unchanged for six years.

The figures also showed striking differences between regions of the country. In western Germany, women earned as much as 25% less than men; in the east, the gap was as low as 6%.

Statisticians reportedly estimated that two thirds of the difference in pay could be accounted for by the fact that women are typically employed in less well paid and lower qualified jobs.

But surely this should be viewed as part of the problem – not a means of sweeping the pay-gap issue under the carpet.

Germany is generally viewed as one of the countries with the highest rates of gender equality. In the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report for 2011, its overall ranking is 11, out of 135 countries.

In several areas, Germany is in fact ranked the world leader – including the measures for literacy rate, professional and technical workers, enrolment in tertiary education, and sex ratio at birth.

However, on the measure for 'wage equality for similar work', Germany's ranking is dramatically lower – at 89 out of 135 countries.